There are some people that say that music is great because it can convey feelings in a way that words cannot. I agree. But, I also find that music with context is better than music without context. Otherwise, I would not write lyrics and I certainly wouldn’t write these letters that accompany each song. There is a great deal of classical music and jazz that I really enjoy. But I find that I need a phrase, a title, a line, an image; something to kickstart my mind, and something to let me walk into the artist’s mind. “Trane’s Blues” doesn’t really do it for me. “A Love Supreme”, on the other hand, fills my head with all sorts of ideas and colors as I listen to the record. Maybe I should open my mind up a bit more, but until that day comes, I like that bit of information informing my view of the music. At the same time, it is often difficult to strike the right balance between providing a specific, easy-to-enter world in which the music can live, and leaving enough open to interpretation to feel real and relatable as opposed to a concrete story.

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       Is it strange to say that I believe fire fits this description? I remember when my family would have bonfires when I was younger. I would look at the fire and try to see images within it, as if it was telling a story. It is, I think, peaceful to imagine such a destructive force telling you something interesting. I think perhaps that Magdalene in this painting, too, might be looking at this flame, asking it to tell a story to calm her down.

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       The point of this lyric is that it never gets to the point. ‘The way it feels…’ it reads, over and over, but I never attempt to actually describe what I mean. I think it’s best left this way. A series of short-lived, passing images, book-ended by this repeating notion, provides (in my opinion) a window for the exploration of your own mind, and how those fleeting images relate to your own experiences and the way those memories make you feel. So too does the orchestral break in the middle of the song provide a breathing moment for reflection on this idea. It is intentionally vague; left that way to facilitate the personal lyrics and ideas that I have no way of writing.  

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Alternatively, it’s a sorrowful love song. Either way.

 

Love, 

NM