It rakes at my heart

It's no secret that I love music. Occasionally, a song will hit me just right--musically and especially lyrically--and get its hooks into me, to the point where I can listen to it over and over and not get tired of it. I finally tracked down a share-able version of one of my very favorite songs of all time, and found a serviceable clip of my newest over-and-over song. I think both of them are beautiful, soulful songs, and they share a certain haunting quality that I think helped them stick in my bones.


"Rake," Townes Van Zandt

I used to wake and run with the moon
I lived like a rake and a young man
I covered my lovers with flowers and wounds
my laughter the devil would frighten
The sun she would come and beat me back down
but every cruel day had its nightfall
I'd welcome the stars with wine and guitars
full of fire and forgetful

My body was sharp, the dark air clean
and outrage my joyful companion
whispering women how sweet did they seem
kneeling for me to command them
And time was like water but I was the sea
I'd never have noticed it passing
except for the turning of night into day
and the turning of day into cursing

You look at me now, and don't think I don't know
what all your eyes are a-saying
Does he want us to believe these ravings and lies?
They're just tricks that his brains been a-playing
A lover of women? He can't hardly stand
he trembles, he's bent, and he's broken
I've fallen, it's true, but I say unto you
hold your tongues until after I've spoken

I was taking my pride in the pleasures I'd known
I laughed and thought I'd be forgiven
but my laughter turned 'round, eyes blazing and
said my friend, we're holding a wedding
I buried my face but it spoke once again
the night to the day we're a binding
and now the dark air is like fire on my skin
and even the moonlight is blinding




"Crane Wife 1 & 2," the Decemberists

It was a cold night and the snow lay 'round
I pulled my coat tight against the falling down
And the sun was all
The sun was all down

I am a poor man, I haven't wealth nor fame
I have my two hands and a house to my name
And the winter's so
The winter's so long

But all the stars were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I'd found

It was a white crane, it was a helpless thing
On a red stain with an arrow in its wing
And it called and cried
It called and cried so

But all the stars were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I'd found
My crane wife, my crane wife

And how I helped her and how I dressed her wounds
And how I held her beneath the rising moon
'Til she stood to fly
She stood to fly away

My crane wife, my crane wife

But all the stars were crashing 'round
As I laid eyes on what I'd found
My crane wife, my crane wife

[2]

My crane wife
Arrived at my door in the moonlight
All star-bright and tongue-tied
I took her in

We were married
And bells rang sweet for our wedding
And our bedding was ready
When we fell in

Sound the keening bell
And see it's painted red
Soft as fontanel
The feathers in the thread
When all I ever meant to do was to keep you
My crane wife

We were poorly
Our fortunes fading hourly
And how she vowed me
She could bring it back

But I was greedy
I was vain and I forced her to weaving
On a cold loom in a closed room
With down wove

Sound the keening bell
And see it's painted red
Soft as fontanel
The feathers in the thread
When all I ever meant to do was to keep you
My crane wife

There's a bend in the wind and it rakes at my heart
There is blood in the thread and it rakes at my heart
Rakes at my heart