Sometimes when you have something important to say, songs say things better…

I was going to post about a much lighter subject this morning, but I have something on my mind today. And as I’ve been sitting here reflecting on that which is on my mind, it occurred to me that sometimes song lyrics get the point across better than my prose ever could. This morning, I’m thinking about the death of a friendship. I had kind of hoped it was mostly buried, but it was unintentionally exhumed last night by someone who has known me since I was about eight years old.

I got an email last night from a woman who used to keep me occupied in church. She is now in her 80s, but she and I have a very long history. Because my dad was in the choir, my mom was usually the organist at either our church or another one, and my sisters are much older and were either out of the house or no longer required to go to church, as an eight year old, I was expected to sit by myself every Sunday. This church lady was in a similar predicament. Her husband was in the choir and her kids were all grown. So she used to sit next to me every Sunday and entertain me with candy, Tic Tac Toe, and coloring books. She sat next to me until I quit attending church as a teenager. She was at my wedding and still keeps in contact with my family, even though my family hasn’t attended that church in some time.

Now, because the church lady knew me when I was a child, she also knew some of my friends. One friend in particular used to spend a lot of time with me when we were growing up. But as the years have passed, we’ve grown apart and, in fact, I feel quite a lot of animosity toward this ex friend of mine. I’m at the point at which I’d like to try to forget about her. It’s not so easy to do that, though, because my former friend still lives in my hometown and now attends the church I was raised in. The church lady also still goes to that church. Last night, she sent me an email about my former friend. To be honest, I was pretty annoyed to get the unwanted update about someone I’d like to stop thinking about.

However, this morning, in thinking about my reaction to that email and the friendship I no longer have, I was reminded of an old Supertramp song. It’s particularly fitting that this song would pop into my head, since my ex friend and I shared a mutual affection for Supertramp and, in particular, their 1979 album, Breakfast in America. My friend was partial to “The Logical Song” and used to sing it all the time.

“The Logical Song” is indeed very clever and timeless…

We both liked “Take The Long Way Home”…

Apologies for this version of “Take The Long Way Home”. YouTube is not long on videos by Supertramp.

Many years later, I bought the album, Breakfast in America. I loved it and played it all the time. It wasn’t until years later that I really listened and paid attention to the lyrics of most of the songs on that album and realized just how cynical and negative they were. I did some research and learned that Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, the two leaders of Supertramp, were not getting along when they made that album. It was their sixth album and was a huge success. And there are some truly great songs on it. But if you listen to the words and not just the music, you’ll hear that though Hodgson and Davies made great music together, they weren’t really on the same page. In fact, some songs reveal frank animosity between Davies and Hodgson. One song in particular that always stood out to me is “Goodbye Stranger”. It’s a song about about the dissolution of a partnership/friendship. Or, at least that’s what it sounds like to me.

This song was on my mind this morning. It’s a song about two people going in different directions. Again, it would have been to find a studio version of this, if only because Davies fails when he whistles.

“Goodbye Stranger” pretty much sums up how I feel about this person who shared so much of my life with me. We don’t know each other anymore and we’re going in different directions. If you read the lyrics, they are about a guy who decides it’s time to move on. It’s not necessarily about leaving a romantic partner, though it probably could be. I think “Goodbye Stranger” is more about two professionals parting ways, but the words of this song really convey the impersonal sentiments of two people who share nothing anymore. And that song, with its bitter lyrics, says more about how I feel about my dissolved friendship better than I ever could.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Click here to read the lyrics to “Goodbye Stranger”…