Life and Music

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So, anyone who knows me or has read my blog for any length of time knows that I get all of my feels from music.  Reflecting on lyrics gives me some sense of clarity that maybe others get from yoga or whatever their happy place may be.

I think that I mentioned in a couple previous posts that one of my favorite happy places is my Jackson Browne Pandora station.   Not only is he an amazing songwriter but his voice never gets old for me.  The song that I am writing about here was released back in 1974 and over the past couple years may have moved itself up into my favorite song ever status.

There are all kinds of songs about life as a dance.  The Dance from Garth Brooks gets me in ugly tears every thing.  “Life is a dance.” Etc.

This song is called For a Dancer.  Every single time it comes on it stops me in my tracks.  So many poowerful lyrics.  The first part about the funeral seems likely irrelevant but on the flip side makes you think about losing a past self or a major influence in your life.

Click play.  And I want to share some of my favorite lyrics below.  In color.

So powerful!

“For A Dancer”

Keep a fire burning in your eye
Pay attention to the open sky
You never know what will be coming down
I don’t remember losing track of you
You were always dancing in and out of view
I must have thought you’d always be around
Always keeping things real by playing the clown
Now you’re nowhere to be found
I don’t know what happens when people die
Can’t seem to grasp it as hard as I try
It’s like a song I can hear playing right in my ear
That I can’t sing
I can’t help listening
And I can’t help feeling stupid standing ’round
Crying as they ease you down
‘Cause I know that you’d rather we were dancing
Dancing our sorrow away
(Right on dancing)
No matter what fate chooses to play
(There’s nothing you can do about it anyway)
Just do the steps that you’ve been shown
By everyone you’ve ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own
No matter how close to yours
Another’s steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you’ll do alone
Keep a fire for the human race
Let your prayers go drifting into space
You never know what will be coming down
Perhaps a better world is drawing near
And just as easily it could all disappear
Along with whatever meaning you might have found
Don’t let the uncertainty turn you around
(The world keeps turning around and around)
Go on and make a joyful soundInto a dancer you have grown
From a seed somebody else has thrown
Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own
And somewhere between the time you arrive
And the time you go
May lie a reason you were alive
But you’ll never know

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