Stephen Stills: "Love the One You're With" Great lyrics or So-so lyrics?

lueders
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Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:00 am

Alright, now that is some good discussion! I love it!!! I am picking up what you're laying down, Mark. No there is certainly nothing wrong with fun songs. But not all fun songs are created equal, either are they?

A lot of the best songs ARE just plain FUN songs. I wholeheartedly agree. And, I certainly agree that not all songs have to have some grand, deep moral imperative.The Beatles songs you mentioned are not the best poetry I ever heard either. I like the songs better, And think I do because they're so over-the top goofy. And that makes 'em a little more fun.

Thanks for the discussion, mark!


dekotaj
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Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:05 am

If you're down and confused
and you don't remember who your talking to
your concentration slips away
because your baby, is so far away

She is so far away because she has left you.

Don't be angry
don't be sad
Don't sit cryin' over good times you had

Move on with life.And find what you are missing(LOVE)

and if you cant be with the one you love, honey
love the one you're with
love the one you're with
love the one you're with
love the one you're with

So find a new love that will stick around.

love the one you're with
Do do do do do do do do
Do do do do do do do do
Do do do do do do do do
Do do do, do do do

(Do do do IT).Sure you stay true to the one who loves you.But what to do if SHE stops???

That's how I seen it in the 70s.I can't say that's what he was saying when he wrote the song but it sure work for me back then..

Kevin


abiliog
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Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:11 am

Good one Cori,
Allow me to express my two cents.

"If you’re down and confused,
and you don’t remember who you’re talkin’ to.
Concentration slip away,
‘cause your baby is so far away."

To me it seems his loved one is not the same person anymore for some reason.
People change and sometimes the one we felt in love before becomes unrecognizable.
That's how I see "cause your baby is so far away",

"Well there's a rose in a fisted glove
and the eagle flies with the dove"

This verse could have different interpretations, not sure which is the right one.
Too idiomatic for me.

"Don't be angry don't be sad
Don't sit cryin' over good times you had
There's a girl right next to you
and she's waiting for something to do"

I understand this verse as simple as "you got to move on", there isn't a point
of being clung to the past.

"if you cant be with the one you love, honey love the one you're with"
Don't see it as an apology to free love:

"Don't be angry don't be sad
Don't sit cryin' over good times you had"

just doesn't fit.

Hope my interpretation makes sense.
I still think is a "so-so" lyrics, ;)
Abilio


lueders
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Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:11 am

Thanks Kevin, well that helps. If that is what I'm supposed to take from it. Well, I definitely like that a lot better! :laugh:


dennisg
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Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:13 am

Not to nitpick, Cori, but I'm not sure what your original question means. Are you finding fault with the meaning of the song or the way the lyrics express that meaning?

For me, having grown up and participated in the whole free love thing, I think the song does a competent job of promoting that lifestyle. So I think the lyrics are pretty good in that sense. As to whether the meaning of the song holds up for me, absolutely not. I have no interest in being involved with anyone except my wife. And when she goes out of town, I don't generally call up an escort service and proceed to love the one I'm with.

Part of the problem with the song is the vagueness of the word "love." When Stills says, "If you can't be with the one you love..." he's talking about being separated from the person you're in love with. And when he says, "...love the one you're with," he's no longer talking about being in love, he's saying rip your clothing off and schtup the first person who shows up.

So, to answer your question, no, I don't think the song represents a message I'd want my children to subscribe to, but I do think the lyrics do an adequate job of expressing that message. I also think the music and harmonies are just killer.


dekotaj
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Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:24 am

Cori.

NO NO NO!What you get from a song is for you to decide??

Kevin


lueders
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Sat Aug 13, 2011 10:48 am

Well thanks Abilio!! :)

I am starting to see a little more merit to these lyrics...actually.

I believe, your read on this is good one. (Similar to Vanessa's as well. I think?) )
I get the emotionally distant thing. That seems like a logical interpretation.
People change/grow out of love...well, frankly that makes sense & our narrator out be a little bit less of a jerk.


'the rose in the fisted glove & the eagle flies with the dove bit"

I have heard that described as " through pain there is pleasure"...how that fits into context here I dunno exactly?
(A general comment about the maturing & growing within ourselves & our relationships...I s'pose)


And then in the last part...you think he is more or less he is saying it is over...move on. Right?

I can see that...

Well, thanks for taking the time...this was cool! Thanks a lot!!


lueders
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Sat Aug 13, 2011 11:36 am

Hi Dennis!

Thanks for weighing in here, man! And not that you were, but nitpick away.
To answer your question...I'm not sure I understand either...

I wasn't even born until the Carter Administration, so my limited concept of the sixties has been cobbled together by: secondhand accounts, TIME magazine, and various documentary films. (So I certainly recognize the fact that I could be full of crap!) So I'll keep my big mouth shut...other than to say "The movement was right about peace and wrong about drugs & free-love" And, I'm quoting David Crosby.


I think you hit the nail on the head... a lot of the enigma of the song, at least for me was the vagueness of the word "love" like you said. I would have to say even the word "with" also... "With" is open to interpretation/vague to me because I see the one I am "with" as the one I am in a relationship with. Not the one I am in the room "with." He clearly uses the literal interpretation of this word. Whereas in other points in the song... like when he says: "you don't remember who you're taking to" he isn't being literal at all. There he is speaking about his current relationship that has changed for the worse...I guess?



Anyways, Dennis thanks for weighing in here on this. great to get your perspective!


millponddave
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Sat Aug 13, 2011 1:10 pm

Jeeeees........ Can't we just enjoy the song?

Dave


tgjameela
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Sat Aug 13, 2011 1:20 pm

Of course Dave! :)

We did, didn't we? I sure did, Cori did, and all the others in this thread as well, it's just that sometimes music brings up questions. And when it comes to lyrics, well yeah, that cértainly raises questions sometimes. No better place than to discus it here!

So we just enjoy the song, ánd talk about it as well, no harm done right?! ;)

Ness

millponddave wrote:
Jeeeees........ Can't we just enjoy the song?

Dave


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