02-08-19
Mazzy Star’s Fade Into You has been on most every “love” compilation since its release nearly 25 years ago. It manages to capture the yearning for another person in such an idyllic way, the border between hopeful and the pain of love not fully requited.
There’s a sensation in love, especially new love when you find a person that meets your desired qualifications, and you become so thoroughly enthralled with their presence and being that you want to melt into one euphoric amalgam. This, of course, isn’t felt by every single person, and its intensity can vary, but the sentiment of wanting to consume more of that person’s presence than any other single living person is still within the same personal realm.
Fade Into You on an initial glance is much bleaker than its soft melodic rhythm would suggest. As stated above there are numerous allusions to love not fully requited, yet love, nonetheless.
Love in one direction is still love, it’s power can still feel limitless…at least for a while. The struggle of maintaining such a connection when it is not reciprocated is often debilitating and forcing the person in love into some state of submission. In those rare instances that love is met equally and shared mutually that’s a power that is incalculable and enlivening.
This has been my primary connection to the song. It’s never represented hopelessness, or any measure of turmoil, it’s always felt like a profound longing that could only be defined by love. This point of love holds endless possibilities, and yet we’re often so engrossed by our romantic desires to see any of them clearly. We can’t plan for anything beyond the moment, and that’s a real gift—being forced to be present, to appreciate and to soak as much of the moment as possible is a feeling that we often miss out on while being occupied with any number of other things going on in our minds.
For most this moment of clarity, sparked by intense love, is so rare that it gets disregarded as lore, or some naïve fantasy relegated to childhood fantasied. The truth is, it’s very much alive in almost every point of our lives. Every moment holds an opportunity to experience this sensation. This is even made truer when you’re able to find any person(s) that can connect with you on authentically and lovingly on an intimate level.
Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
I want to hold the hand inside you
I want to take a breath that’s true
I look to you and I see nothing
I look to you to see the truth
You live your life, you go in shadows
You’ll come apart and you’ll go blind
Some kind of night into your darkness
Colors your eyes with what’s not there
[Chorus]
Fade into you
Strange you never knew
Fade into you
I think it’s strange you never knew
[Verse 2]
A stranger’s light comes on slowly
A stranger’s heart without a home
You put your hands into your head
And then its smiles cover your heart
[Chorus]
Fade into you
Strange you never knew
Fade into you
I think it’s strange you never knew
Fade into you
Strange you never knew
Fade into you
I think it’s strange you never knew
I think it’s strange you never knew