Maybe the oddest thing about the entire album Late for the Sky is the person who got me to it. I wonder if he even knows. For a while, it seemed like we were going to be someone to each other. It turned out we were not. The actual song “Late for the Sky” has some of the saddest lyrics about the end of a relationship I’ve ever known.
Upon completing my second novel in this series of four, I realized this song works thematically. I wish it didn’t. It can be hard for a writer to see her characters’ relationships break down.
What would any of us do without our songwriters?
Now the words had all been spoken
Somehow the feeling still wasn’t right
And still we continued on through the night
Tracing our steps from the beginning
Until they vanished into the air
Trying to understand how our lives had led us there
Looking hard into your eyes
There was nobody I’d ever known
Such an empty surprise
To feel so alone
Now for me some words come easy
But I know that they don’t mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch
You never knew what I loved in you
I don’t know what you loved in me
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be
Awake again I can’t pretend
And I know I’m alone and close to the end
Of the feeling we’ve known
How long have I been sleeping
How long have I been drifting alone through the night
How long have I been dreaming I could make it right
If I closed my eyes and tried with all my might
To be the the one you need
Awake again I can’t pretend
And I know I’m alone and close to the end
Of the feeling we’ve known
How long have I been sleeping
How long have I been drifting alone through the night
How long have I been running for that morning flight
Through the whispered promises and the changing light
Of the bed where we both lie
Late for the sky