Mixed Tape

I want to bring back the days where song lyrics were an acceptable form of communication.  When I was in college, my IM Away Messages saw their fair share of passive-aggressive lyrical zingers, but that’s not what I’m talking about.  Down with those veiled references we hoped would come across clearly to the specific person we were aiming at!  Ain’t nobody got time for that.  I mean using song lyrics in the same way that people used to use great poetry: to amuse, to seduce, to flatter, to appreciate the flow of words.  To allow the professionals to say something that coming from a regular person might sound ridiculous.

Do the kids these days make anything that is the equivalent of a mixed tape?  Is there a 21^st century version of standing outside Diane Court’s bedroom window with a boombox over your head?  I want to return to a Lloyd Dobler-esque use of music—letting those words speak for you when you feel you cannot.  (And if that classic movie reference is lost on you, find yourself Say Anything and watch.  It has one of the most romantic uses of music of just about any movie I’ve ever seen.)

If you’re watching The Voice this season, you’ll know there is a girl from Fort Wayne who is really making her mark.  She goes to the high school at which I previously worked, and while I never had her in class, there’s a little part of me that feels connected to her.  This week, she sang a song from the musical Waitress which has lyrics I love:

It's not simple to say
That most days I don't recognize me
That these shoes and this apron
That place and its patrons
Have taken more than I gave them
It's not easy to know
I'm not anything like I used to be
Although it's true
I was never attention's sweet center
I still remember that girl

She's imperfect but she tries
She is good but she lies
She is hard on herself
She is broken and won't ask for help
She is messy but she's kind
She is lonely most of the time
She is all of this mixed up
And baked in a beautiful pie
She is gone but she used to be mine

It's not what I asked for
Sometimes life just slips in through a back door
And carves out a person
And makes you believe it's all true
And now I've got you
And you're not what I asked for
If I'm honest I know I would give it all back
For a chance to start over
And rewrite an ending or two
For the girl that I knew

Who'll be reckless just enough
Who'll get hurt but
Who learns how to toughen up when she's bruised
And gets used by a man who can't love
And then she'll get stuck and be scared
Of the life that's inside her
Growing stronger each day
'Til it finally reminds her
To fight just a little
To bring back the fire in her eyes
That's been gone but it used to be mine

She is messy but she's kind
She is lonely most of the time
She is all of this mixed up and baked in a beautiful pie
She is gone but she used to be mine

(“She Used to Be Mine”, Sara Bareilles)

Hearing Addison sing that on Monday made me think about other song lyrics that move me the way these do.  So, I would like to take a second during this week of thankfulness to be thankful for words by sharing some lyrics that I love.  My mixed tape, if you will.  These are songs that bring me peace and comfort and “me, too!” moments that are so necessary to coping with the day-to-day.  Here are just a few lines from songs, new and old, that, when I hear them, make me go “Yep—that’s being human.”  (And I’ve included who wrote them, of course—the former English teacher cannot be guilty of plagiarism by not giving credit where it is due!)

Please feel free to share favorite songs or song lyrics!  Spreading the word love is always acceptable here.  Enjoy!

“But if you’re too proud to follow rivers

How you ever gonna find the sea?”

(“River”, Emeli Sande)

“I want to live with you, even when we’re ghosts.”

(“Say You Won’t Let Go”, James Arthur, lyrics by James Arthur, Neil Ormandy, Steve Solomon)

“Oh, where do we begin?  The rubble or our sins?”

(“Pompeii”, Bastille, lyrics by Dan Smith)

“But I’ve read this script and the costume fit

So I played my part.”

(“Cleopatra”, The Lumineers, lyrics by Wesley Schultz, Jeremiah Fraites, Simone Felice)

“You told me something that scared me to death

Don’t take me home, I can’t face that yet

I’m ashamed that I’m barely human

And I’m ashamed that I don’t have a heart you can break

I’m just action and at other times reaction.”

(“Nothing to Remember”, Neko Case)

“I am 32 flavors and then some.”

(“32 Flavors”, Ani DiFranco)

“What if the silence let you dream?

What if the air could let you breathe?

What if the words would bring you here?

What if this sound could bring you peace?

What if what is isn’t true?

What are you going to do?”

(“Appels + Oranjes”, The Smashing Pumpkins, lyrics by Billy Corgan)

“Unravel me

Untie this cord

The very center of our union is caving in

I can’t endure

I am the archive of our failure

And all I feel is black and white

And I’m wound up small and tight

And I don’t know who I am.”

(“Black and White”, Sarah McLachlan)

“We have found our hope

We have found our peace

We have found our rest

In the One Who loves.”

(“The One Who Saves”, Hillsong, lyrics by Ben Fielding)

“It’s got what it takes

So tell me why can’t this be love?

Straight from my heart

Oh, tell me why can’t this be love?

I tell myself:

Hey, only fools rush in

And only time will tell if we stand the test of time

All I know

You’ve got to run to win

And I’ll be damned if I’ll get hung up on the line.”

(“Why Can’t This Be Love”, Van Halen, lyrics by Eddie Van Halen, Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Alex Van Halen)

“I wanna wake up where you are.”

(“Slide”, Goo Goo Dolls, lyrics by John Rzeznik)

“The skin of my emotion lies beneath my own.”

(“Never Is a Promise”, Fiona Apple)

“When your heart’s on fire

You must realize

Smoke gets in your eyes.”

(“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”, The Platters, lyrics by Otto Harbach)

“She’s just a girl and she’s on fire

Hotter than a fantasy,

Lonely like a highway.”

(“Girl on Fire”, Alicia Keys, lyrics by Alicia Keys, Billy Squier, Jeff Bhasker)

“Lovin’ you was sort of like loving a fifth of the finest bourbon

Was it your quality or high quantity that’s put me in the shape that I’m in?”

(“Can’t Stop Thinking ‘Bout You”, Martin Sexton)

“There a stranger speaks outside her door

Says take what you can from your dreams

Make them as real as anything

It’d take the work out of the courage.”

(“Grey Street”, Dave Matthews Band, lyrics by Dave Matthews)

“Too long I’ve been afraid of losing love I guess I’ve lost,

Well, if that’s love—it comes at much too high a cost

I’d sooner buy defying gravity.”

(“Defying Gravity”, from Wicked, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz)