I’m trying my hand at song writing. It’s a very different muscle than the way I write poetry — a different register of form and feeling and thinking, but I do believe writing a poem and writing a song are like two sisters calling from different horizons. I’m looking forward to seeing how this shapes my work.
This is an inspiration project where I’ll document my favorite lyrics from songs I listen to in my everyday or what speaks to me when I’m out in the world. It’s in no way a comprehensive list or a hierarchy of music. They are songs I’m listening to — across time and genre — that caught me and ones I keep thinking about.
I’ll share more as they come up. Below is Part I.
“And if I should falter
would you open your arms out to me?”
— Erasure, “A Little Respect”
“If there's a green pasture I wanna be in it
I'm a wild wild flower just a ready for the picking.”
— Lainey Wilson and Miranda Lambert, “Good Horses”
“Then you're left in the dust
Unless I stuck by ya
You're the sunflower
I think your love would be too much
Or you'll be left in the dust
Unless I stuck by ya
You're the sunflower
You're the sunflower”
— Post Malone, Swae Lee, “Sunflower”
“Bad bitches to the left
Money bitches to the right
You can be both, meet in the middle, dance all night
Take it all off or just a little if you like
It's pure
It should cost a billion to look this good (oh, yeah)”….
— Beyoncé, “PURE/HONEY”
“Tell me I'm not my fears, my limitations
I disappear, if you let me
Feeling like (on your own)
Feeling like Jericho
Feeling like Job when he lost his shit
Gotta hold my own, my cross to bear alone, I
Ooh, paid a deal, way to kill the mood
Know you like that shit, yeah, groovy baby, baby
Heavy on my empty mind shit”
….
“Always in my mind, always in my mind, mind
You've been making me feel like I'm
Always in my mind, always in my mind, mind.”
— SZA, “Good Days”
“You hate the fact that you bought the dream and they sold you one.”
— Drake and Rhianna, “Take Care”
“So far away
Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?
Traveling around sure gets me down and lonely
Nothing else to do but close my mind
I sure hope the road don't come to own me
There's so many dreams I've yet to find
But you're so far away
Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?”
— Carol King, “So far away”
“Someone hold my heart 'cause right now it's killing me
Drinks are hitting hard, but I can feel everything
It's like lighting a match that you don't ever throw
I'm good at getting attached, and bad at letting go”
— Leland (feat. MUNA), “Bad at letting go”
“Why do birds suddenly appear
Every time you are near?
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you”
— Carpenters, “Close to You”
“ I know your eyes in the morning sunI feel you touch me in the pouring rainAnd the moment that you wander far from meI wanna feel you in my arms againAnd you come to me on a summer breezeKeep me warm in your love, then you softly leaveAnd it's me you need to show.”
— The BeeGees, “How Deep Is Your Love”