Song Series: "Prayer for the Dying" by Seal

This is one of my favorite songs by Seal and simply just one of my favorite songs. It is right down my alley as far as the theme and spirit the song conveys. You could argue that the reason I like it so much is because it is so similar to my worldview, however I like to think that this is one of those songs in particular that have informed on my worldview. Seal, himself, has called "Prayer for the Dying" a celebration of life more than a mourning of death. The song can be found on Seal's self-titled 1994 album. I first heard it in 1996 and I still love it to this day.

This song is quite philosophical. In the first few lines, it immediately identifies the problem it is confronting and, almost as quickly, provides the solution to that problem. First is the issue of the problem of life. "Fearless people/Careless needle/Harsh words spoken/And lives are broken." Working backwards, it is clear that coping with brokenness (sound familiar?) is certainly a struggle. Seal attributes that to a breakdown in personal relationships. He often uses the imagery of a needle & drugs as a symbol for the high we get from love. The seemingly odd inclusion of "fearless" leads me to believe that there is a suggestion that misplaced emotion leads to the breakdown in personal relationships which makes coping with brokenness such a struggle.

Then, Seal arrives at a solution. The most important theme in this song is faith. "Forceful aging/Help me I'm fading/Heaven's waiting/It's time to move on." The first half of this quote says, essentially, that there is no time to lose. The problem can be fixed, and every person can fix it, but they need to start immediately. Next is one of the deeper, multiple-meaning points in the song. First, the listener is reassured in the expected way: move on, don't be afraid, Heaven will be there. There's more to it, however, as you consider that because heaven is waiting, that means it is not here now. That solution is up to us. Life is not waiting, and therefore it's time to move on, literally move, now. The motivation is obvious as is the need for faith in yourself, the last piece is faith in others.

"I may not know what you're going through/But time is the space between me and you." Despite the undercurrent of urgency present, this is another reassuring line. This line is the solution to having faith in others. Essentially, the only external thing that really separates two people is ignorance, and ignorance is removed quite simply by taking the time to remove it. Everything else involved in having faith in other people is literally within the control of the individual.

"I just don't know what's got into me." This is the second most important quote of the song, and the key is in the word, "know." Seal does not, and cannot, know what's got into him but he believes something has. He feels it. This is spirit, that thing which moves him toward faith. And just in case the idea of faith hasn't yet dawned on the listener, he hits you several times with this line: "Hold on, say yes, while people say no."

Now, the most important line: "Life carries on... when nothing else matters, when nothing else matters." To me personally, this quote is extraordinary and would probably require my whole life story and philosophy written down and analyzed for me to convey the extent of the quote's meaning. However, a very superficial interpretation is that when you have everything, life carries on, and yet when you have nothing, life still carries on. So, life is moved by nothing but itself. When everything falls away, if you're lost or suffering, you are still left with your life, and it carries on. Faith says that this should be a comfort. Finally, Seal ends the song with one last thought. "It's just a prayer for the dying... for the dying." This takes us back to the solution of the problem stated at the beginning. The dying refers to us all as, after all, life carries on until it's over. And that's a beautiful thing.

Unfortunately, the demands of radio edits and music videos means that the most important line of the song is not included, but here is the video nonetheless:

Song Series: "Sentimental Guy" by Ben Folds

This song comes from Ben Folds' solo album Songs for Silverman, which was released in 2005. The album itself is very good, as its songs loosely tell the story of a man's life. It begins with an old man having a "paradigm arrest" as Ben puts it, and goes on to describe adolescence & growing up. Then, the album features a look at religion, love and loss and new love, fathering a child, the death of a friend, nostalgia, and it finally points to the end of the man's life. It really contains palpable emotion conveyed through Ben's usual quirky and ironic sense of humor, although this one is a little more serious.

Sentimental Guy -- click the preceding to hear the song -- is most obviously about the ways age can affect or even limit our sentimentality. Lyrics are available here.

It is clear that the main character of the song is far removed in time from one of his past lives, perhaps childhood. The death of an individual or individuals from this past life brings about reflection. This may be an actual death, but I like to read deeper and think of it as the death of their relationship to the main character. The relationship certainly occurred early in his development, as he sings, "Little things you said or did are part of me, come out from time to time/Probably no one I know now would notice."

Thematically, the song is about nostalgia. The chorus is probably the most simple and yet most effective (isn't it always?) of the entire album. It is a one line lyric: "I never thought so much could change," and it blends into a piano melody that can only be described as nostalgic in my mind. The melody also refers to the way Ben sings "... I used to be a sentimental guy" in other parts of the song. These interpretations are confirmed near the end of the song with the final verse.

The last verse tells us what the main character is doing, where he is, and why he's singing this song. "People talkin' and I'm watching/As flashes of their faces go black and white/And fade to yellow in a box in an attic". Sitting in the attic looking at old pictures is pretty far from unsentimental. His lament that it's a shame he doesn't miss anyone or anything seems to me to be a function of necessity. That life has faded to yellow, and while nostalgia can be very good, it can also hold you back if you are unable to let go.

This song presents some difficult truths about growing up, and yet it never takes from me that life-is-beautiful feeling I always have. There is certainly a desensitized feeling about certain things that can come with the experience of age. However, there are ways to maintain that sentimentality, and even the main character here does it. The awareness itself is sentimental and that is displayed through the simple fact of singing the song. More importantly, there is the warning that he is haunted by the "left unsaid". I think we all have things we think and do not say. The danger here is if we fail to say those things during the times in which we possess the sentimentality to say them, we may lose the chance or the ability to do so forever. Someone kind enough to give us that heads up sounds like a pretty sentimental guy to me.

Song Series: "The Stone" by Dave Matthews Band

Today, I introduce a new feature to the blog. I will use the Song Series to give brief interpretations of some of my favorite songs. Today's edition is from the Dave Matthews Band album: Before These Crowded Streets. Here are my impressions of "The Stone".

The song is divided into two basic tones. The rhythm of the music gives an idea of the back-and-forth between them. The dissonance tells us that they are at odds. The verses represent to me the nagging tug of reality. Indeed, there are lines like "I will go a long way from that fool's mistake/And forever pay, no run, I will run and I'll be okay" and "I will go a long way to bury the past for I don't want to pay/Oh how I wish, this, to turn back the clock and do over again". Our lives are full of mistakes and they probably wouldn't be worth living if we didn't make a few. Some are more serious than others, so we face that inner conflict of knowing we deserve the consequences but also trying to find a way out. I'm sure every person has had a situation they wish they could run from or start over.

In fact, that is an inescapable quality of this world. Perfect in its imperfection. I really believe in that. The truth of it is, in my eyes, one of the main ways we are defined is by getting thrown into the muck and digging ourselves out. The verses present feelings that occur in the moment, but looking outside-in, I'm able to say that I wouldn't be who I am without the tough stuff and the need to strive beyond it. I think this is the reason there is so much ambivalence in each verse.

Whereas the verses give us conflict, the chorus offers a sense of serenity within a relationship between two individuals. The song is quite ambiguous in terms of deciding how much of a romantic element is involved. However, my personal belief is that it is a relationship between lovers. The lyrics read "I was just wondering if you'd come along/Hold up my head when my head won't hold on/I'll do the same if the same's what you want/But if not I'll go, I will go a long way".

This part is sung in what could be described as a loving tone. There is a hope for a relationship of mutual love and the emotion of if you want to be with me I want to be with you but if not I'll be fine on my own, which is often found. That's when we're hit by the last line of the chorus which bleeds into the first parts of the verses, furthering the tension between the safety of the relationship and the harshness of the real world.

The irony of this idea is that I believe the tension can be broken. That ability rests within the individuals and their choosing to do the "mutual love" part and not the "I'll be fine on my own" part. I believe strongly in inner strength and independence, but I also think that strength often needs additional support. The best relationship, for me, makes me believe in myself even more.

And so, I think the song implicitly gives the answer to the problem it presents. The two tones, the two worlds, in the song are separate and at odds. The answer? Yes, that's right... put ‘em together. Combine the two. Introduce the harshness into the relationship. That sounds weird, but I'm talking about that thing we don't really like doing. Share how that makes you feel. In addition, introduce the relationship into the real world. Let yourself trust in someone else even when you're in the muck and alone. It's difficult, hence the song, but it's something I know I need to do. I take comfort in the way the song ends. A beautiful, and unmistakably positive, set of strings fading into silence.