appreciating music

I love lyrics. I think it's magic when words and melody meet to describe something you've felt. I've written songs since I was a child. It's often been something I haven't been able to help, like a sudden discharge of words stuck to a tune. However, after writing and performing my first piece of music, which was an ode to my dog Mani, I decided that my songs will no longer repeat 'Mani you are a bunny' so very many times. Apparently that was too much of a discharge. My dog walked away embarrassed. I still do it secretly, though.

Sometimes lyrics touch me quite intensely, and that's just what happened last week. I was listening to Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, which I bought only because the guy in the record store was so very nice. (I can't help showing my gratitude to Finnish people who are kind and polite - unfortunately often on my own expense.) Their last song on the cd, 'My body is a cage', with its words and its wailing melody, described the utterly trapped feeling I've sometimes felt. It's like something raw and sharp-edged you have to swallow and digest.

I think the song's about physical entrapment, about feeling the shortcomings of what you can do as a human being and fighting that feeling with the beauty or beast trapped in your mind. I'm not saying the song's trying to heal the world with flashy lyrics and a catchy tune, and that all the people in the world should definitely hear this particular song (although it's bitching and you're missing something), it's just one of those that made me tap into something I've felt very strongly. Here's a short version of the lyrics (copyrights can screw themselves, I'm saying who it's by):

My body is a cage by Arcade Fire

My body is a cage
That keeps me from dancing with the one I love,
But my mind holds the key.

I'm standing on the stage
Of fear and self-doubt. It's a hollow play,
But they'll clap anyway.

Standing next to me.
My mind holds the key.

I'm living in an age
That calls darkness light. Though my language is dead
Still the shapes fill my head.

I'm living in an age
Whose name I don't know. Though the fear keeps me moving
Still my heart beats so slow.

My body is a cage.

My body is a cage.
We take what we're given,
Just because you've forgotten, that don't mean you're forgiven.

I'm living in an age
Still turning in the night, but when I get to the doorway
There's no one in sight.

I'm living in an age,
Realizing I'm dancing with the one I love,
But my mind holds the key.

You're still next to me,
My mind holds the key.

Set my spirit free.
Set my spirit free.
Set my body free.
Set my body free.
Oh, oh. Oh, oh.

I'd love to hear which songs've touched you.