If you know me, then you know how much I love spoken word poetry and song lyrics. Creative lyrics–by disparate bands from two different songs separated by three decades–come to mind.
In chronological order, the first music group is the American rock band known as The Doors, who everyone has heard of, from Generation Xers to Generation Alphas. The song “Break on Through (to the Other Side)” has been deeply influential to me, poetically, particularly the lines
I found an island in your arms
Country in your eyes.
I can’t think of a person on the planet who wouldn’t want to hear those words from their admirer–so full of emotion and imagery, passion and pictures. It says more in fewer words about belonging and fulfillment than at-length descriptions in a dictionary.
And what about the post-grunge alternative rock band known as The Presidents of the United States of America, who coincidentally banded the same year The Doors were inducted into the music Hall of Fame (1993)? Their mid ’90s hit songs “Lump” and “Peaches” helped their self-titled debut album go triple-platinum.
There’s a stanza in “Lump” that stands out to me:
And Lump was limp and lonely
And needed a shove
Lump slipped on a kiss
And tumbled into love.
The literary gymnastics that’s happening in this lyrical rhyme is both strangely complex and deliciously simple. Questions about who/what Lump is, and answers to finding a mate, regardless of having an unflattering name like Lump, pepper the landscape of one’s imagination.
It’s on a parallel landscape that I bring you my remake of Leonard Cohen’s classic song “Everybody Knows.” I fell in love with it when I first heard it in Allan Moyle’s movie Pump Up the Volume (1990), starring Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis.
Cohen writes and sings about the brokenness we all experience, from social injustice to personal betrayal. It’s resonated with me ever since. I never imagined singing and recording it myself, creating a music video, and putting it out into the world. But here it is.
This is me–being utterly vulnerable and transparent, hoping my version makes you want to listen to the original, where you may find an “island in [its] arms. Country in [its] eyes.”
Enjoy “Everybody Knows“