Liars and the SOTD – Tracy Chapman “Tell it Like it is”

This album, along with Poe’s “Haunted” and more recently F+TM’s “Lungs” is on my list of all-time favorite albums. The ones where every song you listen to you think “OK, I am totally going to replay this song when it’s over.” and then the next song comes on and it’s so amazing that you have to listen to that one instead of re-listening to the first one.

Most of these albums come from places of brokenness and disenchantment with the world, which is why I identify with them. But to me they’re also cries for understanding and calls to do better with yourself, be a better sort of person. They’re from people who are heartbroken and disillusioned, and they point out how the world and people surrounding them have failed them—yet they also hold a sort of yearning for a world that’s not like this, where the people are good to each other, and good to them.

I feel like lately I have been dealing with way too many liars. Whether they’re lying inadvertently because they don’t understand themselves or lying blatantly because they’re assholes with shit to cover up, I am not always sure. Why they do it isn’t important, the net effect is that I don’t really trust anyone lately to tell the truth about anything. And I hate that. I hate that because my natural state is to believe people when they tell me things. I rarely lie. I will either tell you the truth or change the subject, and I assume most other people are the same. And I can’t assume that as much as I do. I don’t really know how to be super selective about it either. With me it’s either “honesty filter 100% on” or “you dirty motherfuckers, stop talking to me with your lying bullshit mouths.” And these are people who not only lie about what they’re doing, they lie about who they are. And that’s the most disappointing kind to discover, the kind where someone you thought was one kind of person – someone who took the time and trouble to paint that picture of themselves for you – is really not that kind of person at all. It makes me feel stupid and naive, it disappoints me, it makes me feel all alone in the world with a bunch of people wearing carnival masks.

I know that there’s no solution to this. People are how they are, and a lot of people need to lie to themselves and each other,  just in order to survive and maintain their internal images of themselves. I get it.  I am glad in some ways I am not one of them, but I am also lonely for other people who tell the truth, even when it’s harsh and ugly. I would rather hear about and deal with what’s really happening around me than have to sift through a huge pile of someone else’s horseshit to find the kernel of reality in there.

People give me grief for my negativity, but honest negativity will always be preferable to me than rosy-cheeked bullshit optimism and self-delusion. And I refuse to apologize for that, because no matter how it pains me, mine is the more authentic reality and I will not give it up.

Tracy Chapman “Tell it Like it is”

Say it say it say it
Tell it like it is
Say it say it say it
Tell it like it is

What breaks your heart
What keeps you awake at night
What makes you want to break down and cry

But say you’ll never turn your back
Say you’ll never harden to the world
Say you’ll never try to still the rhythms in your breast
Say you’ll never look at the evil among us and try to forget
Say you’ll tell it like it is

Say it say it say it so everyone can hear
Say it say it say it tell it like it is

What breaks your heart
What keeps you awake at night
How your anger and grief
Make you want to cry out
Oh and tell it like it is

But say you’ll never close your eyes
Or pretend that it’s a rosy world
Say you’ll never try to paint
What is rotten with a sugarcoat
Say you’ll talk about the horrors you’ve seen and the torment you know
And tell it like it is

Say it say it say it
So no one can forget
Say it say it say it
Tell it like it is

What breaks your heart
What keeps you awake at night
What makes you want to break the ties that silence and bind
And tell it like it is

Say you’ll never cover your ears and close your mouth
And live in a silent world
Say you’ll only run as far or as fast as you need to be secure
Say that then you’ll tell the truth
When a lie could cross your lips
And tell it like it is

Say it say it say it – Say it say it say it
Say it say it say it – Say it say it say it
Say it say it say it – Say it say it say it
Say it say it say it – Say it say it say it

Here’s the song, but ignore the video which seems to be just a bunch of weird birds.

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