Waste No Words - The Words

Most Sestina songs are love stories. Now why do I feel slightly ashamed to admit that?


Let's face it, choosing to write a love song is not exaclty the most original route to take. You can write about just about anything else and feel more pioneering about it.


On the other hand, no two love stories are the same, so writing about them never really gets old. Just ask Paul McCartney.

* * *

The lyrics in Waste No Words came out of a working title and a simple idea for a  story I had. The two had no real common thematic ground to begin with, but I decided to put them together anyway. Quite like in a good, old-fashioned marriage arrangement. Sometimes it's refreshing to just toy around with ideas and see what comes out.


Not the easiest write, though. This was one of my earlier "new" Sestina lyrics, and at this point I was still trying to figure out how to convey a story in the little space of a song. Come to think of it, I still am.


Anyway, telling a love story is an especially tricky thing to pull off with a handful of lines. There has to be some point of focus, or you'll probably find yourself grasping at straws trying to cram it all in there. Sounds reasonable, right?


So in the spirit of disregarding my own rules (I've been doing a lot of that lately) I ended up trying to cover the whole thing anyway; or, at least, the space of one year. I didn't start out that way, but a lot of things kept changing while going through many drafts - the ages of the characters, the story arc etc. - so eventually I just let the story freely go where it wanted.


I think it turned out pretty good in the end.

* * *

The last lines I wrote were the last lines of the song. That was actually the moment I really understood the story I was telling. When I began rehearsing the song by myself, it was only after a few days I could finish that part without choking up.


Hopeless love stories from a hopeless sap to hopeless romantics...


~Markus


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Waste No words

turning around
spots him in a crowd

a face so young bears no lines at all

hers a roadmap of the lost and the alone

such a pretty thing

he takes her by the hand

like a lover like a son

she breathes him in
and he breathes her out

one more sigh
then he helps her down

still holds on
she stays wrapped around

for the longest time
she fears

she's falling hard

saying

"waste no words

you're all alone

save the truth

for somebody who wouldn't know"

she fills her heart

asleep in his arms

and dreams about the final train out of this town

spring moves on
this has got to stop

tells herself that one month is enough

takes one year before deciding that she's done

they say love is never found in cheap motels

but the boy is waiting
and she says

"waste no words

he's all alone

save the truth

for somebody who wouldn't know"

she fills her heart

asleep in his arms

and dreams about the final train out of this town

she knows herself

knows what time can do

still tells him

"this I swear is true"

"I might be old
I might be a fool

but I'll stay here

and I belong to you"

.

Chosen films for a counter-intuitive writing environment:

Mario van Peebles - Baadasssss!

Christopher Smith - Severance

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