Remember the day I set you free/
I told you you could always count on me darling.

“Ain’t No Mountain” is another great song by Diana Ross, this time written by Valerie Simpson and Nickolas Ashford. The message sounds simple: “Ill be there for you. No mountain is high enough that it can keep me away from you.” However, the lyrics indicate that this is a breakup song. She is saying this to her significant other as she is breaking up with him/her:

Remember the day I set you free?
I told you you could always count on me darling
From that day on, I made a vow
I’ll be there when you want me.

In my mind it seems strange making vows to people at the end of relationships, but whatever works for you. The vocal is amazing. She doesn’t have a great traditional voice, but it is recognizable, fun and pretty. Ross is at the peak of her pop powers as she sings a song that appeals across genres.

Ain’t No Mountain Lyrics

If you need me, call me.
No matter where you are,
No matter how far.
Just call my name,
I’ll be there in a hurry.
On that you can depend and never worry.

You see, my love is alive.
It’s like a seed that only needs the thought of you
To grow.
So if you feel the need for company,
Please, my darling, let it be me.

I may not be able to express
The depth of the love I feel for you.
But a writer put it very nicely
When he was away from the one he loved,
He sat down and wrote these words:

“No wind, (no wind)
No rain, (no rain)
Nor winter’s cold
Can stop me, babe
(Oh, babe) baby (baby)
If you’re my goal.”

“No wind, (no wind)
No rain, (no rain)
Can stop me, babe,
If you wanna go.”

I know, I know you must follow the sun,
Wherever it leads.
But remember-
If you should fall short of your desires
Remember life holds for you one guarantee-
You’ll always have me.

And if you should miss my lovin’
One of these old days.
If you should ever miss the arms
That used to hold you so close, or the lips
That used to touch yours so tenderly.
Just remember what I told you
The day I set you free.

Ain’t no mountain high enough,
Ain’t no valley low enough,
Ain’t no river wild enough,
To keep me from you.

Ain’t no mountain high enough,
Ain’t no valley low enough,
(Say it again),
Ain’t no river wild enough,
To keep me from you.

Ain’t no mountain high enough,
Nothing can keep me,
Keep me from you.

Ain’t no mountain high enough (no),
Nothing can keep me,
Keep me from you.

Ain’t no mountain high enough,
Ain’t no valley low enough,
(Say it again),
Ain’t no river wild enough,
To keep me from you.

Ain’t no mountain high enough,
Ain’t no valley low enough,
Ain’t no river wild enough,
To keep me from you.

Nothing in this world,
(Ain’t no valley low enough),
Nothing in this world,
Can keep me from you, baby.

I’ll be there in a hurry,
Just call my name,
I’ll be there.
Ain’t no mountain high enough,
Nothing can keep me, keep me from you.

Ain’t no mountain high enough,
(Say it again).
Ain’t no river wild enough,
To keep me from you.

Songwriters: Valerie Simpson / Nickolas Ashford

It’s like I told you/
Only the lonely can play.

The Motel’s Martha Davis sings “Only the Lonely” and makes it sound so depressing. She truly captures what loneliness seems like it would sound like, and we seem to feel her loneliness. The vocal is clearly what makes the song. The lyrics remain a bit cryptic: what exactly is it that ‘only the lonely can play’? Let’s figure out what is going on in the song:

We get the impression that two people who were once together are meeting over drinks and the author begins to reminisce and ponders the situation she finds herself in. It is awkward and there is not necessarily an intention of doing anything other than catching up.

She remembers the life they had. It seems like during the relationship there were some lies told and perhaps they took each other for granted. She has forgotten a lot of the specifics, but overall, she gets a good feeling thinking of their past.

So, it sounds like the experience that ‘only the lonely can play’ is the bittersweet reminiscing between two old lovers. This song is truly heartbreaking. Another good song with a similar theme is Dan Fogelburg’s Another Auld Lang Syne.

Lyrics Only The Lonely
We walked the loneliest mile
We smile without any style
We kiss all together wrong
No intention

We lie about each other’s drinks
We live without each other
Thinking what anyone would do
Without me and you

It’s like I told you
Only the lonely can play

So hold on here we go
Hold on to nothin’ we know
I feel so lonely
Way up here

You mention the time we were together
So long ago well I don’t remember
All I know is it makes me feel good now

It’s like I told you only the lonely can play
Only the lonely only the lonely can play

Only the lonely only the lonely can play
It’s like I told you only the lonely can play
Only the lonely
Only the lonely can play

Songwriters: Martha Emily Davis

I’m in love with a ghost…

The narrator in The Indigo Girls’ “Ghost” takes out a letter from an ex-girlfriend from when they were together. Predictably, it sets her on a whirlwind of feelings, memories and emotions. She knows this is going to happen, but sometimes you just let your mind wander to your past.

The narrator is clearly still in love with her ex, even though the relationship is long over. This is not just a sorrow due to a relationship being over. She thought that this was ‘the one’ and she still feels this way.  Her ex-lover’s memory casts such a shadow on her current life that it is almost like she is living with a ghost.

This song is a great use of extended metaphor.  The ghost and the river are particularly powerful. Great writing.

“Ghost” a great example of a folk love song. There are finger-picking guitars, vocal harmonies and light percussion. At times it also borders on easy listening. Strangely, it never found a large audience. It is a true diamond-in-the-rough.

The Indigo Girl’s vocals and harmonies are particularly good. The lead vocal is delivered with conviction and we feel the agony in her voice.

Ghost Lyrics

There’s a letter on the desktop that I dug out of a drawer,
The last truce we ever came to
In our adolescent war.

And I start to feel the fever,
From the warm air through the screen,
You come regular like seasons
Shadowing my dreams.

And the Mississippi’s mighty
But it starts in Minnesota,
At a place that you could walk across
With five steps down.

And I guess that’s how you started
Like a pinprick to my heart,
But at this point you rush right through me
And I start to drown.

And there’s not enough room
In this world for my pain,
Signals cross and love gets lost,
And time passed makes it plain.
Of all my demon spirits
I need you the most,
I’m in love with your ghost.
I’m in love with your ghost.

Dark and dangerous like a secret, (don’t tell a soul)
That gets whispered in a hush.
When I wake the things I dreamed about you (don’t tell a soul)
Last night make me blush.

And you kiss me like a lover;
Then you sting me like a viper.
I go follow to the river,
Play your memory like a piper.

And I feel it like a sickness-
How this love is killing me.
I’d walk into the fingers
Of your fire willingly.
And dance the edge of sanity
I’ve never been this close,
In love with your ghost.

Ooh,
Unknowing captor:
You never know how much you
Pierce my spirit,
But I can’t touch you
Can you hear it-
A cry to be free?
Oh I’m forever under lock and key.
As you pass through me…

Now I see your face before me
I would launch a thousand ships,
To bring your heart back to my island,
As the sand beneath me slips.

As I burn up in your presence.
And I know now how it feels,
To be weakened like Achilles,
With you always at my heels.

My bitter pill I swallow
Is the silence that I keep.
It poisons me I can’t swim free
The river is too deep.
Though I’m baptized by your touch-
I am no worse than most.
In love with your ghost. (in love with your ghost)

You are shadowing my dreams!
(In love with your ghost)
(In love with your ghost)

Songwriters: Emily Ann Saliers