the playlist revisited

(On 4/27/2020 I posted the COVID-19 playlist. It got such nice feedback, and believe me any feedback is nice, that I thought I’d take a look at the story I was inadvertently telling via the lyrics of the songs in the order that they appear. For the full effect, play this song in the background from the 3:40 mark as you read it.)

Can’t you hear it in the silence?

Can’t you hear me calling out your name?

Stranded in the darkness

Begging please don’t pin all of your dreams on me

Baby, you can count on me

To fuck up everything

I’ve been with you such a long time

You’re my sunshine and I want you to know

That my feelings are true

I really love you

And so I whispered into your ear,

“What are you thinking about?”

You just looked up at the stars

And so I whispered into your ear,

“Who are you thinking about?”

It couldn’t be me

I took a little journey to the unknown

And I come back changed, I can feel it in my bones

I fucked with the forces that our eyes can’t see

Now the darkness got a hold on me

I take it for granted

If I could love you unconditionally

I could iron out the edges of the darkest sky

For some of us it ain’t enough

Tomorrow could feel like a hundred years later

I’m wiser and slow and attuned

And I am down on my knees

Lost for you I’m so lost for you

If I’ve gone overboard

Then I’m begging you

To forgive me

You weren’t the only one who thought of us that way

I spend most nights awake, wide awake

I never thought that I would see the day

Where I’d just let you go, let you walk away

‘Cause you don’t mind seeing yourself in a picture

As long as you look faraway, as long as you look removed

Another un-innocent, elegant fall

Into the un-magnificent lives of adults

‘Cause this is a front, you want me now

‘Cause I am lost without you

I’ve got a sunburn from the heat of hell

You got a sore throat from always screaming help

Oh, I’ve got nothing to complain about

Give me a reason to stay

Just tell me something to change my mind

And I promise to get carried away

He’s got all kinds of time

He seems so at ease

A strange inner peace

Is all that he’s feeling somehow

You’ve seen the difference and it’s getting better all the time

There’s nothing you and I won’t do

The future’s open wide