For Good

I know it's been a while.  And I've only just recently realised just how close we are to the end of the year, so I should probably get in my last three posts for the year (to get to 19 posts for 2013) before it ends and I can no longer do so.

And I'll just dive right in, shall I?

You will probably be able to tell immediately that the structure of this song is a little bit different; usually I end on a chorus, or something.  But I also think it's cool to get away from the traditional form from time to time, and it doesn't hurt this song to be a little different.

This one is also a departure, thematically, from most of my others.  It speaks to that moment when someone whose company you've been enjoying says to you, after a nice evening, "Oh, by the way, I'm deploying to Afghanistan (or wherever) next month."  And suddenly you have to decide what your reaction to the situation is going to be.  You're stripped of the illusion of a perfect world preoccupied only with simple, trivial, feel-good things, and things just absolutely get real.  You have to make the decision of whether or not you're going to make the commitment to him, after only a few months of knowing him - which, I imagine, is a difficult situation.  And it's like something dark and scary has creeped in between these two people, because being together got hard and serious and stressful and grown-up right when it should have been at its most carefree and fun and easy.  But you don't want to let go of him and of what you've started, and you don't want to get in the middle of what he always wanted to do (and what would give him a sense of purpose and meaning), so you grow up on the spot and make the decision to stick with him, even thought that opens up a series of other fears and worries and what ifs.  (I'd very much imagine.)

So the "for good" has a double meaning there.

As does the "leaving you behind," of course.  (Or is it a triple meaning?)  Slight connections to be made with that one, too.

It's written in the second person, to maintain a sort of bizarre surreality, because nothing about war feels real to the people staying home (and yet, simultaneously, it feels extremely real).  There's a disconnect there.  And it's especially hard to fathom when it's someone you love (or have begun to love) going away to a place you barely know anything about, to do something you never even wanted to think about.  It challenges your whole perception of life, and what you expected from it.  (I assume.)

And then there's the circuity, where it ends with a variation on the first little couplet of the opening verse.  Which makes it come full circle, somewhat.  Like life.

For better or worse.  And,

For Good

it happens when you least expect it,
that reality comes knocking on the door
and the safe little world you've constructed
isn't unassailable anymore

it might come as a phone call,
or it might be something you already know
either way, there's nothing that can break the fall
when suddenly he's halfway across the globe

CHORUS:
next thing you're holding on, with everything you have
and he's getting on the plane, and he's not looking back
you won't stop him from doing, what he always said he would
but what if it means he's leaving you behind for good

you find you've aged too much, much too fast
and you forget about forever
because this may be the only chance you'll have
for you to grow old together

BRIDGE:
oh, nothing has changed yet,
but everything feels different already
and the place he carved for you with his own two hands
suddenly feels empty

CHORUS:
next thing you're holding on, with everything you have
and he's getting on the plane, and he's not looking back
you won't stop him from doing, what he always said he would
but what if it means he's leaving you behind for good

so you hold on to what makes you strong
just as you decide to hold back your tears
and things could change once again, before too long
you can't stop these days from passing into years

still you're scared behind your smiles
where your heartbeat was easy before
'cause you didn't expect to be blindsided
when reality came knocking on the door

Much love, and thank you for the musik,

Just Another Ordinary Girl

And I'm lonely for the way I was.

Oh, she just couldn't believe it, she heard the trumpets from the military band / and the flowers fell out of her hand / baby, why'd you leave me, why'd you have to go / I was counting on forever, now I'll never know / I can't even breathe / it's like I'm looking from a distance, standing in the background...