SONG Love's RecoveryWRITTEN BY Emily Saliers
PERFORMED BY Indigo Girls
APPEARS ON Indigo Girls (1990), 1200 Curfews (1995), 4.5: The Best Of The Indigo Girls (1995, import), Artist's Choice: Sarah McLachlan (2004)
In this beautiful song, the Indigo Girls look back not on love lost but on the wisdom and perseverance gained by from broken love and how this leads to love that lasts. Although there's a certain amount of rueful hindsight at work ("I missed ten million miles of road I should have seen") the song depicts a journey of broken hearts that ultimately leads from "love's recovery" to "love's discovery."
One of the traps of love is envy of friends who seem to have it while you don't. Don't worry, Emily Saliers says, just because you can't see them doesn't mean that they don't have their problems, too:
Meanwhile our friends we thought were so together
They've all gone and left each other in search of fairer weather
In other words, one couple is just like another: The vision they present to the world differs greatly from reality. Eventually, they require "love's recovery" too.
"Love's Recovery" builds to the incredibly powerful expression of the worth of love in the last verse:
I wish I were a trinity, so if I lost a part of meLove gains a religious force ("trinity") so profound that its worth losing oneself in the giving, no matter what the cost. But, of course,
I'd still have two of the same to live
nobody gets a lifetime rehearsal, as specks of dust we're universalThere's an aspect of endurance to true love, something that resists "fairer weather" and the "whims of culture." This part of love prevails despite fantasies of the unattainable ("picture perfect maps of how my love and life would be") and the intrusions of the rational ("the cancer of my intellect"). Perhaps it's not the glamor side of love, but it's what gets us through the "rain soaked and voice choked" times, the part that buys time for the "absolute distinction" of a couple's feeling to take root and flourish. Emily Saliers' lyrics and the Indigo Girls lush harmonies and impassioned vocals give voice to this part of love, the part without which love truly cannot survive.
To let this love survive would be the greatest gift we could give
LYRICS
During the time of which I speak it was hard to turn the other cheek
To the blows of insecurityFeeding the cancer of my intellect the blood of love soon neglected
Lay dying in the strength of its impurity
Meanwhile our friends we thought were so together
They've all gone and left each other in search of fairer weather
And we sit here in our storm and drink a toast
To the slim chance of love's recovery.
There I am in younger days, star gazing,
Painting picture perfect maps of how my life and love would be
Not counting the unmarked paths of misdirection
My compass, faith in love's perfection
I missed ten million miles of road I should have seen
Meanwhile our friends we thought were so together
Left each other one by one in search of fairer weather
And we sit here in our storm and drink a toast
To the slim chance of love's recovery.
Rain soaked and voice choked like silent screaming in a dream
I search for our absolute distinction
Not content to bow and bent
To the whims of culture that swoop like vultures
Eating us away, eating us away
Eating us away to our extinction
Oh how I wish I were a trinity, so if I lost a part of me
I'd still have two of the same to live
But nobody gets a lifetime rehearsal, as specks of dust we're universal
To let this love survive would be the greatest gift we could give
Tell all the friends who think they're so together
That these are ghosts and mirages, these thoughts of fairer weather
Though it's storming out I feel safe within the arms of love's discovery
You can watch a slightly truncated live version of "Love's Recovery" here.
beautiful song... as always love the goode commentary ....speaking of 'goode' did you see/hear that some tv network is launching a new series called 'the goode family' each time I've seen the promo, of course I've thought or you (and your bro that I know)....tee hee...
ReplyDeletehope you are having a good weekend.
we had some good traditional music last night - dick swain and the bodharan brothers (dermot somerville and mike mazur).... ever hear of them?
Thanks! This is a great song -- wonderfully poetic. I have to admit that I'm a late convert to the Indigo Girls. Lots of fun catching up to do!
ReplyDeleteI saw promos for The Goode Family. According to Don Parker, one of the kids wears rasta colors. Remind you of anyone?!
I'm not familiar with Dick Swain, but will check him out.
I don't know which is more powerful: the song or your interpretation of the song. Art is like a letter once it leaves the creator it becomes the possession of the one who receives it. The beauty of art is that sometimes a creation transforms us and our new perspective in turn transforms the art. Amazingly, we in turn become creators.
ReplyDeleteIt is a great song but your interpretation of it is more powerful.
Wow! This makes my day!
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons I write about music is to understand it better. Sometimes a song takes on a meaning to the listener that seems far removed from the intent of the lyrics. I can think of one that helped me through my first year widowhood -- it had a chorus that registered with me even though the rest of the song was about a broken relationship.
Your simile about art is as good as an expression of the power of art as I've read.
Always found the Indigo Girls to be wise women in their vision of where we have been and where we are going. Very thorough interpretation.
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