Some of you (cough, Angie) know that there is a song on every Ben Folds album that just gets you. For whatever reason.
On Rockin' the Suburbs it was "The Luckiest". For obvious reasons. I listen to it, I weep. Finnegan weeps. The sky weeps. It's how I feel, but didn't know it. Until the day I die, that song will choke me up.
Well, yesterday I'm listening to this song from Ben's latest "Songs for Silverman".
I teared up. Couldn't help it.
Gert's middle name, for the record, is Grace. At home we call her "Miss Grace". Now, in my head, she's "Gracie Girl".
It's all about the "You're not a baby, Gracie, you're my friend" line. I try to sing it to Harper, and I end up getting all lip-quivered.
ReplyDeleteHave I got a song for the both of you: Heaven Help the Child on Kasim Sulton's Quid Pro Quo. I tear up after the first couple of notes.
ReplyDeleteThe first couple of lines: ....never mind, here's all the lines (I'd forgotten that I'd transcribed them to make a lyric sheet. By Kasim Sulton & Glen Burtnik.
A paper rainbow hangs in the room
Dolls on the nightstand - a bride and a groom
Outside the window is a pale colored moon
Heaven Help The Child
Tiny fingers with nails painted red
Clutching a blanket pulled over her head
Praying no monsters are under the bed
Heaven Help The Child
She needs someone to hold her every day
Somebody who will kiss her tears away
She needs someone to put the pieces back again
When her little heart is broken
Chalk colored sidewalks and castles of sand
Wells full of wishes and storybook plans
Someday there’ll be changes she won’t understand
Heaven Help The Child
She needs someone to hold her every day
Someone to take her hand and lead the way
She needs someone to put the pieces back again
When her little heart is broken
A paper rainbow hangs in the room
Dolls on the night stand - a bride and a groom
One small angel will be growing up soon
Heaven Help The Child
Oh my God. I could barely read the lyrics. I think I'll go hug Meredith and cry like an idiot now...
ReplyDeleteGood thing I didn't mention Marc Coehn's "Things We've Handed Down":
ReplyDeleteDon't know much about you
Don't know who you are
We've been doing fine without you
But, we could only go so far
Don't know why you chose us
Were you watching from above
Is there someone there that knows us
Said we'd give you all our love
Will you laugh just like your mother
Will you sigh like your old man
Will some things skip a generation
Like I've heard they often can
Are you a poet or a dancer
A devil or a clown
Or a strange new combination of
The things we've handed down
I wonder who you'll look like
Will your hair fall down and curl
Will you be a mama's boy
Or daddy's little girl
Will you be a sad reminder
Of what's been lost along the way
Maybe you can help me find her
In the things you do and say
And these things that we have given you
They are not so easily found
But you can thank us later
For the things we've handed down
You may not always be so grateful
For the way that you were made
Some feature of your father's
That you'd gladly sell or trade
And one day you may look at us
And say that you were cursed
But over time that line has been
Extremely well rehearsed
By our fathers, and their fathers
In some old and distant town
From places no one here remembers
Come the things we've handed down
*weep*
ReplyDeleteThere's also that one neo-country one about watching your (daughter) dancing, but I can never remember who does that one....Poppy?
For me it's "Ribbons Undone" from Tori Amos' latest.
ReplyDeleteThe whole song gets to me. I think it would for anyone who has daughters. I find it particularly heartening since I vividly remember wearing out my "Little Earthquakes" tape back during my teen angst period. So I find it rather comforting that I'm still listening to Tori and she's still writing songs that pertain to my life.