So everyone has now heard the song by the Fray. I first heard it in the summer when I saw the music video on YouTube interjected with clips from the third season of Grey's Anatomy...and I immediately fell in love. The music was perfectly mixed in with the chosen clips. But then came time for me to look up the lyrics on Letssingit. The lyrics are ridiculous. Let's go through some of the brilliant rhymes they came up with. Hmmm...talk with talk. Oh and right with right. Oh, and then theres best with best. And then they really start using their creativity: same and came. Hoo boy! Such Masterful Lyricists! Its kinda like when we were in sixth grade English and the teacher would make us write a poem and all we knew how to do was rhyme words together not knowing that poem can be written without a rhyme. Now don't get me wrong, I still love the song and get excited when I hear it on the radio or I hear it on my iPOD. But, Seriously?!
How to Save a Life- The Fray
Step one you say we need to talk
He walks you say sit down it’s just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
And you begin to wonder why you came
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
Let him know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you’ve told him all along
And pray to God he hears you
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
As he begins to raise his voice
You lower yours and grant him one last choice
Drive until you lose the road
Or break with the ones you’ve followed
He will do one of two things
He will admit to everything
Or he’ll say he’s just not the same
And you’ll begin to wonder why you came
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
3 comments:
I never liked this song EVER. I think it takes away from Greys and it bothers me that they link the two together. I change the radio when it’s on. And those commercials kill me!
I also never liked the Fray. So it does not surprise me that hey are lyrically challenged. I say good, they deserve it!
I love this song and I love it with Grey's Anatomy. And though they do end lines with the same words, or elementary words ( since that seems to be the complaint) there is nothing in song writing or poetry that forbids such style. The song is deep in meaning and I believe that the writers (my own personal belief of course) actually put thought and feeling into the words which is one reason that the song is so powerful. If you ever experienced the events that they're singing about then you would understand what every word and line actually means.
And for one who is criticizing lyrics, have you listened to Nickelback's "Photograph" lately? That song is completely 6th grade level. But I think that many of the rap/ hip hop songs ( and I am a fan of this category) are at levels even below 6th grade. Making words end with nizzle and dizzle just so you can get a rhyme is not exaclty high quality lyric writing. But then, that's just my opinion.
Don't even get me started on that Nickelback song. Seriously, it doesn't even read well. Oy. Take a group like the Dixie Chicks and the first track of their new album Taking the Long Way. They also tell the story of where they came from, how they got where they were going (in a Pink RV, literally!), and how they overcame obstacles on their way (like death threats!), but its sang with lyrics that help me visualize something much much deeper. I can actually picture the story taking place.
In Nickelback's Photograph, their words don't really inspire me to picture what the hell is on Joey’s head at the end of the first stanza. No thanks.
If you are looking for thought, feeling, and power in your music....buy this CD!
Long Way Around
My friends from high school
Married their high school boyfriends
Moved into houses in the same ZIP codes
Where their parents live
But I, I could never follow
No I, I could never follow
I hit the highway in a pink RV with stars on the ceiling
Lived like a gypsy
Six strong hands on the steering wheel
I've been a long time gone now
Maybe someday, someday I'm gonna settle down
But I've always found my way somehow
By taking the long way
Taking the long way around
Taking the long way
Taking the long way around
I met the queen of whatever
Drank with the Irish and smoked with the hippies
Moved with the shakers
Wouldn't kiss all the asses that they told me to
No I, I could never follow
No I, I could never follow
It's been two long years now
Since the top of the world came crashing down
And I'm getting' it back on the road now
But I'm taking the long way
Taking the long way around
I'm taking the long way
Taking the long way around
The long
The long way around
Well, I fought with a stranger and I met myself
I opened my mouth and I heard myself
It can get pretty lonely when you show yourself
Guess I could have made it easier on myself
But I, I could never follow
No I, I could never follow
Well, I never seem to do it like anybody else
Maybe someday, someday I'm gonna settle down
If you ever want to find me I can still be found
Taking the long way
Taking the long way around
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