01-06-19
So far Submission seems more on the negative side. Relinquishing control and acknowledging that there are superior forces at work is no easy task. When I listen to Sylvan Esso’s Die Young, I find a little more optimistic of an interpretation.
Within the song, Amelia Meath, singer and songwriter, explores the concept of having to reevaluate her life due to finding a new paramour that has shifted her focus. Whether her references to dying young are supposed to allude to the romantic notion of “live fast, die young,” or anything more sinister (suicide,) she has now reserved herself to a new reality that she cannot deny.
I would typically be one of the first people to warn against changing your self our your plans for anyone, let alone for a relationship that seems to come out of nowhere. Alas, my former thoughts on this specific matter are always going to be tinted with a hopeful lens, mainly as this is the situation, I found myself in some years ago.
Upon completing my undergrad degree, I was ready to make a big change; I was trading the alpine mountainscape of Flagstaff Arizona for that of Tokyo Japan. I had one month left on my lease and one last trip scheduled. I never planned that, that trip would change my life in every way imaginable. It was on that trip that I met my wife, and instead of setting my sails towards the Japanese coast I found myself completely entranced.
The first few months of our relationship I did everything I could to get out of my own mind—typically I would begin formulating long-term plans, doing whatever I could to build a relationship. Unfortunately, we both found each other during periods of “independence,” and “self-discovery.” Neither one of us had any intention of entering any type of long-term relationship… in fact it was the complete opposite. Though this wasn’t our intent, we did both, in our own ways, relinquish control back to the universe. On our own accords we decided to not focus on relationships, which up to that point had only proven to be unhealthy distractions, and instead allow our lives to take us wherever we may go. Well we soon learned we were meant to hang around one another for more than a little while.
Flash-forward almost nine years later and I can’t imagine my life any differently. The amount of love, care, and support I have experienced in the last nine years is unlike anything I could have ever imagined. This is all a direct byproduct of having submitted to the will of something bigger than myself, a concept that terrified me like nothing else—you would think that would make the act of submission a little easier, having experienced something extraordinary as a byproduct of it.
Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
I had it all planned out before you met me
Was gonna leave early and so swiftly
Maybe in a fire or crash off a ravine
People would weep, “How tragic, so early”
[Chorus]
I was gonna die young
Now I gotta wait for you, honey
Now I gotta wait for you, honey
Now I gotta wait for you, honey
[Verse 2]
I was a firecracker, baby, with something to prove
Now I gotta contend with the living blues
I could’ve missed it, I never knew
Chain reaction but you’re holding the fuse
[Chorus]
I was gonna die young
Now I gotta wait for you, honey
Now I gotta wait for you, honey (honey)
Now I gotta wait for you, honey
[Bridge]
Oh, I don’t mind
I got the fire
Electric light
So high, so wild
It’s not like I chose
Not like I tried
But now I gotta wait around and watch you burn so bright
I was gonna die
[Breakdown]
I had it all planned out before you met me
I had a plan, you ruined it completely
I had it all planned out before you met me
I had a plan, you ruined it completely
[Chorus]
I was gonna die young
(I had it all planned out before you met me)
Now I gotta wait for you, honey
(I had a plan, you ruined it completely)
Now I gotta wait for you, honey (honey)
(I had it all planned out before you met me)
Now I gotta wait for you, honey
(I had a plan, you ruined it completely)
[Chorus]
I was gonna die young (yeah, yeah, yeah)
(I had it all planned out before you met me)
Now I gotta wait for you, honey (I was gonna, I was gonna)
(I had a plan, you ruined it completely)
Now I gotta wait for you, honey (oh, oh)
(I had it all planned out before you met me)
Now I gotta wait for you, honey (oh yeah, yeah, yeah)
(I had a plan, you ruined it completely)
[Outro]
I had it all planned out before you met me
I had a plan, you ruined it completely
I had it all planned out before you met me
I had a plan, you ruined it completely