Friday, December 30, 2011

KEEN- If It's the Beaches

Today we have Keen from kristenwarwick.com. She is an absolutely amazing writer! I basically read every one of her blog posts like they are hot off the press. She should be published and I won't be the least surprised if she is one day in the not so distant future. She is good. Keen, I turn it over to you.





there is a reason why artists so often sing about love. both happy and sad.



both found and forgotten.



because love is something everyone gets. love is something people will unfailingly purchase on the i-tunes store and buy on the-now-brilliant-google-music (seriously--yet another reason to love google--as if g-mail, google docs, google +, and g-calendar weren’t enough).



why? because love is the one thing that no one can deny.



and sure, you’ve got to talented enough to put it to some catchy chords with some kick-a lyrics and a great lead guitar.



the music is the main dessert.



and the lyrics are the cherry on top.



take this song for example. if its the beaches by the avett brothers.



love them. great music. they have that raw, folk-rock sound that i wonder how anyone can pass up. their lyrics always seem to grab at the sensitive, already bruised areas of my heart



just like billy corgan from the smashing pumpkins. the guy is a freakin’ poet-magician-man. sometimes, on really dark days, if i want to magnify a heartbroken feeling i am experiencing, i turn the ol’ i-pod to ‘mayonaise’ and let my boy billy do the talking. he’s such an emotional weirdo. but really, i don’t know if it’s the drugs or what, but he seems to get it.



this song, ‘if it’s the beaches’ does just that.



it is basically a plea. a plea of desperation. in hopes of continuing with a struggling relationship.



raise you’re hand if you’ve been here before? yeah, i think we all have.



on one end or the other.



personally, i’ve been both the culprit and the victim. i’ve done the fighting. i’ve let down my pride, putting everything and more on the line. complete vulnerability (and honestly--i wouldn’t recommend this--ever--but props to those who do) offering to give that other person just about anything they desired. whether it was the beaches or the mountains bending rivers...i would have found a way.



whew.



and then--sadly--i’ve also been the bad guy.



the one that hurts the other. and then leaves them to figure out a way through their tears and aching gut.



i hate being that.



truly, if there is one thing i hate in this world--it is that.



it’s an odd thing, isn’t it? that we can become so close to someone and want it so badly, and yet still find ourselves standing amongst the remains of a shattered relationship.



in fact, i have a dear friend.



a person who was very close to me at a time. who recently experienced a most devastating heartache.



he lost a merciless fight. offering everything he could in hopes of salvaging a relationship.



finding himself with a head--once held high with enthusiasm for life--now dropped in heaviness of a lost and painful cause.



yuck-y.



it seriously gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it. i start thinking to hard and i begin re-living the sleepless nights of tear-stained pillow cases and vivid nightmares. wondering why your story couldn’t end like the ones you grew up reading in nancy drew books and the babysitters’ club.



i mean, they are poorly written books but still. you can’t help but wonder.



you ask yourself. again and again. why?



trying to figure what you did wrong. wishing you could go back. wishing that you could change. just like in this song.



just like my friend has recently experienced, it can be devastating. and at times. relationships will end.



however, this song is interesting because the lyrics don’t necessarily lead you to believe that this struggling-slightly-imbalanced relationship ends.



the last two lines go something like this.



while i go gas up the truck, pack the old love letters up. we will read them when we forget why we left here.



curious, eh?



the ending of this song is what i love and hate most about it. all at the same time.



because in a way--this is simple and beautiful. bringing the reality of an ongoing effort to keep a relationship progressing. happy. and loving.



and in that same way--it captures a reality that haunts me on a daily basis. that though love itself is a perfect thing, relationships and human beings are not.



and even the most seemingly perfect of relationships have their trials.



because the fact of the matter is--one day you will forget why you are where you are and possibly question who you are with. you will need to pull out those old love letters. take a nice breather. and then get back up and keep on fighting.



you’ll do what it takes.



because that’s what we do.







when all is said and done...



yeah, relationships don’t always work out. no matter how hard you fight it. people will disagree. lose interest. lose hope. feel lost. whatever.



you’ll wish you could go back and change. but it won’t matter.



it will suck.



but then. there are sometimes that relationships will work.



and though the fight to keep that love-a-growin’ will never stop. and yes, you can tattoo that one on your forearm.



in the end. it’s worth all the beaches that this pretty-little-world has to offer.



and that darling, is a reality i most definitely believe in.


Incredible Keen. And if it's the beaches you want, I know one day you will have them.

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