Talking in Songs...the Song

Talking in Songs

© 2019 Jeff Jackson

It was a sleepy Sunday afternoon

And the sun was sliding down the sky

And my true love and I were sitting on the back porch

sipping tea and listening to geese flying by

She pulled out her favorite book and began to read

And I pulled out my guitar because I felt the need

To write a song about all the feelings I had pent up inside

I started playing these same chords

At this same speed and spoke these same words

Which I was hoping expressed how deeply I was in love with her

But when I looked up and saw her green eyes,

I expected to see her bright shining smile,

But instead she looked serious

With something to say

She took a deep breath and I took a deep sigh

And before I could muster the words to ask why

It was in that pregnant pause,

I knew something was wrong:

She hates talking in songs

She doesn’t know what’s so wrong

With singing and hand claps

Or whistling and finger snaps

She hates talking in songs

And she simply can’t stand

When the singer demands

To speak the spoken word

Instead of singing what she prefers

She hates talking in songs.

She began to go off on the kinds of tunes

Where there was a catchy chorus,

but then was interrupted

By narrative text that took you

Out of the song

She said it felt manipulative

Like when a preacher is closing out his sermon

And the piano player begins to noodle over his words,

Which always leads to an altar call.

She’d rather hear harmonies and perfectly placed rhymes

A baritone or tenor crooning a tune That was both poignant

And pleasing to the ear

Instead of a clog of words uttered in the middle of a song

That have no meter or tempo

She said it was annoying

And I needed to stop