The Poetry of Rock n' Roll: "Life On Earth"

In honor of National Poetry Month, each week I am presenting song lyrics that double as exquisite poetry and this week's song doesn't get larger or more important. "Life On Earth" by Snow Patrol was written by lead singer Gary Lightbody and covers, in a short poem, the ideas of memory, the past, growing and transcending one's understanding of one's place, the future, and a sense of being and belonging contrasted with a sense of being encompassed by the vastness of life and the universe. All in a few breathtaking, heartbreaking stanzas.

Life On Earth
by Gary Lightbody

The first snow
The first winter of my life
I was told it was the height of me
The first dance
Well, the first one that counted
Felt like my blood was built my from crackling light

Oh this ancient wildness
That we don't understand
The first sound of a heartbeat
To riots roaring on

This is not a love you've had before
This is something else
This is something else
This is not the same as other days
This is something else
This is something else

Shouldn't need to be so hard
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth
It doesn't need to be the end of you, or me
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth

The first light
The first light on the silent shore
Just the ships set anchor, me and you
The way home
This is always the way home
So you can rip that map to shreds, my dear

But all we ever wanted
See miles and miles from here
In the first days in a strange new land
We could be sailors

This is not a love you've had before
This is something else
This is something else
This is not the same as other days
This is something else
This is something else

Shouldn't need to be so hard
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth
It doesn't need to be the end of you, or me
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth

https://snowpatrol.com/

"Purple Line" by Ben Böhmer

Loving this thick, chunky, dance-y track "Purple Line" by Ben Böhmer that features a lyric from the glorious song "The Lightning Strike (What If This Storm Ends?)" by Snow Patrol.

https://soundcloud.com/ben-bohmer

"Life On Earth" by Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol sings "Life On Earth."

Yes.

And someone, somewhere is trying to breathe.
And you know what I mean.

The first snow
The first winter of my life
I was told it was the height of me
The first dance
Well, the first one that counted
Felt like my blood was built my from crackling light

Oh this ancient wildness
That we don't understand
The first sound of a heartbeat
To riots roaring on

This is not a love you've had before
This is something else
This is something else
This is not the same as other days
This is something else
This is something else

Shouldn't need to be so hard
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth
It doesn't need to be the end of you, or me
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth

The first light
The first light on the silent shore
Just the ships set anchor, me and you
The way home
This is always the way home
So you can rip that map to shreds, my dear

But all we ever wanted
See miles and miles from here
In the first days in a strange new land
We could be sailors

This is not a love you've had before
This is something else
This is something else
This is not the same as other days
This is something else
This is something else

Shouldn't need to be so hard
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth
It doesn't need to be the end of you, or me
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth

Shouldn't need to be so hard
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth
It doesn't need to be the end of you, or me
This is life on earth
It's just life on earth


How are we ever going to get off this planet? Will we even survive?

http://snowpatrol.com/

Currently listening to...

...the arresting, desperate "The Lightning Strike (What If This Storm Ends?)" by Snow Patrol. There is an urgent, pleading current that seems to careen toward inevitable loss that rips me up and makes me put this on repeat, as if it allows one to see ahead to the end, and one finally, regrettably, gloriously understands that there is no other ending to be had. We know how it ends: as Rumi said, "Enough of these phrases/ Conceit and metaphors/ I want burning, burning, burning." Do you know what I mean? Do you know what this song means? Do you know what your song means? It's important that you do...

What if this storm ends?
And I don't see you
As you are now
Ever again

The perfect halo
Of gold hair and lightning
Sets you off against
The planet's last dance

Just for a minute
The silver forked sky
Lit you up like a star
That I will follow

Now it's found us
Like I have found you
I don't want to run
Just overwhelm me

What if this storm ends?
And leaves us nothing
Except a memory
A distant echo

I want pinned down
I want unsettled
Rattle cage after cage
Until my blood boils

I want to see you
As you are now
Every single day
That I am living

Painted in flames
All peeling thunder
Be the lightning in me
That strikes relentless

http://www.snowpatrol.com/