Broken-Up Music #3

And finally, the revelation, the guilt trip, the blame song. There's actually something very liberating in this song, but you only find it in the background vocals and chords.

Over some time, a long long long time ago, I realised the exact emotion that this song conveyed. That sense of freedom, of cathartic relief. It's that emotion that you get from the first breath you draw after crying until you cannot possibly, physically, cry any more. It feels almost like being born again (never mind the fact you're doing pretty much the same thing when you're born), followed by the relief of breathing, simply breathing, crisp, clear air (anywhere you are, at that moment, the air is crisp, I promise).

It's actually the sense of being very very glad to be alive, regardless how horrible things get, despite whatever makes you cry. It's the realization that it is because of suffering (someone else's and later ours) that we're alive in the first place.

Broken-Up Music #3 - Sarah McLachlan - Plenty

I looked into your eyes
They told me plenty
I already knew
You
never felt a thing
So soon forgotten all that you do
In more than words I
Tried to tell you
The more I tried I failed

I would not let myself believe
That you might stray
And I would stand by you
No matter what they’d say,
I would have thought I’d be with you
Until my dying day
Until my dying day

I used to think my life
Was often empty
A lonely space to fill
You hurt me more than
I ever would have imagined
You made my world stand still

And in that stillness
There was a freedom
I never felt before
I would not let myself believe
That you might stray
And I would stand by you
No matter what they’d say,
I would have thought I’d be with you
Until my dying day
Until my dying day

Broken-Up Music #2

This one's always been a classic. There are different types. There are some types that get you eating anything sweet. This song is best served with a generous stirring sugar into unlimited iced tea and a dessert buffet. Bring a willing friend and a listening ear.

Broken Up Music #2 - Tori Amos - Baker Baker

Baker Baker
Baking a cake
Make me a day
Make me whole again
And I wonder
What's in a day
What's in your cake this time?

I guess you heard
He's gone to LA
He says that beihnd my eyes I'm hiding
And he tells me I pushed him away
That my heart's been hard to find

Here, there must be something
Here, there must be something here, here

Baker Baker can you explain
If truly his heart
Was made of icing
And I wonder
How mine could taste
Maybe we could change his mind

I know you're late
For your next parade
You came to make sure
That I'm not running
Well I ran from him
In all kinds of ways
Guess it was his turn this time

Time thought I'd made friends with time
Thought we'd be flying
Maybe not this time

Baker Baker
Baking a cake
Make me a day
Make me whole again
And I wonder
If he's ok
If you see him say hi

Broken-Up Music #1

Don't be sensitive, it's nothing at all, seriously. Recently I've taken a shine to broken up music, with a collector's ear kind of interest. It's one of those things that everybody sings about, even though when you think about it, it's kind of weird to think that the first reaction people would have to emotions like regret, wistfulness, sentimentality, hurt, anger, despair is to sing, but the human voice is an expressive instrument.

I love collecting emotions. And sometimes trite phrases that come up in lyrics ("The heart of a gypsy; the soul of a stone" - Take That) just make me laugh.

Anyway, first part of the broken up music collection: Take That - Like I Never Loved You at All

In celebration of the fade-to-zero emotion that comes in with a break-up. I used to think that the worst thing you can do to someone is to fade-to-zero, so I love it that this is the first song that put it quite so literally. At least I can say Take That has become honest in their lyrics.

Where, where are the stars?
The one that we used to call ours
Can't imagine it now
We used to laugh til we fell down.

The secrets we had
Are now in the past
From something to nothing, tell me.

How did we lose our way?
It's hard to remember
All that we shared
Now we both have separate lives
From lovers to strangers, now alone
There's no one catching my fall
No one to hear my call
It's like I never loved you at all.

Now you're so far away
And I see our star is fading
One too many times
Guess it just got tired of waiting around.

The nights that we thought,
If these walls could talk
From something to nothing, tell me.

So now does he give you love
Is it only me now that's thinking of
What we had and what we were?
Did you ever care?
Baby was I ever there?

Ever passed an ex along the streets, glanced at each other, there was a clear sign of recognition, but all you get back was a blank stare? Bottle up that feeling and put it in a song.