I say unusual, but that's only because they are bereft of sentimentality, honest and profound, without hyping the reality of love, or putting more of our hopes and fears than any state of heightened emotional connection can possibly bear. And yet, the songs also testify to the power of love to surprise us even when we know it isn't all the poets claim it is . . .
Both songs are by Rush. I include the lyrics to both songs below each. The first is off Permanent Waves, "Entre Nous".
We are secrets to each other
Each one's life a novel
No one else has read
Even joined in bonds of love
We're linked to one another
By such slender threads
We are planets to each other
Drifting in our orbits
To a brief eclipse
Each of us a world apart
Alone and yet together
Like two passing ships
[Chorus:]
Just between us
I think it's time for us to recognize
The differences we sometimes fear to show
Just between us
I think it's time for us to realize
The spaces in between
Leave room for you and I to grow
We are strangers to each other
Full of sliding panels
An illusion show
Acting well rehearsed routines
Or playing from the heart?
It's hard for one to know
[Chorus]
We are islands to each other
Building hopeful bridges
On a troubled sea
Some are burned or swept away
Some we would not choose
But we're not always free
[Chorus]
The second, off Roll The Bones, is entitled "Ghost Of A Chance".
Like a million little doorways
All the choices we made
All the stages we passed through
All the roles we played
For so many different directions
Our separate paths might have turned
With every door that we opened
Every bridge that we burned
Somehow we find each other
Through all that masquerade
Somehow we found each other
Somehow we have stayed
In a state of grace
I don't believe in destiny
Or the guiding hand of fate
I don't believe in forever
Or love as a mystical state
I don't believe in the stars or the planets
Or angels watching from above
But I believe there's a ghost of a chance we can find someone to love
And make it last...
Like a million little crossroads
Through the back streets of youth
Each time we turn a new corner
A tiny moment of truth
For so many different connections
Our separate paths might have made
With every door that we opened
Every game we played
Somehow we find each other
Through all that masquerade
Somehow we found each other
Somehow we have stayed
In a state of grace
I don't believe in destiny
Or the guiding hand of fate
I don't believe in forever
Or love as a mystical state
I don't believe in the stars or the planets
Or angels watching from above
But I believe there's a ghost of a chance we can find someone to love
And make it last...
Virtual Tin Cup
