It Will Only End In Tears My Friend

So, I had this melody from a dream that compelled me to work it up in reality.  When that happens and it comes out sounding like a legitimate song and not just a sketch, there is no better feeling as a solitary musician.  There are usually good lyrics and memorable lines in the dreams as well, but I usually forget them.  Words are so much harder than melodies.  I am a lyricist not because of natural talent, but because of constant practice. I'm not great, but I think I'm solid.  My best work is inspired, but it only shows when I ply myself to the task of editing and revisions.  Most of my phrasing and choices can be improved and the songs that stay in my repertoire are ones that held up lyrically and melodically.  When I luck up on the right pairing of words and melody to suit the tone and mood of a song, it's a bonus.  That happened today.  I started with a bit of a chorus and built the song around that.  The thing was, it almost came off as an eulogy, full of resignation.  I could sense a bit of the message I'd been getting from things I'd been watching, a sort of reverse psychology, affirming life by embracing the potential that that's all their is, and nothingness awaits.  That doesn't jibe with me emotionally, because death can come at any time, and for those who cherish life, letting go is not something that comes naturally.  That being the case, having the notion that "you're done" when this life is over crammed down your throat as the only reality, and thus a reason to "live"  (YOLO for example, live for the moment being another) is contrary, and damaging to your peace of mind.  You've got to let people take life as they see and feel it, keep your own existential revelations to yourself.  It's a personal, the most personal, internal dialogue and bit of perspective any of us could hope to have.  Asserting our own egoism over another person's to validate your own frame of reference is disrespectful.

So with this song, the writing of the lyrics became an opportunity for me to blend the purely emotional with some overarching philosophical meandering, which is my wheelhouse.  I decided to make it a critique, but not of the broad existential crises I normally deal in.  I tried to drill down to a specific struggle in life, one that is a material manifestation of the mental and spiritual crises.  So, with that in mind, this is what I came up with.
 

Only End

All their hollow words, empty promises
shattered into shards, it wasn’t in the cards
nothing left to give, after so much waste
toiling in the past, it wasn’t meant to last

It’s ashes to ashes again
try as we may, we just can’t win
if this is all we’ve got, don’t pretend
it will only end in tears my friend


all we do is work, laboring in vain
punishing ourselves, fussing as we strain
to earn and honest wage, we volunteer our all
they bleed us till we're dry, nudge us till we fall

It’s ashes to ashes again
try as we may, we just can’t win
if this is all we’ve got, don’t pretend
it will only end in tears my friend


all it does is hurt, barbs they hurl
feeding at the troth, oysters bathed in slop
wallowing in bile, swallowing our pride
choking on the truth, this living is a lie
 
It’s ashes to ashes again
try as we may, we just can’t win
if this is all we’ve got, don’t pretend
it will only end in tears my friend