Song of the day

[yendi]

I adore this song. The best damned thing Steve Winwood was ever involved with (he played the Hammond). I find occasions to use quotes from this tune regularly (the final lines of the third verse, italicized, were an epigraph for a college paper I wrote on Churchill's role in destroying the Lusitania, and applies just as well to the current Bush regime). It's a wonderful song, merging my (and clearly Billy's) general sense of cynicism with occasional bouts of optimism.


Getting Closer, Billy Joel, The Bridge, 1986

I went searching for the truth
But in my innocence I found
All the con men and their acrobats
Who stomped me in the ground
If I count up their percentages
I know they're getting rich
But they haven't taken everything
Those paybacks are a bitch

Though I've lost quite a lot
I am still in control
They can keep what they've got
But they can't have my soul
And if I don't have this all worked out
Still I'm getting closer, getting closer
I still have far to go no doubt
But I'm getting closer, getting closer

What was ripped off by professionals
Is not all that it seems
While I must live up to contracts
I did not give up my dreams
If I see it as experience
It hasn't gone to waste
Lately all the missing pieces
Have been falling into place

And if I could go back and start over somehow
I would not change that much
Knowing what I know now
Though there have been sins
I will regret
Still I'm getting closer, getting closer
I don't have all the answers yet
But I'm getting closer, getting closer

I'm a mark for every shyster
From Topanga to Berlin
And I should have learned to kick them out
As soon as they crawled in
So to every bank in Switzerland
That stores my stolen youth
I'm alright because despite the laws
You cannot hide the truth

And although you will say
I am still too naive
But I have not lost faith
In the things I believe

And if I don't have this all worked out
Still I'm getting closer, getting closer
I still have far to go no doubt
But I'm still getting closer, getting closer

Comments

[sambear.livejournal.com]

Yes! This song was my "Anthem to Reclaim My Self-Esteem" in recovering from the abusive marriage I was a part of. It was particularly appropriate since my ex introduced me to this music :)