Blogocentric Formulations

My Best Friend's Wedding

"The Soundtrack of Your Life"  | Day 4

"My Best Friend's Wedding"
by The Chicks



Full Lyrics ▼

Met you at my best friend's wedding
There was somethin' about you
You set off fireworks that evening
With a flicker of untruth
Jump twenty years, jump twenty years, twenty years, yeah
Lookin' back in retrospect
I was never safe, I was never safe, still not safe, yeah
You'd torch me any chance you'd get

I see a wildfire comin'
Burnin' the world that I've known
Watch me
Watch me outrun it
Take what I need and go

Strangest thing not having you here with me
Then I realized
That I prefer my own company
To yours anytime
In twenty years, in twenty years, twenty years, yeah
I'll still be younger than you
I'm better off, I'm better off, better off, yeah
Without your gloom and your doom

'Cause I can see a wildfire coming
Burnin' the world that I know
Watch me, watch me outrun it
Take what I need and go
Go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone

I'm back here at my best friend's wedding
Yeah, she married again
I've never seen her look more happy
Guess from ashes we can really grow

And my wildfire's comin'
Burnin' the path that I've known
Watch me, yeah, watch me run with it
Take it wherever it goes
And I'll go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Go it alone
Go it alone
Go it alone

This is another one of those songs that I've been listening to a lot and thinking about my mom. Late last year, I was left myself a note to include The Chicks' song "Gaslighter" on my "The Soundtrack of Your Life"  this year because it's a super-satisfying middle finger to Adrian Pasdar, the ex-husband of lead singer Natalie Maines and their awful divorce... but once my mom passed, this was the song I gravitated toward more and more.

The lyrics of this song remind me a lot of their prior hit "The Long Way Around" in that there's something a little bittersweet and self-reflective about the journey through life that both songs really hit on in similar ways. I've always enjoyed The Chicks' music, and their concert was - to this day - one of the best ones I've ever been to. I think they're great musicians, and incredibly courageous for braving the stuff that they've been through over the years, especially the political attacks in the early 2000s.

Songs like this are reminders of why they're so talented. They're simple and yet able to evoke a lot of emotion.