Song Stories

This is the first in a new series of posts. Song lyrics tell stories, both directly and indirectly. Some are very easy to understand: “Oh yeah, his girlfriend died and he took her ashes to the beach and watched the sunrise while playing her favorite song,” while some are more open to interpretation.

There are several songs where I imagine elaborately detailed “music videos” every time I hear them. I know that most of the time what I imagine is not what the artist (or other listeners) had in mind, but I thought I’d share a few and see what happens.


So without further ado, Song Story #1: “We are Young” by fun.


“We are Young” by fun. has been topping the charts all spring. The official music video is a set of slow motion explosions set in a dimly lit bar, a hectic mismash of band shots and stylized chaos. While I don’t know exactly what inspired the story behind the words, this is the story I would tell if I had the chance to direct a new video for this song. (song lyrics in italics) 

A young man sits by himself in a corner of the bar, slowly turning a glass that’s still mostly full. He’s talking to the bartender, who’s only half listening. 


Give me a second I,
I need to get my story straight
My friends are in the bathroom getting
Higher than the Empire State
My lover, she is waiting for me
just across the bar
My seat’s been taken by some sunglasses
asking 'bout a scar, and...


The bartender turns to fill an order and the young man watches a stranger in expensive sunglasses flirt with his lover on the other side of the room. His hands clench around his glass as the man traces the pale pink line beneath her right eye. She turns from his touch and meets his eyes. She quickly looks down and excuses herself from the stranger. The scene shifts...


I know I gave it to you months ago
I know you’re trying to forget
But between the drinks and subtle things
The holes in my apologies, you know
I’m trying hard to take it back...


...to show the couple arguing in a living room. The young man turns from the girl and slams the bedroom door. He pounds the wall and kicks the bed and picks up a vase, spinning manically to throw it towards the door. Just as it leaves his fingers the door opens...she cries out, hands rising to her bloodied face...she backs out, shutting the door, and he stares, falters, crumples to the floor in shock. 

Back in the bar, he watches her return to her seat. The stranger has moved on. They lock eyes and he sings to her, oblivious of anyone else.

So if by the time the bar closes
And you feel like falling down
I’ll carry you home...
Tonight
We are young
So let’s set the world on fire
We can burn brighter than the sun


The scene changes back to the house. They sit at the dining room table. He sings to her, but she is looking past him to the photos of her family on the wall.  


Now I know that I’m not
All that you got
I guess that I, I just thought
Maybe we could find new ways to fall apart...

 He’s brought back to reality by his friends’ rowdy return. He and she are pushed together by the crowd.


But our friends are back
So let’s raise a toast
‘Cause I found someone to carry me home

(Refrain)


His friends take up the song of life, love, and youth. He loses sight of her in the crowd, but she appears behind him and takes his hand in hers. She sings to him,


Carry me home tonight
Just carry me home tonight
Carry me home tonight
Just carry me home tonight


During the next verse we see them fighting at home again, and to blow off his anger he takes off running down the street. He sees her face on everyone he passes; he slows, calming down, and returns home.  


The world is on my side
I have no reason to run
So will someone come and carry me home tonight
The angels never arrived
But I can hear the choir
So will someone come and carry me home

(Refrain)

Outside the bar, he whispers the last verses to her as their friends drive off in a taxi. She wraps his arms around his neck and he picks her up, carrying her away down the deserted streets. 

 
So if by the time the bar closes
And you feel like falling down
I’ll carry you home
Tonight. 

Back to their empty dining room, sunlight streaming in through the window, slowly moving up to reveal their wedding photo on the wall.