I thought since I hadn't blogged in a while I could share something I wrote about a while ago. I was searching through my old e-mails and came across the explanation for and lyrics to a song I wrote just over a year ago (I can't believe it's been that long!). It's a song I'm really proud of, so I thought I'd share it! My thoughts about it are long, so prepare yourselves...
ONLY DREAMED OF
VERSE 1:
A father knows how much he loves his children
He can feel it in the gritting of his teeth
When one of them falls and he’s not there to catch him
And he knows there will be other times like these
But he thinks, ‘Nobody could care for them like I do’
A mother cries when she thinks of her daughter
She can feel her in the beating in her chest
A failing heart that will not beat much longer
She will go and leave her just like all the rest
Still she says, ‘Nobody could give to her like I do’
CHORUS 1:
Could we ever even wrap our heads around
A love that never goes away?
Do we have a single slightest notion of
A person who will always stay
And give the kind of love we’ve only dreamed of?
VERSE 2:
An architect walks past the demolition
Of a building he once poured himself into
With saddest eyes, he still recalls the vision
But he knows there’s nothing now that he can do
He sighs, ‘Nobody could know this place like I do’
A soldier bleeds and falters in the battle
As he draws his dying breath, he feels content
He grips the flag with all the life left in him
He thinks of the nation for which it was spent
He whispers, ‘Nobody could love her the way I do’
CHORUS 2:
Is there anyone to build a home for us
That will not crumble to the ground?
Can we find a warrior to fight for us
Whose body never will be laid down?
VERSE 3:
I hear the bell and wonder who it could be
There is no one coming ‘round here anymore
I pull the latch, and to my knees I’m falling
I did not expect to see you at my door
And I say, ‘Nobody could need you the way I do
Nobody should ever be far from you'
CHORUS 1
Nobody could need you the way I do
Nobody should ever be far from you
The ‘seed’ that started the was something a friend said during a prayer. He said to God something like, ‘If you love us even close to how much I love my children, that’s a lot, and we know you love us even more.’ It made me realize that all we have to compare God against is ourselves. We can ‘imagine’ that he loves us more than we love our own children, but it’s hard for us to ‘know’ that. The truth is, our love for our children and anyone else we say we ‘love’ is like hating them compared to how God loves us, but we can’t quite grasp that.
The problem is that we fail those we love, all the time, and God never fails us. Even if it were possible to not fail those we love our entire lives, at the end we fail them by dying. We can never promise to ‘always be there’ for someone because our fragile lives could end at any moment. To experience true love, we need someone who is not bound by death. That’s what was so amazing about Jesus’ resurrection. He truly was with them, ‘to the very end of the age.’ And that’s what makes it almost arrogant or at least naïve of us to suppose that our love or our efforts for others (without giving them Christ) mean anything, even if we sacrifice our own life, for ‘if only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.’ Death eventually thwarts all our efforts unless we have been given life eternal from the only One who has conquered death.
I had most of the song finished except verse 3 and I was looking for a way to wrap it up. Then another friend mentioned the ‘unexpected’ theme of the art show coming up and I realized that’s what I’d been writing about: how unexpected it was for Jesus to rise from the dead. How this is what we had hoped for, had dreamed of, but didn’t see it coming. So I made verse 3 first person, trying to capture how a lifeless person feels when, out of the clear blue sky, Jesus comes knocking at their door. The final ‘Nobody could’ statement contrasts with the other ones, showing them to be false and the only real statement of the human condition to be ‘I am in desperate need of someone to love me like I desire, but fail, to love others.’So here's the lyrics to the song. Someday I'll record it and get it onto my myspace.
ONLY DREAMED OF
VERSE 1:
A father knows how much he loves his children
He can feel it in the gritting of his teeth
When one of them falls and he’s not there to catch him
And he knows there will be other times like these
But he thinks, ‘Nobody could care for them like I do’
A mother cries when she thinks of her daughter
She can feel her in the beating in her chest
A failing heart that will not beat much longer
She will go and leave her just like all the rest
Still she says, ‘Nobody could give to her like I do’
CHORUS 1:
Could we ever even wrap our heads around
A love that never goes away?
Do we have a single slightest notion of
A person who will always stay
And give the kind of love we’ve only dreamed of?
VERSE 2:
An architect walks past the demolition
Of a building he once poured himself into
With saddest eyes, he still recalls the vision
But he knows there’s nothing now that he can do
He sighs, ‘Nobody could know this place like I do’
A soldier bleeds and falters in the battle
As he draws his dying breath, he feels content
He grips the flag with all the life left in him
He thinks of the nation for which it was spent
He whispers, ‘Nobody could love her the way I do’
CHORUS 2:
Is there anyone to build a home for us
That will not crumble to the ground?
Can we find a warrior to fight for us
Whose body never will be laid down?
VERSE 3:
I hear the bell and wonder who it could be
There is no one coming ‘round here anymore
I pull the latch, and to my knees I’m falling
I did not expect to see you at my door
And I say, ‘Nobody could need you the way I do
Nobody should ever be far from you'
CHORUS 1
Nobody could need you the way I do
Nobody should ever be far from you
5 comments:
the song already has a complex structure, BUT... have you considered a new complimentary melody for the final verse (maybe going from minor to major) ala andrew bird's epilogue on "nervous tick" or many og the beatle's "bookends" (hey jude). it would call more attention to the answer that the final verse gives to the questions of the first four. something that starts bittersweet and turns to full-on sweet. just a thought. good words!
yeah, but sometimes key changes at the end of songs are very cheesy? possibly?
not a key change, a complimentary melody. like the "nananana" part of "hey jude." it's called a coda in classical music. i agree, key changes usually come off as cheesy. a coda is more sophisticated, it's intertwined with the original melody but is also independent.
Christopher, I think that's a very interesting idea, and I'm already thinking about how it could be. (Colleen's trying to defend my song since she's the only one [other thans Sarah] who's heard me play it on a grand piano at the CAC; I appreciate it Colleen!)
Yeah, sometimes the 'coda' or 'bookend' doesn't even have to be that different. Sometimes it's not even a different melody, but you change a chord underneath your primary melody. Like in Sufjan's 'Sister Winter' when you feel that change mid-song; he just put his major 4th at the start of the progression instead of the minor 6th he had been using. Somehow that simple change lifts the heart up of the listener, just as Sufjan's heart changes at that point in the song as he tries to be happy for his friends.
I'll think on it... I just got a second microphone and slightly more powerful recording unit, which should make for a lot better-sounding piano recordings...
By the way Colleen, people have seen my profile pic (which of course you took) and have asked me if a professional took it 'cause it looks so good! I proudly told them it was you.
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