This song just destroyed me
Have you ever heard a song about 20 times and then when you really read through the lyrics thought 'this is 10 times more powerful than I thought it was' ? I did this morning. Woke up with this song still in my head so I put it on and read the lyrics and it tore my soul up. Sheryl Crow has written her fair share of light pop songs, many of which deal with feelings of longing and regret but this song embodies absolute grief.
I'm still divided on whether it is about the heartbreak of breaking up with someone you are still in love with, or whether it is about losing someone to death and loving them as strongly as ever, wanting to know and feel that they have made that safe passage. This morning I lean toward the later. She changed the lyrics from her original recording which was "I don't wanna be sad" to "Could you not be sad" as if she is projecting her own emotion now or perhaps talking to herself.
Forever fades away
Like a rocket ascending into space
Could you not be sad
Could you not break down
After all, I won't let go
Until you're safe and sound (repeats)
...
I don't blame you for quitting
I know you really try
If only you could hang on through the night
'Cause I don't wanna be lonely
I don't wanna be scared
And all our friends are waiting there
It could be about that crazy impulse to comfort the person who is breaking up with you but the line about "all our friends are waiting there" and then the end have me thinking it is written in the throes of fresh and utter grief -- regrets, denial, bargaining, all that, all mixed up:
(Feel like I could've moved you)
(I feel like I could've changed you)
I feel like I could've healed you
I feel like I should've told you
I feel like I could've loved you
I feel like I really loved you (repeat 6x)
I feel like I could've saved you
Crow put this at the end of many concerts in 2002/03 and that is where I heard it. It makes me think that she considers it one her best and most heart felt songs. It slowly explodes in a long crescendo and then fades to a whisper. I think what really got me this morning was the end with it's immersion in regrets for what could have been.
= new reply since forum marked as read
