Lyric discussion by artmaven 

This is Jackson's masterpiece. It is one of the most beautifully and touchingly heartbroken songs ever written by anyone. This is an exquisitely crafted song.

I love the juxtapositions of

  • night / morning
  • awake / sleeping
  • closed eyes / dreaming
  • drifting / running
  • spoken words / whispered promises
  • steps from the beginning / close to the end
  • hard into your eyes / some words come easy
  • whispered promises / where we both lie
  • still wasn't right / changing light
  • continued through the night / running for that morning flight
  • bed / sky
  • vanished into the air / late for the sky

and I love the function of this progression:

And still we continued on . . . Awake again . . . How long have I been sleeping? How long have I been drifting . . . How long have I been dreaming . . . How long have I been running . . .

For all of its literary technique, it remains eternally fresh. I'll add an additional nod to David's slide guitar which is glorious.

Well put. I so admire JB's ability to structure his language. What a gift: lucky us! It is fun to deconstruct his lyrics. If one likes to craft lyrics, there is no better teacher than Jackson.

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