Just Say It
Ben Folds \”The Luckiest\” on YouTube
“I am the luckiest.” Words so simple, yet rich with meaning. I have been listening to this song for several weeks and am moved afresh every time I hear the first note of the piano.
The piece, written and performed by Ben Folds, achieves an artistic unity that you seldom find in pop music. A simple declaration, in the plainest language. Images of rare simplicity. A clear melodic line and unfussy arrangement that pluck at the heartstrings. A voice clear and uncomplicated, accurately pitched and tonally suited to the words and melody. Together they achieve a beautiful unity and the piece becomes greater than the sum of its parts. But let’s think about those parts one by one.
In a world where musicians scream, moan, improvise and generally turn themselves inside out to express or to vent, the simplicity of Folds’ vocal approach is like a window thrown open in a stuffy room. What more could you want than this committed and unschmaltzy performance? Folds is no stranger to cynical humour, but drops it here to offer a sincerity that rings with truth. Always a surefire way to set my pulse racing.
There can be no doubt of his mastery of the keyboard. The music is eased out of the ivories with a gentle touch, the cadences of his interpretation are delicate, almost melancholy and in perfect keeping with the diffidence of the speaker. The tempo is contemplative, yet there are moments of urgency, as the speaker tries, in his earnest yet inept way, to express the depth of his feeling for his beloved. A performance to make you cry. In the best of ways.
image courtesy Angel Strehlen
In a world where words proliferate and obfuscate, where meaning is lost, where feeling is frowned upon, the awkward yet sincere expression of the inexpressible comes across as something rare and precious. The simplicity of the words “I am the luckiest” bring to mind every boy or man who has ever had it bad for a girl. He may worship her from afar or have already won her, but the words to express the multitude of emotions cruising through his blood stream elude him, and he can fall back only on the simple: “She’s so beautiful.” “I’m so lucky.”
In Colin McAdam’s penetrating novel “Fall” Julius, the eighteen year old who is in love with Fall is almost incoherent in his attempt to explain what it is that captivates him. “You know Fall I say. Those eyes, right….I dream about her eyes I say.” He falls on the small detail to explain the whole.
So, the speaker in the song. What if I’d never met you? what if we’d been born at the right place but in the wrong time? I saw your eyes and I recognized you. This old man lived next door and when he died, his wife lived only two more days, then died of grief. We belong together. I know I’m saying it poorly. I don’t have the words. I have the feelings, but not the words.
I think we need to learn to listen for the feelings, and not to the words. Words are important and powerful, and those that have facility with them can use them to build beautiful possibilities. But many cannot. Don’t know how. So listen for the feelings, when you receive an awkward compliment. “You are so beautiful” means you light the world with your smile, the radiance of you is like pieces of light that penetrate me and shatter me, the purity of your heart is like a beacon in the darkness. “I am/ I am/ I am the luckiest.”
Let’s put the shoe on the other foot. What if we’re the speaker, the one with a universe of love to express, but no words to say it? Should that stop us?
Never. Never let it stop you. Say it. Just say it. No matter how inept. No matter how awkward or lame or cliche. If you have a thought or a feeling that is generated by love of whatever kind for anyone, just say it. The honesty of the feeling will be borne on the simplest of phrases. And the hearer just may understand.