“…Well I don’t believe I’m beautiful,
but at least I have my sister’s smile
And I resist the muses,
but they sing to me in exile
And destiny’s not deafening,
but it hushed me like a child…”
but at least I have my sister’s smile
And I resist the muses,
but they sing to me in exile
And destiny’s not deafening,
but it hushed me like a child…”
Music is such a huge part of my life. It’s one of the constant companions to my day whether I’m stuck in traffic on the highway, working out, or attempting to create a genius piece of writing. Maybe it’s because I’m a writer, but I’m always drawn to lyrics. Beyond melodies and harmonies, the actual words of a song are what tend to make it a lasting fave or a flash-in-the-pan-feeling-of-regret later in life (I’m looking at you, Vanilla Ice).
There are certain songs that I feel automatically linked to; ones that resonate on a level I’m not sure that I appreciate on first listen. It feels like the songwriter stole my journal and wrote exactly what I was pondering. There also certain artists that tend to do that for me more often than not – Ani Difranco, Sarah McLachlan, Bruce Springsteen…their lyrics are poetry to me, ways of explaining life that make me wish I was more eloquent.
It made this week’s prompt harder than I expected, but I ended up going back to one song over and over again. While it’s not my overall favorite song of all time, the lyrics in this song just tend to capture how I feel about life. I used the lyrics as the title of this blog – Destiny Is Deafening – and I often find myself, good or bad, resisting the muses. It gets me in a lot of trouble, actually. Whenever I attempt to approach my writing (or my life), with a set-in-stone plan or outline, things shift into rapid descent, the breath rushes out of my lungs and I’m left unsure of what the hell happened.
In the refrain, Idina Menzel sings, “Still I can’t be still, still I can’t be silent...” Even when life and destiny are upon us, even when we feel like things are out of our control, we keep moving. We’re not still or silent. I never know if that’s good or bad, but it continues to sum up how I feel on almost any given day. I don’t claim that’s the healthiest mentality and maybe part of what attracts me to these lyrics is the idea that there are others like me. There are those of us who don’t feel completely right, haven't quite conquered life and destiny, but we keep moving and trying.
For the IndieInk Writing Challenge this week, Alisha challenged me with "hands down most meaningful song lyric(s) to you & whyt" and I challenged Gehan with "I hate that he tells me how much he thinks I'm worth and I really hate that I listen to him." The response from Gehan is here.
Note: I always recommend people check out Idina Menzel's music. Her first album, Still I Can't Be Still, is my favorite and features the above mentioned song.
