poetry in music

At Saturday night's gig, I was actually able to sit down and listen to band members Steve and Kathy perform Dan Fogelberg's "Longer." There was much to admire -- Steve's fingerpicking, Kathy's harmony, my absence from the bandstand -- but most of all Dan Fogelberg's lyrics. There's an understated economy about them ... they evoke more than they provoke, and they are never there to show you what a clever boy the lyricist is. I especially love Fogelberg's "The Reach" and "Leader of the Band" for his ability to carry on an extended metaphor, but ... getting back to "Longer" -- the third verse to this particular song is as well-written as anything I've heard.

For those not familiar, "Longer" is a man telling his woman that his love for her is basically grander than anything natural or man made. It's gentle hyperbole, but the last verse ties it up nicely, and it's as good as any poetry I've ever read. Here it is:

"Through the years as the fire starts to mellow
Burning lines in the book of our lives
Though the binding cracks and the pages start to yellow
Ill be in love with you."

Sweet, huh?

 

Hey, Mo; everyone who loves music misses Fogelberg. Here's "The Reach." It's never one of the top 5 or 6 whenever anyone talks about him, but it's my fave:

It's Maine...
And it's Autumn
The birches have just begun turning
It's life and it's dying
The lobstermen's boats come returning
With the catch of the day in their holds
and the young boys cold and complaining
The fog meets the beaches and out on
the Reach it is raining --

It's father and son
It's the way it's been done since the old days
It's hauling by hand ten miles out
from the land where their chow waits
And the days are all lonely and long
and seas grow so stormy and strong but
The Reach will sing welcome as homeward
they hurry along.

And the morning will blow away
As the waves crash and fall
And the Reach like a siren sings
as she beckons and calls
As the coastline recedes from view
And the seas swell and roll
I will take from the Reach
all that she has to teach
To the depths of my soul --

The wind brings a chill
There's a frost on the sill in the morning
It creeps through the door
On the edge of the shore
ice is forming
Soon the northers will bluster and blow
And the woods will be whitened
with snowfall
And the Reach will lie frozen
for the lost and unchosen to row --

And the morning will blow away
As the waves crash and fall
And the Reach like a siren sings
as she beckons and calls
As the coastline recedes from view
And the seas swell and roll
I will take from the Reach
all that she has to teach
To the depths of my soul --

Oh, by the way, if you ever make it down here, we do a pretty mean version of "California Dreamin'." :lol:

 

as soon as we're inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! :3d laughing:

 

not familiar with it, RR. I've cut 'n pasted the lyrics [which ARE great] to my partner and see if he knows it. He's the JT freak in the group.

Thanks for sharing.