Today I Sing The Blues
Love's Bitter Echo: Aretha's Melancholy Blues
Lyrics
Without a word of warning
Expressing the sudden onset of a difficult emotional state.
The blues walked in this morning
Describing the arrival of the blues or sadness in the morning.
And circled aroundnd my lonely room
Blues surrounding and affecting the singer in their solitary space.
I didn't know why I had
Expressing confusion about the cause of the sad feeling.
That sad and lonely feeling
Describing a deep, sorrowful emotion without understanding why.
Until my baby said we're through
Realizing the source of the sadness when the partner announces the end of the relationship.
Yesterday this time, I sang a love song
Contrasting the joyful past with the current state of singing the blues.
But today I'm singin' the blues
Expressing the shift from singing a love song to singing about heartbreak.
Now, I know the explanation
Acknowledging an understanding of the situation but finding no comfort in it.
But to me that's no consolation
Believing that understanding the situation doesn't ease the pain.
No, no, it just goes to show you
Emphasizing a life lesson that everyone experiences loss in love.
No matter how your love
Highlighting the universality of losing in love despite the effort put in.
Everybody's got to lose
Expressing the inevitability of losing in love for everyone.
And since I've lost
Acceptance of the loss and its impact on the singer.
I'd rather walk around and worry
Choosing to dwell on worries and anxieties after the loss.
I guess I just walked the darkest avenues
Wandering through difficult times and experiences after the breakup.
Yesterday this time, I sang a love song
Recalling a time when the singer was singing a love song, contrasting with the current blues.
But today, my story's a little different, people
Highlighting a change in the singer's story to one of heartbreak.
I'm singing the blues, yeah, yeah, yeah
Reiterating the current emotional state of singing the blues.
Now it strikes me kind of funny
Reflecting on the irony of love and its unpredictable nature.
How love can be this way
Contemplating the unexpected twists and turns in the course of love.
'Cause we were lovers last night, honey
Recalling a recent night of love contrasted with the loneliness of the present.
Oh, but I'm sittin' alone again today
Expressing the solitude experienced after the end of the relationship.
And it strikes me kind of funny, yeah
Finding humor in the unpredictable and sometimes unfair nature of fate.
How faith can be so unfair
Reflecting on the perceived unfairness of fate in matters of love.
'Cause I seem to come out on the losin' end
Feeling like the constant loser in love relationships.
Of every, every love affair, yeah
Expressing a consistent pattern of losing in love affairs.
It's got to be written somewhere for me
Suggesting a belief that the singer is destined to always lose in love.
That I should be the one to always lose
Acceptance of a predetermined fate of losing in love.
But yesterday at this time, I sang a love song
Recalling a time when the singer was singing a love song, emphasizing the contrast with the present blues.
Oh, oh, right now I'm singin' the blues, yeah, yeah
Reiterating the current emotional state of singing the blues.
I'm singin' the blues
Final affirmation of singing the blues in the current state of heartbreak.
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