Laughable and Laudable Lyrics

Have you ever had the experience of a song lyric seeming to be perfect for a thought you wanted to convey, but when you got home and opened up the CD case or googled the artist, the lyrics fall flat. It must be the melody or the wailing axe that brought the words to such heights, because lain bare on the page the words could only have come from a lovesick teenager high on dirt weed and Boone's Farm.

Yes, that happened to me the other day (the lyric thing not the Boone's Farm). I was up on Mt. Shasta among the butterflies (see previous post for lepidoptaran reference). My car CD bag, holds lots of classic rock, several mixes from friends with ipods and some limited contemporary tracks including Annie Lennox and Enya for those long late afternoon highway expanses. It was a line from one of those lilting Enya ballads that got me:

"Is there a sign I should know?"

Clearly it was the music and not the words because the lyrics later inspected are saccharin and jejune. I am not sure I have ever used jejune (immature) in a sentence before. Anyway, like most road trippers I am fond of anthems, particularly rock anthems and while wandering about in that genre, I stumbled on one that I had never taken the time to lyrically ponder. As it turns out, the words mirror how I am feeling about stumbling around in my life these days. My thanks to Green Day and Good Riddance.

Another turning point;

a fork stuck in the road.

Time grabs you by the wrist;

directs you where to go.

So make the best of this test

and don't ask why.

It's not a question

but a lesson learned in time.

It's something unpredictable

but in the end it's right.

I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs

and still frames in your mind.

Hang it on a shelf

In good health and good time.

Tattoos of memories

and dead skin on trial.

For what it's worth,

it was worth all the while.

It's something unpredictable

but in the end it's right

I hope you had the time of your life.

As always hearing is better (2:29).

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photo credit: Boutons