Monday, June 2, 2008

The Young Miss Havisham

Entitled 'World Wide', my latest song is based largely off of a character from a Charles Dickens book. This song uses a lot of imagery to describe an overgrown mansion. A building like the one owned by Miss Havisham from 'Great Expectations'. But the house itself is actually the mind of the lady in my story. The house I describe is actually the isolation from others that takes place in her mind. Once beautiful and pristine - now old, rusted, and falling apart - the mansion (her mind in reality) is the perfect place to indulge misery.

The lady in my story is actually a version of a young Miss Havisham. And it is a warning about the outcome of not seeking happiness, and staying guarded from people that could possibly love you. In true 'Dickins' style it as if the ghost of Christmas future is showing the lady what is in store for her if she does not 'open her eyes.' As to what it is that has our heroine so heartbroken, the song eludes to a picture in a locket. This holds the key to her sadness: an obvious ex-lover.

"World Wide"

Did you see the signs outside your window?
Was it that the sun refused to shine?
There's a wall all along the garden
Clinging to the bricks grows a vine.

There's a golden chain and locket,
And there's a picture behind the stone.
There's rust on the bars on the gates and a sign
That says, "Just leave me alone."

This is not where it ends.
This is not where it begins.
The path that you walk ain't the same on both sides.
Open your eyes child,
And look the world wide.

There's a war being fought on your shoulders,
And the weight is bearing you down.
There's a fountain out in the courtyard,
But there's no water left to make a sound.

As the light slips in from the curtain,
It draws a line across your bed.
On one side the door, the other much more,
The will to choose has never been so bereft.

This is not where it ends.
This is not where it begins.
The walls that you build are the same that you'll climb.
Open your eyes child,
And look the world wide.

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