Every Friday, another H&H blog post will be released. Each post will have an associated song that you can watch and listen to via YouTube. The songs are written from a perspective other than my own. This week the song is written from the perspective of a couple about to get married -- in fact, it ended up being their wedding song! Click HERE to listen to this week's song called "It's Always Been You."
I'm back! After taking (quite) a few weeks off to soak in SoCal, Vegas, Utah, Colorado, and visit my family in Wisconsin, I'm finally back on the road and I'm back writing songs/blogs. I think I should just start calling them "slogs." This one is a love story :)
Her:
"What I love most about him is that is doesn't matter where you are or who you are, if you call him to help you, he will always be there. Every time. It's not easy for him to articulate how he feels, but he shows it 1000 times over with his actions. When we lived apart he put 30,000 miles on his truck just to see me on the weekends. He is always himself, no matter what. And that gives me confidence because I know exactly who I am in love with."
Him:
"I can be myself around her."
It wasn't the first time I had talked to these two. After all, I had played football with him back in high school and she had been my sister's best friend for over a decade; he helped me renovate the ambulance and she stole the oreo's in our family pantry; he cracked beers with me and she gave me great life advice. They lived down the street. We were basically family.
They hadn't been engaged very long before she asked me to write their wedding song. It was an honor to be asked, but not a surprise. We were, afterall, basically family. It seemed right to be involved in the wedding, and for me, music was the best way to do it.
I scheduled a time to meet with the two of them so that I could dig into their feelings a little deeper. I was looking for the rich love story -- small narratives and symbols that I could weave into the lyrics. She, of course, had plenty to say. After all, she was a professional counselor. Feelings were her forte.
He, on the other hand, had a harder time opening up. Even though he and I were close, he couldn't find a way to articulate his love for her in front of me. Instead, he nodded along as she talked, he laughed, and he teased her about the stories she was telling. It was clear to me that he was more a man of action than of words.
Nothing made this more clear than his famous attempt to ask her out for the first time. It was a night in November, early in high school, when he asked her to "maybe, possibly, potentially, consider thinking about a date with me?"
He found a way to spit out those words for her -- something he doesn't do for just anyone. Luckily for all of us, she considered it... and said yes!
Lyrics:
my man don't always have the words
but i know, i know, i know he'll always be there
my girl she always puts me first
and i know, i know, i know she ain't going nowhere
oh cuz our friends they've always known
cuz we drive each other home
backs on the bed of the truck
and our eyes on the stars
our minds on our hearts
it's always been you
deep in our souls, can't control
it's always been true
and not just for me and you
it takes a village too
my man he'd drive a thousand miles
cuz he knows, he knows, he knows he's walkin' me down the aisle
my girl she always makes me smile
cuz she knows, she knows, she knows she has me for awhile
oh cuz our friends they've always known
cuz we drive each other home
backs on the bed of the truck
and our eyes on the stars
our minds on our hearts
it's always been you
deep in our souls, can't control
it's always been true
and not just for me and you
for our family
oh don't you remember?
on that night in november
you asked me the question of our lives:
could you maybe, possibly, potentially, consider thinking about a date with me? Katie?
it's always been you
deep in our souls, can't control
it's always been true
and not just for me and you
it takes a village too