Earthbound

words & music by Doug Howell (6 Dec 1973)

if I could
I would stay above the clouds
above the people and the city
what a shame
most of them will stay earthbound
and think that I’m the one to pity

if they could only see
what they look like
from the air
the problems seem so small
don’t seem big at all
from up there

if I could
I would go away somewhere
where all the hurting was behind me
but I know
I could not be happy there
if you were not right there beside me

the sky would seem so gray
and so empty
without you
and if I found the dawn
how could I go on
without you?

(instrumental)
and I guess
I would rather stay earthbound
if staying means that I’ll be near you

1977 Notes

As long as we can sustain the wall of stone around our heart we’re safe and secure—and alone. We can’t be hurt by those with whom we will not acknowledge even a slight degree of oneness.

But when we truly love, we give our heart into another’s keeping. We suddenly become vulnerable, we have opened the door to all kinds of hurt and disappointment. And when that inevitable injury comes, we sometimes run away from the very one we love, as a hurt child runs away from home, only to find ourselves empty—and alone again. I have concluded that love is always worth the risk.

2006 Notes

Yeah, this is about love, and about trade-offs. One thing I’ve learned is that trade-offs aren’t always a bad thing. Compromise isn’t the dirty word I once thought it was. It makes life work (especially with someone else), and it makes life beautiful. It makes life exciting, because you end up learning and experiencing so many things you never thought you would when you give up a little of your will to someone else. Too often, that stubborn resistance to compromise is nothing more than thinly veiled pride and selfishness. As I said in one of the songs on Bluer [“I Wanna Spend Time with You”], to love someone is to open yourself up to their dreams, to their likes and dislikes, to their schedule. That’s what makes your relationship with someone else a life of its own. Two lives becoming one. And that means that staying earthbound and soaring aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.