1990s songs, falling in love

#370 Everlong (Acoustic)- Foo Fighters

Breathe out/
So I can breathe you in.

The Foo Fighter’s “Everlong” is a song about falling deeply in love. This would be a typical song of love and lust (in terms of theme) except that Grohl gives the girl a warning about himself. He suggests that he will probably try to ruin the relationship by trying to end it early, but he asks her to ignore him when that time comes.

This appears to be a personal song, as it deals with the author’s tendency to fall deeply in love with a woman, fear the end, and sabotage a good thing. This time he doesn’t want to repeat that pattern.

Everlong Acoustic Greatest Songs Meaning — Dave Grohl live on Stern

The acoustic version is amazing. I believe the famous version is from The Howard Stern Show. Grohl usually performed the song with an electric guitar, but he had an acoustic guitar on him that day. Stern asked him to perform it anyways, and it turns out the song sounds amazingly better solo acoustic. That live performance lifts it into the top 500 songs of all-time.

Everlong Lyrics

Hello
I’ve waited here for you
Everlong

Tonight I throw myself in two
Out of the red
Out of her head she sang

Come down and waste away with me
Down with me
Slow, how you wanted it to be
I’m over my head
Out of her head she sang

And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I’ll ever ask of you
You’ve got to promise not to stop when I say when
She sang

Breathe out
So I can breathe you in
Hold you in
And now
I know you’ve always been
Out of your head
Out of my head I sang

And I wonder
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I’ll ever ask of you
You’ve got to promise not to stop when I say when

Songwriters: David Grohl

1990s songs, no love song

#369 Do What You Have To Do- Sarah Mclachlan

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And I have the sense to recognize that
I don’t know how to let you go.

Sarah Mclachlan’s “Do What You Have To Do” is similar to The Police’s Every Breath You Take, in that it sounds like a love song, but it is really a song about something else entirely. In the case of the Police, the song is about a stalker. “Do What You Have To Do” is about a codependent relationship.

The narrator has a deep desire for her lover but she recognizes that there are aspects of it that appear unhealthy. Where there once was love, now she feels like she cannot exist without him/her. She feels like she exists only for this love. In her mind she knows this love is not healthy but she cannot physically separate. To “do what you have to do” could mean anything from leaving to enduring to committing suicide.

Do What You Have To Do Meaning — Sarah McLachlan

Mclachlan has a voice that sounds beautiful—so that if you accompany that with a slow piano almost any song might sound like a love song. Plus, she does those so well. The piano, plus the strings plus Sara’s voice creates a very moody environment. Vocally she is restrained. This is a good thing. Sometimes she can go a bit overboard on other songs with the runs, but here she delivers a great performance.

Do What You Have To Do Lyrics

What ravages of spirit
Conjured this tempestuous rage
Created you a monster
Broken by the rule of love
And fate has led you through it
You do what you have to do
And fate has led you through it
You do what you have to do

And I have the sense to recognize that
I don’t know how to let you go

Every moment marked
With apparitions of your soul
I’m ever swiftly moving
Trying to escape this desire
The yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do
The yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do

And I have the sense to recognize that
I don’t know how to let you go
I don’t know how to let you go

A glowing ember
Burning hot
And burning slow
Deep within I’m shaken by the violence
Of existing for only you

I know I can’t be with you
I do what I have to do
I know I can’t be with you
I do what I have to do

And I have a sense to recognize but
I don’t know how to let you go
I don’t know how to let you go
(I don’t know how to let you go)

Songwriters: Sarah Mclachlan / Colleen Wolstenholme

2010s songs, death

#368 Death With Dignity- Sufjan Stevans

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I forgive you, mother, I can hear you/
And I long to be near you.

“Death With Dignity” is a delicate song sung by Sufjan Stevans and performed with a ukulele and later a piano. In that, it is an unlikely combination. Combined with his wistful voice it makes for a poignant experience.

The song seems to be about his mother, who has died. Perhaps there were things left unsaid at the time she passed, we don’t know. What we do know is that Stevans thinks of her death in spiritual terms in an effort to comfort himself and understand his mother and the world. He hopes that she’ll be with him now: though perhaps she won’t be the wild mare who did as she pleased—perhaps in spirit.

Death With Dignity Meaning — Sufjan Stevens

He hears a bird sing and wonders if the bird sings for the dead just like he does. He seems to see her ghost in the window, but he seems to invite it. He looks forward to the time when he can rejoin her. Overall, the song is one of hope and rejoicing. There is a spiritual world where there will be a re-connection between the two of them but also there seems to be a place that his mom is now where her spirit is living.

Death With Dignity Lyrics

Spirit of my silence I can hear you, but I’m afraid to be near you
And I don’t know where to begin
And I don’t know where to begin

Somewhere in the desert there’s a forest, and an acre before us
But I don’t know where to begin
But I don’t know where to begin
Again I lost my strength completely, oh be near me tired old mare
With the wind in your hair

Amethyst and flowers on the table, is it real or a fable?
Well I suppose a friend is a friend
And we all know how this will end

Chimney swift that finds me be my keeper, silhouette of the cedar
What is that song you sing for the dead
What is that song you sing for the dead
I see the signal searchlight strike me, in the window of my room
Well I got nothing to prove
Well I got nothing to prove

I forgive you mother I can hear you, and I long to be near you
But every road leads to an end
Yes every road leads to an end
Your apparition passes through me, in the willows and five red hens
You’ll never see us again
You’ll never see us again

Songwriters: Sufjan Stevens

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