Sunday, March 30, 2008

No More I Love You's

I've always loved this song: the vivid mental imagery it invokes of a forlorn diva standing atop a hill, arms spread to welcome the howling wind, singing this dirge as the forests that surround the lone bastion, as far as the eye can see, are consumed by the ever encroaching flames; the lyrics hauntingly beautiful yet pregnant with meaning.

It remains as real as it did when I first heard it 14 years ago, bleary eyed and half asleep on the school bus, the powerful, emotive voice of Annie Lennox floating over a vanful of sleepy boys. Perhaps even more so now that one has loved and the song evokes what one truly feels deep inside.

The video while almost theatrical (never mind the drag ballet dancers), captures and brings out the essence of the song perfectly, the inability to profess love and love as emotions, language and eventually sanity dissipates, leaving the slow, dark descent into mental oblivion.




No More I Love You's - Annie Lennox

I used to be lunatic
from the gracious days
I used to be woebegone
and so restless nights
My aching heart would bleed
for you to see
Oh but now...
(I don't find myself bouncing home
Whistling my conscience to make me cry)

No more "I love you's"
The language is leaving me
No more "I love you's"
Changes are shifting outside the word

(The lover speaks about the monsters)

I used to have demons in my room at night
Desire,despair,desire,so many monsters
Oh but now...
(I don't find myself bouncing home
Whistling my conscience to make me cry)

No more "I love you's"
The language is leaving me
No more "I love you's"
The language is leaving me in silence
No more "I love you's"
Changes are shifting outside the word


They were being really crazy
They were on the come.
And you know what mammy?
Everybody was being really crazy. Uh huh.
The monsters are crazy.
There are monsters outside.

No more "I love you's"
The language is leaving me
No more "I love you's"
The language is leaving me in silence
No more "I love you's"
Changes are shifting outside the word

Outside the word

No more "I love you's"
The language is leaving me
No more "I love you's"
The language is leaving me
No more "I love you's"
Changes are shifting outside the word

7 comments:

Jonathan said...

That's a pretty good song but my favourite is "Walking on Broken Glass" as it speaks to me of my extremely low threshold for mind games .....

Aelgtoer said...

Mm, I like that song too. And her video for that song is spot on too.^^

I think most people dislike mind games, it certainly sucks to be on the receiving end.

How was your weekend?

Jonathan said...

Weekend was good - had one Peranakan and two Japanese meals, caught up on sleep and centred myself - should have done some work as there was hell to pay this morning :p

Trust your day went ok .....

Aelgtoer said...

Heh I notice you like to define your weekends with food, pretty much a foodie aren't ya? ^^.

There's always hell to pay for undone work, I brought a stack back and ended up flipping a few pages. So yep morning wasn't too good.

Neither was the rest of the afternoon/night, though I kinda expected it.

Anonymous said...

You have to listen to the original o this song by The Lover Speaks. Lennox is a cover version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S4GjHELHaY

Dougary said...

I just now heard the original by Lover Speaks. Every bit as good as Annie's rendition ... if not even better!

Dougary said...

Just listened to the original version by Lover Speaks. Every bit as great as Ms Lennox rendition ... if not even better.