F***ed Up Friday: "If God Only Knew" by Beth Hart

Welcome back, cats and kittens, to another installment of F***ed Up Friday.  Last week, we presented a sordid tale of love and loss, of sex, drugs, fur, and cults.  This week, we present none of that.  No, I lie.  This week we present the love and loss (and maybe some of the sex), but gone are the hippie vegans and the cultists.

Today's song returns to the roots of FUF:  Unrequited love.  Now while this isn't quite the creepy stalking love of Dido, the drink alone in the dark unrequited love of Tori Amos, or the completely fucked up trying to commit suicide to impress a girl who is actively trying to murder you of Bruno Mars (seriously!), but it's unrequited love nonetheless.  And best of all, it's probably a song you haven't heard yet (well some of you have because I've forced you to listen to it before).

Note the great unrequited love posture.  Slumping, gazing off into the distance, reaching out to touch someone who isn't there.  Those are all good tips, kids, write them down.

From her 2003 album "Leave the Light On," this week's FUF song is "If God Only Knew" by Beth Hart.  Have a listen here.

If you're thinking to yourself, "Self, I know that singer, where have I heard her before?" you would probably be right.  Beth Hart is most known for "LA Song" which, at least according to the Wikis, reached number 5 on the Adult Contemporary charts.  But we're not talking about that song now.  Focus now...

God only knew, how much I loved that man

Ain't no words to say, the way I feel
It's like a bad dream, but it's real
It seems like only yesterday
We were talkin', in the most familiar way

(At least you're talking...this is a plus...)

Now everybody, knows the way I am
They all see right through my show
I aimed so high, now I'm so low (so low)
I'm all dressed up, and I got nowhere to go

(For the record, that may be my new saying)

If God only knew how I loved that man
I would have died for you, I guess he'll never understand
I loved you right or wrong, it was you all along
Heaven knows that it's true, hard as it's been
I'd do it all over again (over and over, and over again)

I say goodbye to dreamin' (dreamin’)
It's only water, in my hands

(Over, and over, and over…and over again)

So when you see me, walkin' down that street
Don't ignore me, if I speak
'Cause I knew you better, than anyone else
And I loved you more, than you could ever know yourself
(Seriously...who hasn't thought this at some point?)

If God only knew how I loved that man (why don’t you tell me 'bout it)
I would have died for you, and I guess he'll never understand
Loved you right or wrong, it was you all along
Heaven knows that it's true, hard as it's been
I'd do it all over again

(Over, and over again)

So the story is basically the same.  Girl loves boy.  Boy doesn't love girl.  Girl shuts the blinds and closes the door and doesn't let him have other friends anymore.  Sorry, wrong song.  Boy loves girl, girl tries to murder boy, boy responds by trying to commit suicide as a show of undying love.  Sorry, Bruno Mars moment there.

It's certaily unrequited love.  Perhaps even a break up, depending on how you interpret the end of the first verse.  But on a plus, at least this time they were actually talking (in a most familiar way) instead of this being full out stalking.  Then again, as I've told you, just because you're talkign to someone does not preclude you stalking them as well.

It's like shooting fish in a barrel

Of course, rather than, oh say cutting the crap and just telling the guy she loves him, she'd prefer to keep it between her and God.  And although she flirts with suicidal tendencies ("I would have died for you...") at least she never has a Bruno Mars hack-off-my-limbs-for-love moment.

What I think I particularly like about the song is the realization that moving on isn't as easy as certain bloggers would have you think.  Yes, we can rationalize that Super Cute Bartenders are incredibly dumb, that one shouldn't flirt with one's potentially-homo (when you're looking for hetero-lovin') boss who lives across the country, or that unrequited love is having your crush asking for help on their online dating profile, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with.  We feel good about ourselves when we're in love.  We get that giddy sensation when they acknowledge us and a little bounce in our step when we know we look good, all for trying to impress our mate.  And when things don't work out, we dust ourselves and move on, and do it all over again...