Coming Like Light

I talked with a friend this weekend. A close friend of hers died in an accident a week ago and it had been a rough week for her. So I sent her a card Saturday morning with a quote from the song "Coming Like Light" by my former classmate’s band, IZZ. Basically the gist of the card was that I'm sending good positive thoughts your way, yadda, yadda, yadda. I know that sounds like I am trivializing the card, however the focus of this post is not the card but rather the song because I find it inspiring. (The contents of the card and my friend's grief are hers, and not mine, to share.) The song, on the other hand, is IZZ's and I can comment all I want on it. This is the part of the song I quoted:

"To love someone is to learn the song that is inside their heart
And sing it to them when they cannot remember how it starts.”
I will sing your song
When you need it, my love
I will sing your song
Be sure that with me you belong"

I really like that because we all forget the song inside our hearts from time to time, often when life gets too painful. I know I definitely forgot it when my cousin committed suicide. And the emails and calls I got from friends were those reminders of the song I have inside. (And I thank those of you who sent those. It really helped me get through a tough time.) So was spending time with my best friend, Steven. This fall will mark 20 years as friends. There are few people on this planet who know my song as well as he does. And I know his just as well.

My sisters, Katie and Kelly, are getting to know my song quite well. That wasn't always the case between us. When we were younger we did not get along. J4UNC and KRSONE know my song very well, as does Tesser. And they all helped remind me Who I Really Was when I forgot.

The verse that comes before the above quote I think really describes well what I feel when I "fall in love."

"So I start to feel creative in my mind
And I’m uninhibited for the first time in a long time
Then she speaks to me and stares into my eyes
And I’m suddenly aware that I’m alive, there’s no more lies"

Yeah, that's about right. You see, I perceive the world in music. When I meet people I hear music depending on what energies they are exuding. And when I meet someone that I find very attractive, oh boy! You should hear the music going off in my head. Sometimes though, the music will change as I get to know the person.

If the person is, for lack of a better word, "ugly" inside, or I find that we have things that clash, then the music become discordant and some times just stops altogether. I remember this girl in college, sweet person, but I just got such "off" vibes from her. I never could put my finger on it.

Now if as I get to know the person I see that there's a congruency inside, or things that inspire me, well then the music goes off the charts and I get that desire to be unhibited as the song lyric says. I guess I mean coming out from the walls that I built up inside (like I talked about in my post Seeing My Reflection In The Mirror). Anyway, I thought the song put it rather nicely.

Coming Like Light ends with the lyrics below. I like them because it is almost saying that we have the power to make the world what we want it to be. We can choose and create the love we want in our lives. The love we want for ourselves and for others. We can rage against the gray mundanity of living life at ordinary levels.


"And you can
Inspire
insist
tired
pissed
want more
demand
Of all that is gray and there and sold and gold and bland
make it through the day when wrapped around your finger
Is the song or is the piece where we all long to ever linger
But you can’t just conceive the words, believe the words
You know, you know, you move, create, your soul’s at stake
Cause love is what you make
You can make love
You can make love
You can make love…
Real love, true love, above"



I hope that when I die it will be said of me that through my life, and my love, that I inspired others to remember the song inside of their hearts when they could not remember how it starts. And that yes, here with me is where you belong. That place for the lovers, the dreamers and me. Well, either here or that place where to go you take the third star on the left and go straight on through till the morning. Both are very nice places to live. I think that is something noble for which I can strive.

(End note: If you enjoyed the lyrics from this song, I recommend buying the albums "I Move" and "Ampersand" from IZZ's website. Support original, home-grown music!)