BALLADS – Then, Now and Forever

I call it the default CD in our car (at least for hubby and me).  And its been there for quite a long time now.  The children understand and they never try to change the disc. My son just listens to his favorite radio stations when he drives alone and I have mine too but listening to Richard Marx’s album every time we go on a long road trip makes that smile on my face permanently pasted, if you know what I mean.  What it is about Richard’s voice that keeps one arrested?  Be it rock, pop, or ballad, he has it all.  He sang background vocals to so many artists like Lionel Richie, Madonna, KennyRogers, Barbra Streisand and so many others. An impressive musical resume – he has more than thirty million records sold, writer of more than ten #1 songs, 2004 Grammy Song of the Year winner with Luther Vandross for Dance With My Father.  I uploaded the whole album here about a year ago, Can’t really get enough.

In the song, Heaven Only Knows, he has this to say;

I watch the world go round and round

And my life goes at the speed of sound

I walk the night

And I wonder just where I belong, oh

My heart is young, but my soul is old

I’ve never been one to do what I was told

My back to the wall

Is the only place I can feel strong, oh

A bit introspective, silent  cries from a weary soul and sometimes, in our great hour of need, we can relate.  And the following lines really touch me in a way that makes me long for what heaven is.

Heaven only knows

what lies before me

Heaven only knows

what  all my searching is for

All my life I’ve waited for a miracle

But i can’t ask for anything more.

And you are probably familiar with the song, Right Here Waiting, one of the best tracks in the album.  It is an absolute favorite, done in a captivating and soulful way that only Richard knows how.

Oceans apart day after day

And I slowly go insane

I hear your voice on the line

But it doesn’t stop the pain

If I see you next to never

how can we say forever

Is forever true?  Sometimes, we take things for granted , thinking  everything would last somehow.  Really, nothing is permanent in this crazy world that we’re living in, but in the song Now and Forever, there is a promise of tomorrow, a grateful acknowledgment  that finding someone to love is heaven sent. Nostalgic and sometimes when I listen to it, it makes me weepy. And I love these lines;

Whenever i’m weary from the battles

that rage in my head

You make sense of madness when my

sanity hangs by a thread

I lose my way but still you seem

to understand…..

So sensitive to the plights of young people on the streets, he has this to say in his song Children of the Night and I am quoting everything here;

All that I know in my life

I have learned on the street

No magic carpet, no genie, no shoes on my feet

Will I wake up from this nightmare?

A fear that chills me to the bone

Though I may be one of many

I feel so alone.

We are the children of the night

We won’t go down without a fight

Our voice is strong, our future’s bright

And thanks to what we learned from you

We’ve grown into the children of the night.

Left by my father with only this scar on my face

Told by my mother that

“No, you were just a mistake”

I have tasted my own hunger

Sold my body to survive

Some have paid to scratch the surface

But they can’t touch what’s inside

Hardened by life’s experiences, we shield ourselves from the pain of being rejected.  We learn to survive and in this crazy world, we long for something better.  He ends his song with the lines, Lord, I know I’m bound for heaven, Cause I’ve done my time in hell. Don’t get me wrong ,I love all the songs in the album but these stand out among the rest.

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