Music & Lyrics: "White Flag"

Outside, it's dark and gloomy.
"Bed weather".
I am relishing this peace and quiet, nonetheless.
It's just me and my Mackerel this Saturday.
No TV (not for today).
No work stuff for now (the training materials are kept safely away)
The neighborhood seems quiet, too.
And I'm listening to Dido.

I hope that you still remember her. She sang "Thank You", one of the songs closest to my heart (forever, I guess ;). Her songs' lyrics have always been well-written and well thought out , in my opinion.

As my playlist randomly ran, the lyrics of another Dido song, "White Flag" caught my attention. 

Credits: themindfulword.org

You may choose to listen to this song again (the YT link's posted below). I feel that the song's lyrics may have different meanings to whoever is listening in. I remember having my own interpretation of this song some years back (It didn't strike much chords then). Now as I listened to it again, that interpretation changed. Hmmm...

Credits: isntitironicTOTP for the above video

It's an interesting twisted story of "letting go without letting go". 

I hear a story of two people who have given up on each other --- one of them is cutting off all ties, while the other has given up on being loved back. In between the lines of surrender, there's the irony of battling through an obvious defeat. One of them has decided to set the other free while choosing to hold on to that love at whatever cost. 

Love is a messy ugly battlefield in their case. She may have done the unforgivable, something which is probably beyond redemption. She knew that she's in the losing end of the war but decided to go down with the bullets and cannons standing her ground. It's going down fighting for love, and not for the man. 

It's knowing you will not have him but still deciding to love him nonetheless.  A complicated version of "being and not having". 

When you really think about it, this "complicated" concept of surrender could have made these real-life "battles of love" a lot simpler. If most of us could have been more accepting of "being" in love with or loving someone without the need to "have" him or her, there would have been less bloodshed --- some tears and heartaches, yes, but less entanglements.

Perhaps, that's why our heart literally has several chambers. There's room to love that one person and hold on to it until you meet again, or even forever. 

Oh well, that's what a quiet Saturday does. A calm heart to receive these realizations. But those are just my two cents. I may listen to this song again several years from now and hear a different story.

White Flag (by Dido)

And when we meet 

Which I'm sure we will 

All that was there

Will be there still 

I'll let it pass 

And hold my tongue 

And you will think 

That I've moved on.... 

I will go down with this ship 

And I won't put my hands up and surrender 

There will be no white flag above my door 

I'm in love and always will be 

 isntitironicTOTP:isntitironicTOTP