"We live our life in chains and never even know we have the key."
Beginning with the first iteration of my blog series entitled Words for the Ages, I've asked for your help identifying lyric phrases like the one above. The criteria have remained the same for almost ten years - terse enough to be easily recalled, able to stand alone (i.e., not dependent on a rhyme before or after to complete the thought), and expressing a timeless truth. Today's gem - from Already Gone, a song made popular by the Eagles and written by Jack Tempchin and Robb Strandlund - is the second lyric a reader helped me to re-discover in this light. Thanks to PB. (Honest - this person has the same initials as me.)
I suspect some folks may find "We live our life in chains" too extreme a metaphor. But who can reasonably deny that we often get in our own way and then remain stuck - sometimes too long - trying to extricate ourselves from a mess we've either created or stepped into? Toxic relationships, soul-crushing jobs, unhealthy habits are not actual chains but knowing we hold the key that can release us? Isn't that knowledge a large part of our life's work? Therein lies the timelessness of these fourteen words for the ages. Please: Help me discover or re-discover others. Because ...
When recently asked to act as guest moderator for two writing groups I belong to, my robust collection of these pithy phrases helped to set the folks in those groups on fire. I started by reviewing the forty-one jewels I'd previously featured in Words for the Ages, culled that large group down to fifteen, and then asked my wife to select five from the fifteen. The five phrases she selected - under fifty words total - I subsequently read aloud to the group without revealing the source of any phrase. Some sounded familiar to some folks, some did not, but because each contains a stand-alone thought, without musical context, it's the thought that lands, much like the one at the top of this post. From there, using only words for the ages as their prompts, what some of these aspiring writers created exceeded my expectations. I was thrilled watching what people extracted from these words and then re-purposed into their own writing. I was especially pleased that I helped catalyze their creativity.
So, please...
Life’s too short to drink cheap wine.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous; Thanks for the comment. Not exactly what I'm aiming for in my series but surely a good motto to live by. Is that a lyric from a song? If so, which one?
DeleteThere's falseness to the words 'WE LIVE" ... our life in chains ... because that's not living ... we're breathing, we're existing ... we may be moving through each day ... but are we LIVING ... truly living? We need to decide if we want to PASS through this life or JUMP, DANCE, DIVE, GLIDE ... through this life? We can live a life where we're chained to the fence with limited experiences ... almost like a boat that is kept at the dock ... perhaps for safety reasons? However, boats are meant to travel and even a docked boat can be hurled about if a storm comes ashore so ... USE the boat as it's meant to be used and LIVE your life in a way that brings smiles and laughter and joy to your day!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous #2; Thanks for the comment. As I said in the opening to my second paragraph, that "chains" metaphor might strike some as too extreme. I'm OK with it because the second part of the phrase is - to me - spot on.
DeleteUnchain my heart, let me go freeš¶
ReplyDeleteSame song, different key.
The path to freedom
Is not always within me.
Anonymous #3; Thanks for the comment. Don't recognize that lyric, although the opening three words are the title and opening lyrical phrase of a well-known Ray Charles tune.
DeleteSimilar line from an INXS song, "Never Tear Us Apart" -- 'Cause we all have wings, but some of us don't know why.
ReplyDeleteJim; Thanks for the comment. Although that INXS lyric does have the flavor of the lyric from "Already Gone", it's less fatalistic, i.e., it's more about our un-used potential. I'm now thinking of using your find in a future iteration of this series, and if I do, I'll be sure to acknowledge you helping me re-discover it.
DeleteAs I mentioned to you, I have a few that might fit your criteria and hopefully these are from artists that you have not used previously.
ReplyDelete""It gets easier, but it never gets easy."" - ""It Gets Easier"", Jason Isbell
""But you're holdin' me like water in your hands"" - ""Moon Song"", Phoebe Bridgers
""You are what you love, not who loves you."" — ""Save Rock And Roll"", Fall Out Boy
""A heart that's broke is a heart that's been loved"" - ""Supermarket Flowers"", Ed Sheeran
""But a heart can't be helped and it gathers regret"" - ""Firewood"", Regina Spektor
Chris; All five of those are winners to varying degrees. My favorites are #1, 4, 5; the third is one you'd previously brought to my attention. I plan to use #1 in the near future and will surely acknowledge your role in uncovering it. Your compensation? That cake you brought home with you the last time you were here. Thanks for faithfully reading my blog, your always pertinent comments (especially when music-related), and for your overall musical savvy, second to none in the non-musician division. You are so astute in that domain that at least one of my most frequent commenters has taken note of your geekiness, more than one time. Right, RG?
DeleteHey Pat. Actually I've always liked that line. From one of my favorite Eagles songs. I haven't always looked at the meaning of that lyric as being restrictive, but rather more about one who accepts things they shouldn't, does things they shouldn't. is more bound by peer pressure to do things. In ay case, it has always had a strong meaning and fits so well with the song.
ReplyDeleteBe well,
Bob
Bob; OK, now I'm caught up with your comments from this a.m. and onto the ones you made yesterday. Like you, I never read that metaphor from "Already Gone" as literal or restrictive, which is why I decided it belonged in this series when my friend "PB" suggested it. BTW, that friend went through all 41 of my previous posts from "Words for the Ages" before making several suggestions for possible future entries. Another geek like you and I! Go figure.
Delete