Lyrical Therapy

I love music. I appreciate all kinds of music: old standards, country, hip-hop, show tunes, you name it and I'll probably enjoy something about the genre (well, excpet maybe heavy metal, but that's neither her nor there). The thing about music for me though are the lyrics. I suppose that's why I prefer mellow, old lady music, because I can understand what they are saying. I want to listen to music that tells me a story or that speaks to some part of my soul and verbalizes all of the things that I can not say. Puts meaning to the things that I feel. Sings of love in a way that I have yet to experience. That is what good music is to me. So I guess what I appreciate even more than good music are good song writers and lyricists. And when you find someone who does both, who can write the words that move you and sing them in a way that gives them the purest of meanings, then you have a winner. I want to be able to sit back with a glass of wine and listen to music that reminds me of what it is to be alive, to experience it all and to remember what all of the struggle is really for.

I found a song a few days ago that made me stop and catch my breath. A song that I am sure was written for some lost lover. But that's the beauty of music. Everyone can take that lyric and find the meaning for you, for your life, for those that you love. When I hear this song I think of the men in my life-my father, my brother-who left long ago and who will never really understand the person that I have become, because of them and in spite of them. And I wish that I could take the woman that I am now and turn the clock back to how things were then and I could hold them and they could hold me and maybe we would all understand. I think they'd be surprised...

You’d Be Surprised,
Lyrics by Idina Menzel

You’d be surprised, at all that I’ve become
You’d be surprised, I changed while you’ve been gone
And I’ve learned so much more from you then I could ever say
If you were here, I think that you’d stay

You’d be surprised, how far these arms can reach
You’d be surprised, there’s a promise I can keep
Would you believe that I seldom fall to pieces anymore
If you were here, you’d like what you saw

You’d be surprised
If you were here we’d make up time
For all that’s disappeared
And I, I’d hold you like I never could

You’d be surprised, my life is often sweet
You’d be surprised, it’s you who brings me peace
And for some unearthly reason it takes losing you to see
If you were here, I’d know just what you need

You’d be surprised, I loved you all along
You’d be surprised, I now confess when I am wrong
And I see the world around me in a slightly softer shade
If you were here, you wouldn’t walk away

You’d be surprised
If you were here we’d make up time
For all that’s disappeared
And I, I’d hold you like I never could

You’d be surprised, if you were here we’d make it right
There’d be no tears and you’d confide in me
And I’d be there
I’d be there
I’d be there
I’ve changed, you’d be so......