Sometimes Music Says It Best

Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Love in the Third Degree.

No matter how eloquent or poetic I sometimes wax, there are still times when only a song can say it for me. Even when I myself cannot manage to sing through the tears in my throat or the laughter in my heart. This is one of those times, so I’ll let someone else’s lyrics speak for me. I’ve discovered some new songs and rediscovered some old ones that ring true for the moment…in a mix of sadness, relief, and just…observing without doing anything about what I see because it’s not mine to do.

Attract Him Back

If there’s no one beside you

When your soul embarks

Then I’ll follow you into the dark.

—“I’ll Follow You into the Dark,”

Death Cab for Cutie

These are dangerous days

To say what you feel is to dig your own grave

“Remember what I told you

If you were of the world they would love you”

—“Black Boys on Mopeds,” Sinead O’Connor

When the dark wood fell before me

And all the paths were overgrown

When the priests of pride say there is no other way

I tilled the sorrows of stone.

—“Dante’s Prayer,” LoreenaMcKennitt

Lend your voices only to sounds of freedom

No longer lend your strength

To that which you wish to be free from

Fill your lives with love and bravery

And you shall lead a life uncommon.

—“A Life Uncommon,” Jewel

I am looking for someone

Who can take as much as I give

And give back as much as I need

You know and they still have the will to live ah no

Cause I am intense, I am in need

I am in pain, I am in love.

—“Blood and Fire,” Indigo Girls

I do believe it’s true

That there are roads left in both of our shoes

If the silence takes you

Then I hope it takes me too.

—“Where Soul Meets Body,” Death Cab for Cutie

Well, I’ll be damned.

Here comes your ghost again.

—“Diamonds and Rust,” Joan Baez

And I know that I’m gonna be like this forever

I’m never gonna be what I should

And you think that I’ll be bad for just a little while

But I know that I’ll be bad for good.

—“Bad for Good,” Jim Steinman

You got to cry without weeping

Talk without speaking

Scream without raising your voice

—“Running to Stand Still,” U2

In a room

Without a door

A kiss is not enough

—“Love My Way,” Psychedelic Furs

I thought that I heard you laughing

I thought that I heard you sing

I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream

—“Losing My Religion,” REM

It’s nothing but time and a face that you lose

I chose to feel it and you couldn’t choose

—“Ex-Lover Is Dead,” Stars

The little conversations

On me are very rough

They leave me all in pieces

You know there’s never time enough

—“Little Conversations,” Concrete Blonde

And she will always carry on

Something is lost

But something is found

They will keep on speaking her name

Some things change

Some stay the same.

—“Hymn to Her,” The Pretenders


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