Either way

Do you ever hear a song and wonder why your significant other loves it so much? I am a huge Chris Stapleton fan, and my late husband Joe was too. Stapleton’s ability to capture emotions, typically mine, in his melodies is so beautiful. He is the quintessential storyteller, and I could listen to his music all day long.

My most favorite song of his was featured in one of my previous blog posts https://widowspeak.blog/2023/12/22/last-thing-i-needed/. It touches every feeling I’ve had since I lost the love of my life. And even though Joe didn’t intentionally walk out on me, the lyrics express exactly how I felt. How I still feel.

Joe, on the other hand, had a favorite Stapleton song too. And I never could understand why he loved this song so much. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful and heart wrenching and I like it too.

It’s about a couple living in a loveless marriage, faking it for all to see. Sometimes it would actually upset me when I’d catch him stretched out in the bar, eyes closed, music turned up, singing every word of this song as if he were living it. He would always take my hand and pull me to him, and tell me this song was not about us. Never about us.

Joe was moved by the intensity of the lyric, by the beauty in the sadness. He had walked through so many challenges and tragedies in his life. The loss of his biological dad at a young age, his life-changing cancer diagnosis, the loss of his adopted dad.

I heard Stapleton singing of a broken relationship, Joe just heard the brokenness.

That’s the beauty of music. It’s open to interpretation. You might hear it one way, and someone else might hear something completely different. It’s okay either way.