Literary Lyrics: "I've Got This Friend" by the Civil Wars

I always think of the Civil Wars in conjunction with fall. I love their unique songs, their beautiful harmonies, and their sparse, rhythmic instrumentation. "I've Got This Friend" is a little more light-hearted than most of the other songs on their album Barton Hollow. I love how light-hearted and sweet it is. 

I've got this friend
I don't think you know him
He's not much for words
He's hidden his heart away

Oh I've got this friend
A loveless romantic
All that he really wants
Is someone to want him back

Ohh, if the right one came
If the right one came along
Ohh, If the right one came, along

I've got this friend
I don't think you know her
She sings a simple song
It sounds a lot like his
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsty.com/the-civil-wars-ive-got-this-friend-lyrics.html ]
Oh I've got this friend
Holding onto her heart
Like it's a little secret
Like it's all she's got to give

Ohh, if the right one came
If the right one came along
Ohh, if the right one came, along

It'd be such a shame
(If they never meet)
She sounds lovely
(He sounds right out of a dream)
If only
(If only)
If only

Ohh
Ohh, if the right one came
If the right one came along
Ohh, (I've got this friend) if the right one came
If the right one came along
Ohh, (I've got this friend)
If the right one came, along 

Literary Lyrics: Poison and Wine by The Civil Wars

Apparently, this song came out on Grey's Anatomy and was popular for a long time. However, I have never watched Grey's Anatomy and I've only just discovered it on the lovely blog of an acquaintance that I don't technically know well enough to follow, but do anyway.

I am not sure I can explain the gut reaction that I have to this song. It is relatively simple - three chords and a string of contradictions. It captures a feeling that I don't think I am capable of describing in words, and that is why it moves me so much - I've been grasping at threads trying to explain that feeling for years, and while I can't get the hang of it, someone else has, and their words have fortuitously fallen into my lap.

The song has been doubly opportune in that it fell into my lap as I was reading The Night Circus, a book that I don't want to turn anyone away from by over-hyping (although why should that turn people away? Just because the general, common public likes something doesn't mean it has to be despised by the intellectuals) but that has rapidly climbed to a very high rung on my favorite books ladder. The song makes a perfect soundtrack for the book - a hauntingly beautiful melody with deceptively simple words, telling the story of a passionate but impossible love.

You only know what I want you to
I know everything you don't want me to
Your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
You think your dreams are the same as mine


I don't love you, but I always will.
I always will. 


I wish you'd hold me when I turn my back
The less I give, the more I get back
Your hands can heal, your hands can bruise
I don't have a choice but I still choose you


I don't love you but I always will
I always will.