Seems that all I really was doing/
Was waiting for you.

“Real Love” has a bizarre history. It was recorded by John Lennon but it was never official released. However, bootleg copies existed for years. Twenty or so years after his death The Beatles decided to take his demo and “officially” supe it up and release it as a Beatles song. I didn’t like it. It was overproduced and didn’t feel like a Beatles song or a John Lennon song. I forgot about the song.

Years later I hear a beautiful song by Regina Spektor called “Real Love” and it becomes one of my favorite songs of hers. I never put two and two together that they were the same song. Her interpretation is that much better. That might sound like sacrilege, but it’s my truth.

What makes Spektor’s version great, is that it sounds like she is singing from the heart. Some of the early Lennon demo work captured this, but with Spektor we feel like she wrote the words and it means something to her as she says them. Her interpretation with just a piano shows off her delicate voice and unique piano stylings. I have no idea if this is even a part of her repertoire at her concerts, but it may be her best work. (And she has many great songs).

Real Love Lyrics

All my little plans and schemes
Lost like some forgotten dreams
Seems that all I really was doing
Was waiting for you

Just like little girls and boys
Playing with their little toys
Seems like all we really were doing
Was waiting for love

Don’t need to be alone
No need to be alone

It’s real love
It’s rea-ea-ea-ea-eal
Yes, it’s real love
It’s rea-ea-ea-ea-eal

From this moment on I know
Exactly where my life will go
Seems that all I really was doing
Was waiting for love

Don’t need to be afraid
No need to be afraid

It’s real love
It’s rea-ea-ea-ea-eal
Yes, it’s real love
It’s rea-ea-ea-ea-eal

Thought I’d been in love before
But in my heart I wanted more
Seems like all I really was doing
Was waiting for you-ou-ou-ou

Don’t need to be alone
No need to be alone

It’s rea-ea-eal love
(Yes) It’s rea-ea-ea-ea-eal
(Yes) It’s rea-ea-eal love
It’s rea-ea-ea-ea-eal

Songwriters: John Lennon

Yeah, she steals like a thief but she’s always a woman to me.

“She’s Always a Woman” by Billy Joel is a great non-traditional love song. Compare this to a song like “Donna” by Ritchie Valens. Valens makes it pretty clear he is into her and leaves no ambiguity about his feelings. Well, after a million or so love songs have been written they need to be said in a different way to make a mark. What is Joel saying about his girlfriend exactly?

In my mind he is saying she is a modern woman. Sure, she can “wound with her eyes” and be a tough businesswoman but not with him. With him, she is different. She is exactly what he wants and needs in a woman (probably something the opposite…maybe somebody loving and gentle?)

“She’s Always a Woman” is special because the melody is great, and Billy Joel is one of the better rock piano players out there.  The accompanying piano part is brilliant. It is a different level of complexity than your average piano player. (Billy Joel, Elton John, Nina Simone, and Tori Amos are the best piano players in Rock n Roll. They are on another level.) His voice is always clear and earnest and distinct.

She’s Always a Woman Lyrics

She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes
She can ruin your faith with her casual lies
And she only reveals what she wants you to see
She hides like a child but she’s always a woman to me
She can lead you to love, she can take you or leave you
She can ask for the truth but she’ll never believe you
And she’ll take what you give her as long as it’s free

Yeah she steals like a thief but she’s always a woman to me
Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants
She’s ahead of her time
Oh, she never gives out and she never gives in
She just changes her mind

And she’ll promise you more than the garden of Eden
Then she’ll carelessly cut you and laugh while you’re bleeding
But she brings out the best and the worst you can be

Blame it all on yourself ’cause she’s always a woman to me
Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants
She’s ahead of her time
Oh, she never gives out and she never gives in
She just changes her mind

She is frequently kind and she’s suddenly cruel
She can do as she pleases, she’s nobody’s fool
But she can’t be convicted, she’s earned her degree
And the most she will do is throw shadows at you
But she’s always a woman to me

Songwriters: Billy Joel

She maybe the reason I survive/
The why and wherefore I’m alive.

Elvis Costello’s “She” is a great song about the mysteries of women and the mysterious ways that a woman can make a man feel. The narrator is awed, grateful and feels blessed to have this woman in his life. It is truly a celebration of woman as “other”.  The narrator recognizes that this woman brings a unique set of characteristics that compliments him, which will suit him well for the rest of his life.

Elvis Costello made his reputation as a singer/songwriter, but his best song by far is “She”, a song that you may not know is actually a cover. “She” is a song that was written for a TV show overseas. The original is underwhelming, if only because of the heavy accent of the original singer is a bit distracting. Costello delivers the song passionately, though it is slightly overproduced with the string arrangement.

She Lyrics

She may be the face I can’t forget,
The trace of pleasure or regret,
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay.
She may be the song that summer sings,
Maybe the chill that autumn brings,
Maybe a hundred different things,
Within the measure of a day.

She may be the beauty or the beast,
May be the famine or the feast,
May turn each day into a Heaven or a Hell.
She may be the mirror of my dreams,
A smile reflected in a stream,
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell.

She, who always seems so happy in a crowd,
Whose eyes can be so private and so proud.
No one’s allowed to see them when they cry.
She may be the love that cannot hope to last,
May come to me from shadows in the past,
That I remember ’till the day I die.

She maybe the reason I survive,
The why and wherefore I’m alive,
The one I’ll care for through the rough in many years.

Me, I’ll take her laughter her tears,
And make them all my souvenirs.
And where she goes I’ve got to be,
The meaning of my life is
She.
She!
Oh, she.

Songwriters: Charles Aznavour and Herbert Kretzmer