No, no not at all Torp! I was just trying to think of the mind frame behind them, you know? Some pieces are easy, like girl friend/boy friend stuff. I was thinking more along philosophical lines. What were you, as the composer, writing about. What life circumstance prompted them. That's all.
OK, sorry, just my overly fragile ego getting in the way
So, what's this supposed to be about? I'm always wary providing what I think my stuff is about, primarly because I want people to make up their own minds and take away what they will. However, the best solution I can give is that in the chorus wine is a metaphor for life, and flying away is kind of a metaphor for letting go, and the darkest sky is a metaphor for all the bad stuff that can happen. What there is to let go of probably varies from person to person, but at the time I wrote this song my marriage was in trouble. The reasons why it was in trouble, I think, had to do with a lot of preconceived notions I had about what I should be getting out of a marriage. I had to let go of these notions in order to more fully experience what was going on. In other words, by letting go of what I thought
should be happening I was more fully able to participate in what
was happening. So, the chorus, for me, really says, I can just let go, take things as they come (even the bad stuff), and I'll be rewarded with a rich life.
The first verse is about the realization that although my life has not been what I would call "perfect", I wouldn't necessarily change anything because that would change who I am. In other words, I feel fortunate to have had the experiences I've had, both positive and negative. Additionally, I'm trying to allude to the idea that hope is a byproduct of pain and suffering. With the chorus following, I'm again attempting to tell myself that becoming overly attached to events in life is not the way. Letting go and accepting life as it comes allows me to more easily experience the beauty of it. The use of the word ‘would’ in the chorus after this verse is along the lines of “I would if I could”
The second verse is simply approaching the idea that we are all capable of whatever we set our minds to. However, fear often holds us back from that achievement. When I originally wrote the song, I changed the words of the chorus here from I 'would' fly away to I 'want to fly' away. Additionally, I changed the wine part to say “And hear you say I’ll be fine. The reason for the changes was to imply it is more difficult than one thinks to abandon their fear and truly embrace life. 'Want to' is the first indication that the person singing at least wants to make a change in how they’re living life. So, the “Wanting to hear you (life in this case) say I’ll be fine” is kind of my nod to the fact that I have a tendency to hold back without some sort of ‘guarantee’ that everything is going to be ok. Although I want to make the change.
The third verse is merely about the idea that riches do not come from money. For me they come from building meaningful relationship with people and experiencing what life has to offer. For others this may be different. This verse is kind of about the idea that I had been searching for happiness via bigger paychecks, etc. The chorus after this verse is supposed to have the lyrics changed from I ‘would’ fly away to I ‘will’ fly away. I can’t remember if I screwed up and sang would instead of will. At any rate, the idea was to imply that the person singing had moved from Would, i.e. wishful thinking, to Want to, i.e. developed the internal desire to change, to Will, i.e. they’ve made the decision to do something different.
This brings us to the two sections of the bridge. The first section is where I’m trying to express the idea that I’ve let go. It’s me talking to life. Just take my soul and let it open wide. Come what may in the dark of night. In other words, I’ve decided to release the chains around my soul that are holding me back from being what I want to be and I’m no longer afraid to take the consequences of that life even if what I attempt should end in utter failure. The rest of that first section is me imagining what it might feel like to all of a sudden just feel this internal fire where once only darkness and fear existed.
The second section is really about trying to deal with what the concepts were in the 2nd verse, i.e. needing some sort of guarantee before living. What I’m attempting to say here is that it is my choice what to believe. And, once I’ve made that choice, I “see” the world through a different lens. In essence, the world has changed as a result of my choice even though “in reality” nothing has changed except my perception. The idea here is that if we want to change what we see in the world, we have to change HOW we see. So the play on words here is that in verse 2, I need to “see” (written as ‘hear’ in that case) that everything will be fine. In the progression of the song I’ve learned that if I believe everything will be fine, then what I see will follow that belief.
That’s it....
EDIT: I guess the real question is whether any of what I said above came through in the song.
Topic: Jef Torp - Fly Away