Saturday, June 28, 2014

Paroles d'Amour

This post links to RAnn's Sunday Snippets
violets grow there the whole year 'round

Song lyrics have hugely informed my view of romance and marriage since before I could even read. For over 50 years I've sung the most influential ones around the house, at work, and in the car. Only in the last year or so have I recognized how being married for 26 years, having kids, grandkids & All That has deepened my understanding of those old lyrics for the better. Because I used to reflect on these songs, but now I participate in them.

I ached for lifelong love-

From France, Julien Clerc:

Comme un jour tu viendras sûrement/ One day you'll surely come
Dans ce salon qui perd son temps/ To this room where time stands still
Ne parlons plus jamais de nos déserts.../ We'll speak no more of just deserts
Et si tu restes je mets le couvert/ And should you nap I'll cover you snug
Maintenant, comme avant/ Now as before
Restons-en au présent pour la vie / Let's stay like this for life
Aujourd'hui, reste ici / From now on- stay with me.

My courtship was just like this-

From my grandparents' hi-fi, South Pacific (where men wear coconut brassieres):

Some enchanted evening
When you find your true love,
When you feel her call you
Across a crowded room,
Then fly to her side,
And make her your own
Or all through your life you
May dream all alone.

And this is still my wife, who turns 64 this week-

Younger than springtime, are you
Softer than starlight, are you,
Warmer than winds of June,
Are the gentle lips you gave me.
Gayer than laughter, are you,
Sweeter than music, are you,
Angel and lover, heaven and earth,
Are you to me.

This is my marriage-

From my dormroom stereo, Yes:

Hold me my love, hold me today, call me round
Travel we say, wander we choose, love tune
Lay upon me, hold me around lasting hours
We love when we play

Look me my love sentences move dancing away
We join we receive
As our song memories long hope in a way
Nous sommes du soleil
Hold me around lasting hours
We love when we play

This is my family-

When I was a cantor, Psalm 128:

Your wife like a fruitful vine in the heart of your house
Your children like shoots of the olive around your table
May the LORD bless you from Zion all the days of your life
May you see you children’s children in a happy Jerusalem

Now we’re in our waning years-

From my parents' hi-fi, the Four Freshmen:

As the days grew old and the nights passed into time
And the weeks and years took wing
Gentle boy, tender girl, their love remained still young
For their hearts were full of spring

Then one day they died and their graves were side by side
On a hill where robins sing
And they say violets grow there the whole year 'round
For their hearts were full of spring

From the radio, Minnie Ripperton, who died much too young:

No one else can make me feel
The colors that you bring
Stay with me while we grow old
And we will live each day in springtime
Cause loving you has made my life so beautiful
And every day my life is filled with loving you

And this my life even until today-

From the Greenville County Library LP collection, Billie Holliday:

Living for you, is easy living.
It's easy to live when you're in love.
And I'm so in love,
There's nothing in life, but you.

I'll never regret the years I'm giving.
They're easy to give when you're in love.
I'm happy to do whatever I do, for you.


For so long through so many songs I imagined lifelong love. Now I live lifelong love in ways I couldn't have imagined. The songs are old; but love grows, and blooms anew.