| Jason Isbell – If We Were Vampires Lyrics | 6 years ago |
|
First of all if we consider songwriting an artform and songwriters artists and I am pretty sure we are all on agreement on that ....then this song is an artist creating an absolute masterpiece. This song is perfect in every way. There are very few songs that can nearly bring me to tears ON DEMAND with every listen but this is one of those rare fucking brilliant gems. It's absolutely heartbreaking in it's brutal honesty. What I really love is how he has written a love song that is not like all the other love songs. He spends the majority of the song telling us WHAT IT IS NOT but still managing to explain the amazing traits of this person he is deeply in love with has. It's not the clothes she wears but yet she looks beautiful in that long flowing dress. It's not the heart she protected for so long...but she certainly has a sense of right and wrong...The MERCY IN YOUR SENSE OF RIGHT AND WRONG. What a beautiful line. My favorite part is the next few lines and I relate to this so personally that this a about where I start to tear up. It's not the way you talk me off the roof. Your questions like directions to the truth. So as many artists suffer from depression, addiction and personal struggles I think he is inferring some of this by this statement. In our manic states or depression we tend to get ourselves into some messy situations or other trouble. Her talking him off the roof is her way of being a voice of reason in the middle of his own insanity. And of course we would never be willing to admit that we are in trouble or in distress so we can pike lies on top of lies and the truth or reality of any situation can get clouded as we convince ourselves of some of it. Instead of telling him to snap out of it or making him feel like an idiot or blatantly calling him out on his lies ....she helps him get himself unstuck and back to the reality and peace of a quiet mind.... QUESTIONS LIKE DIRECTIONS TO THE TRUTH!! Brilliant. So then if it's NOT all of those things...what is it. What is the underlying pain that we have when falling in love ....TRUE LOVE with someone. Yeah it's know that it's GOING TO END SOMEDAY. This life is all there is as far as we know so think about someone you love....like your spouse and project out 40 years or so....and losing that person. You realize oh my God....FORTY YEARS IS NOTHING. THAT IS NOT ENOUGH TIME....NOT TO SHARE WHAT I FEEL WITH SOMEONE I LOVE THIS DEEPLY....HOW HEARTBREAKING. If we were vampires....in other words if we were immortal and lived forever...each day would be just as meaningful as the last one or the next one because you have unlimited days you can always make up for days you weren't at your best...but each day is a gift. Hold that hand. But the last verses are the true gems...this gets right to exactly how I feel about my wife. Maybe time running out is a gift. I'll work hard til the end of my shift TO GIVE YOU EVERY SECOND I CAN FIND AND HOPE IT ISNT ME WHOSE LEFT BEHIND. I don't think I need to expand on any of that. Yeah I can't imagine watching my wife die and then being alone....it hurts my heart literally right now just thinking about it....I hope to God I die first so I don't have to feel that pain....but then...she is going to feel that pain. It's absolute agony and so fucking real...and true Live each day like it's your last because someday it will be |
|
| Jason Isbell – Elephant Lyrics | 6 years ago |
|
So this song is way up there in the ranks of perfect songs. My thoughts are this. This is a dear friend who is clearly dying of cancer and he is helping her through the process...the sickness from Chemo, the sadness of a life cut short. "If I fucked her before she got sick, I'd never hear the end of it...but she don't have the spirit for that now" This is a GOOD friend....had he initiated a sexual encounter at any time in their past because of being drunk and/lonely some random night she would berate him until her last breath. Why? Because you don't one night stand a friend! If you know its just going to be sex for sex sake that cheapens the relationship and puts that dear friend on the same level as some bar floozy you hooked up with at some point or many points in the past.....no this is a good friend. "I've buried her a thousand times and given up my place in line but I don't give a damn about that now. One thing that real clear to me that no one dies with dignity we just try to ignore the elephant somehow So all the preparing you do in your mind in preparing for the death of someone you love never ACTUALLY prepares you. Who gives a shit if you imagined it in your mind - who gives a shit if you told her or anyone else or just yourself that you would "give up your place in line' in other words trade places with them...who gives a shit...they still DIE and you just want them to be alive and here with you ...it's a shitty feeling and it never really goes away. And no one does die with dignity. As we die we usually are at our weakest most vulnerable and a shell of our former selves... We basically whither away. That is not very dignified...not being able to control your own bodily functions etc. No matter how many friends and loved ones that surround us as we take our final breaths we ultimately are the ones who have to experience that final stage ...and none of the ones we leave behind can truly relate to that process so basically we all die alone. Something to look forward to huh? |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.