Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová

SONG Falling Slowly

WRITTEN BY Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová

PERFORMED BY Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová

APPEARS ON Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová, soundtrack to the movie Once

I'd actually been planning to do a post on Richard and Linda Thompson's "Dimming of the Day", but I ran across the DVD of the movie Once this week and fell absolutely in love with the movie and the soundtrack, especially the featured song, "Falling Slowly". The movie is about two struggling musicians who meet and create something special in the world between them. I've done a review of the movie here. On Just A Song I want to talk specifically about "Falling Slowly.

Co-written by Glen Hansard (guitar & vocals) and Markéta Irglová (piano & vocals), the song is the essence of the movie. It's so wistfully sad that it's hard not to be in tears by the end, and at the same time it's powerful and dramatic. It deals with the "what could be" but admits that life will go on if it doesn't. Ostensibly written by the "Guy" character in the movie, it's based on his estrangement from his girlfriend who now lives in London, and his wish to rekindle the spark. At the same time it comes to represent what happens between Guy and Girl in the movie - the close friendship that develops and has the potential to go even closer, but in the end they realize that they have even stronger feelings elsewhere and so move on.

The poetry in the lyrics is especially moving. The desperate hopefulness of "Take this sinking boat and point it home..." and the despair of "Moods that take me and erase me..." send a chill through me every time I hear them. This is a powerfully moving song, exquisitely composed and performed by these two sensitive souls.

Lyrics

I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react
And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You've made it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing along

The video of the song I've chosen is from the tour Glen and Markéta did after the movie in 2007 as The Swell Season. This is from an appearance on Disney's Artist's Den show, recorded in the Good Shepherd Center Chapel in Seattle. Enjoy!