songs i like series, post 1

what kind of music do you like? is a question i've been getting often recently. i want to answer with something that is representative of what i enjoy, but also who i am. in the end, my mind always fixates on a few songs that i really love. while i like a lot of music for the way it sounds, in the end the songs i love are for what they have to say.

so i thought i'd post periodically about songs that i love and why.

samson - by regina spektor

lyrics:

You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth
I have to go, I have to go
Your hair was long when we first met

Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
He ate a slice of wonder bread and went right back to bed
And history books forgot about us and the bible didn't mention us
And the bible didn't mention us, not even once

You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the stars came fallin' on our heads
But they're just old light, they're just old light
Your hair was long when we first met

Samson came to my bed
Told me that my hair was red
Told me I was beautiful and came into my bed
Oh I cut his hair myself one night
A pair of dull scissors in the yellow light
And he told me that I'd done alright
And kissed me 'til the morning light, the mornin' light
And he kissed me 'til the morning light

Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
Ate a slice of wonderbread and went right back to bed
Oh, we couldn't bring the columns down
Yeah we couldn't destroy a single one
And history books forgot about us
And the bible didn't mention us, not even once

to me the song imagines that samson's and delilah's love, while broken was still true in its own way- the way he loved her, despite her lies, flaws and betrayal. even after she had cut his hair, "he told me that i'd done alright, and kissed me til the morning light."

while the higher call was for samson to leave delilah and return to God, what if he hadn't? what if he had just continued to love her? maybe he wouldn't have brought the philistine temple columns down, maybe he wouldn't have made any dent in history, biblical or otherwise. would it have been okay to simply ask to be human, rather than great?

again, to me this song is about acknowledgement. acknowledging that maybe sometimes the things that we give up to follow God or "do the right thing," are not inherently bad. While the "right" choice may be clear, it is not always easy; and certainly not always black and white.