#SongLyricSunday ♫ “Lights” – Ellie Goulding

Getting Scavenger ready for its release day May 1st has kept me so busy, I’ve missed the last two SLS’s, and no one regretted that more than me! I love music and this is my favorite challenge, so I’m happy to back!

This week’s theme is: Lights

Like many people, this was the first song I ever heard by Ellie Goulding (as it was her first hit to reach the U.S. radio stations) and the one that had me seeking out the rest of her music, which I absolutely loved right away. At the time, she only had one album out, so more interestingly, I was able to find and watch her original YouTube channel which she’d created before actually getting a label. It was a very candid glimpse of her explaining her at-home recording setup, how it worked and had some footage of her singing, recording and mixing her own tracks there in her home with the voice and talent that eventually got her to where she is today. I couldn’t find it to link it here, unfortunately. I’m sure it’s either been taken down now, or she simply has far too many videos on YouTube these days to get to those really old ones.

Even though I’ve come to enjoy her acoustic and live versions almost more than her recorded songs, this one is still a favorite of mine. Enjoy!

I had a way then
Losing it all on my own
I had a heart then
But the queen has been overthrown

And I’m not sleeping now
The dark is too hard to beat
And I’m not keeping up
The strength I need to push me

You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine it when I’m alone
And so I tell myself that I’ll be strong
And dreaming when they’re gone
‘Cause they’re calling, calling, calling me home
Calling, calling, calling home
You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine it when I’m alone

Voices, I play within my head
Touch my own skin
And hope that I’ll still be there

And I think back to when
My brother and my sister slept
In an unknown place
The only time I feel safe

You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine it when I’m alone
And so I tell myself that I’ll be strong
And dreaming when they’re gone
‘Cause they’re calling, calling, calling me home
Calling, calling, calling home
You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine it when I’m alone

Light, lights, lights, lights
Light, lights, lights, lights
Home, home
Light, lights, lights, lights
Light, lights

You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine it when I’m alone
And so I tell myself that I’ll be strong
Dreaming when they’re gone
‘Cause they’re calling, calling, calling me home
Calling, calling, calling home
You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine it when I’m alone

Home, home
(Lights, lights, lights)
Home, home
(Lights, lights, lights)

♫♪♫♪

Songwriters: Ellie Goulding / Ashley Francis Howes / Richard Frederick Stannard
Lyrics found and pieced together from Google & AZLyrics
Legal: Lights lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Global Talent Music Pub Inc, BMG Rights Management US, LLC

I do not own any rights to this song, lyrics or video. All rights remain with the artists and their respective agents. No copyright infringement intended.

Advertisements

#SongLyricSunday ♪ “The Writer” by Ellie Goulding

Are you participating in SLS yet? Well you should! Hop over to This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time to check out this awesome weekly challenge hosted by Helen and join in the fun!

This week’s theme is: Pretending

I think, if there’s one thing most of us experience at least once in our lives, it’s “Pretending” to be okay, when we’re not. After a break-up or when our life isn’t going as well as planned. My song choice for this week’s challenge is about pretending to be okay with a relationship that’s in stalemate, while secretly longing for more, or when all evidence points to the fact that our feelings are deeper than our partner’s. It’s not a fun place to be, in that fragile place of uncertainty, yet so much easier to pretend than risk everything by coming across as too needy… Ugh, dating. 😐

This week’s song is an old favorite of mine by Ellie Goulding and I prefer the live version, so that’s what you’re stuck with. 😀 Enjoy!

You wait for a silence
I wait for a word
Lying next to your frame
Girl unobserved
Well, you change your position
And you’re changing me
Casting these shadows
Where they shouldn’t be

We’re interrupted by heat of the sun
Trying to prevent what’s already begun
Oh, you’re just a body
I can smell your skin
And when I feel it
You’re wearing thin

Oh, but I’ve got a plan
Why don’t you be the artist, and make me out of clay?
Why don’t you be the writer, and decide the words I say?
‘Cause, I’d rather pretend I’ll still be there at the end
Only, it’s too hard to ask
Won’t you try to help me?

Sat on your sofa
It’s all broken springs
This isn’t the place for those violin strings
Oh, I try on a smile and I aim it at you
But you must’ve missed it
You always do

Oh, but I’ve got a plan
Why don’t you be the artist, and make me out of clay?
Why don’t you be the writer, and decide the words I say?
‘Cause I’d rather pretend I’ll still be there at the end
Only it’s too…

You wait, I wait, casting shadows
Interrupted
You wait, I wait, casting shadows
Interrupted
You wait, I wait, casting shadows
Interrupted
You wait, I wait, casting shadows

Why don’t you be the artist, and make me out of clay?
Why don’t you be the writer, and decide the words I say?
Cause I’d rather pretend I’ll still be there at the end
Only it’s too…

Why don’t you be the artist, and make me out of clay?
Why don’t you be the writer, and decide the words I say?
Cause I’d rather pretend I’ll still be there at the end
Only it’s too hard to ask
Won’t you try to help me?

♫♪♫♪

Songwriters: Ellie Goulding and John Latimer
Lyrics found on Google
The Writer lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Global Talent Music Pub Inc.

I do not own any rights to this song, lyrics or video. All rights remain with the artists and their respective agents. No copyright infringement intended.

 

#MusicMonday

I Wish I Stayed

by: Ellie Goulding

Why can’t we speak another language
One we all agree on?
Why when many look outside, they see houses
Instead of the fields they grew from?
We are constantly uprooted from them
Making us tiresome and fearful
Can you get up right now and
And have a free-fall?

‘Cause you can fall if you want to
It’s just a matter of how far
You’ve treasured your hometown
But you’ve forgotten where you are
And it will stay with you ’til your mind’s been found
And it has been found wondering around

With that skipping rope, a trampoline
The crafty smoke that made us choke
But we didn’t give up hope
Ya, it’s the simple ways of getting paid
The carelessness of running away
No, wish I stayed
I wish I stayed

Patterns all arranged in my background
These pillars and posts keeping this country of war
Letters were always sent with no addresses
So that people can’t discover
They were always undercover
Why do I always draw triangles
Instead of the words that this paper so deserves?

‘Cause you see,
I don’t own my clothes but I own my mind
And it’s not what you’ve lost
But it’s what you find

I don’t own my clothes, but I own my mind
And it’s not what you’ve lost
But, it’s what you find

You found that skipping rope, a trampoline
The crafty smoke that made us choke
But we didn’t give up hope
Ya, it’s the simple ways of getting paid
The carelessness of running away
No, wish I stayed
I wish I stayed.

‘Cause you can fall if you want to
It’s just a matter of how far
You’ve treasured your hometown
You’ve forgotten where you are
And it will stay with you ’til your mind’s been found
And it has been found wondering around

With that skipping rope, a trampoline
The crafty smoke that made us choke
But we didn’t give up hope
Ya, it’s the simple ways of getting paid
The carelessness of running away
No, I wish I stayed
I wish I stayed
I wish I stayed
I wish I stayed

I do not own any rights to this song, the lyrics or video. All rights remain with the artists and their respective agents. No copyright infringement intended.

♥ I’ve been a big fan of Ellie since first hearing her hit single “Lights” on the radio. I know she’s gained massive popularity since then, but these ‘live’ and ‘acoustic’ versions of hers have always been my absolute faves. She’s one talented singer/songwriter – and she used to record-or at least edit-her own albums in her apartment, so have to give her #IndieLoves for that, too! ♥

p.s. I had to look this up because I was curious (fine, American), so for all others who are scratching their heads: “crafty smoke” or rather just ‘crafty’ is from an Old English word that means ‘strong’ or ‘powerful’ according to dictionary.com – but, according to Urbandictionary.com, it can also be part of a slang term that means to sneak away for a cigarette… I wonder which one Ellie was alluding to here? 😀 (psst, I made you learn something, ha-ha!)

Triple Lyric Tuesday

It’s so nice to have the old internet back up and running in proper order again.  Here’s this week’s selection of lyrics and remember, you all are welcome to chime in with your own suggestions in the comments below!

“Oh, but I’ve got a plan – Why don’t you be the artist and make me out of clay.  Why don’t you be the writer and decide the words I say, ’cause I’d rather pretend I’ll still be there at the end, only it’s too hard to ask, won’t you try to help me…”

~ The Writer (Live at the Cherrytree House) by: Ellie Goulding

“Company, always on the run.  Destiny, ooh is a rising sun.  Ohoh.  I was born, six-gun in my hand.  Behind a gun, I’ll make my final stand…”

~ Bad Company by: Bad Company

“It’s too late now to stop the process, this was your choice, you let it in.  This double life you lead is eating you up from within.  One thousand shards of glass, you pushed beneath my skin, left me lying there to bleed…”

~ Broken Pieces by: Apacolyptica ft. Lacey Sturm (of Flyleaf)

*Note: I do not own anything pertaining to these songs.  All rights and copyrights belong to the artists and their respective labels.*