Starry Starry Night

I wanted to share with you two of the songs that are a part of my life's soundtrack. Vincent has been a favorite of mine ever since I first heard it in High School during my creative writing class. I identified with being misunderstood, and having unrequited love. I wanted to be loved so much and I felt like I had so much to give - and nowhere to put it all. I turned to writing, I turned to art; and for a moment in time I felt like ghost in Vincent Van Gogh's life, and he was a ghost in mine.

 

Don McLean's hit song Vincent.^[1]

Starry, starry night.
Paint your palette blue and grey,
Look out on a summer's day,
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.

Shadows on the hills,
Sketch the trees and the daffodils,
Catch the breeze and the winter chills,
In colors on the snowy linen land.

Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.

Starry, starry night.
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze, Swirling clouds in violet haze,
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue.

Colors changing hue, morning fields of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain,
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.

Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.

For they could not love you,
But still your love was true.
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.

Starry, starry night.
Portraits hung in empty halls,
Frameless heads on nameless walls,
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget.

Like the strangers that you've met,
The ragged men in the ragged clothes,
The silver thorn of bloody rose,
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.

Now I think I know what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they're not listening still.
Perhaps they never will...

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Coming Around Again was a song I heard while listening to lite fm. Before I went to bed each night, for many years, I would turn on my radio and place it under my pillow to help turn off my mind and tune out the nightmares. I didn't have a family of my own then (I was about 14), but I felt pressure and I understood anxiety, and I would imagine that I was this woman in the song. . .

Coming Around Again^[2]

Lyrics by: Carly Simon

Music by: Carly Simon

Baby sneezes

Mommy pleases

Daddy breezes in

So good on paper

So romantic

But so bewildering

I know nothing stays the same

But if you're willing to play the game

It's coming around again

So don't mind if I fall apart

There's more room in a broken heart

You pay the grocer

Fix the toaster

Kiss the host Good-bye

Then you break a window

burn the Soufflé

Scream a lullaby

I know nothing stays the same

But if you're willing to play the game

It's coming around again

So don't mind if I fall apart

There's more room in a broken heart

And I believe in love

But what else can I do

I'm so in love with you

I know nothing stays the same

But if you're willing to play the game

It's coming around again

I know nothing stays the same

But if you're willing to play the game

It's coming around again

So don't mind if I fall apart

There's more room in a broken heart

   

© 1986 C'est Music / Famous Music Corp.

Featured in the film Heartburn, starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson

I hope you all don't think I'm being lazy with this post; I'm only trying to share :)

Tomorrow, Can You Handle This?. . .

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[1] http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starrynightlyrics.html

[2] http://www.carlysimon.com/music/Lyrics/Coming_Around_Again.html