Alison Kraus and Union Station - When You Say Nothing At All

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

- Judy Garland

The greatest love story I've ever seen is my Mom and Dad.  They fell madly in love young - too young - and it didn't work out.  Mom married someone else, who was a first class jerk; it only lasted a few months (she was wife #1 of 4 for him; it doesn't seem he ever grew up, although fame let him get away with it).  Dad fell deathly ill, and almost died.  This was back in the days before antibiotics, and so hospitals were a place you went to die.  He was in a hospital for months.

But Mom's parents heard about this, and wrote to Dad's parents.  It wasn't just that Grandma liked Dad better than The Jerk, although she did.  See, the parents saw what the young folks couldn't, that this was something special.  56 years later, it still is.

I grew up surrounded by an often silent, but always effortlessly sung love song.  There was never any question in our minds about whether their two hearts were joined.  It was, looking back on it, astonishing, and perhaps unique.

It still is.  He's declined  quite a bit in just the last couple of weeks, as the cancer burns away his body.  The hospice nurse told me that people who have had unhappy lives go quickly; it's the ones that have had happy lives that linger.  He lingers, because he hears that unspoken song.  It's quite something to see.

But his mind is still sharp; he's still here in the way that matters.  And she's with him.  There's not a lot said, but if you listen with your heart instead of your ears, you realize that it's said all the time.

Alison Kraus - perhaps the greatest Country/Bluegrass singer of our generation - needs no introduction here; neither does the band Union Station, which without doubt contains some of the greatest Bluegrass musicians of our generation.  This song was the 1995 CMA Single Of The Year.

If you're lucky, you've seen this happen sometime during your life.  If you're very lucky, it's happened to you.  Mom and Dad are very lucky.



When You Say Nothing At All (Songwriters: Paul Overstreet, Don Schlitz)

It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word you can light up the dark
Try as I may I could never explain
What I hear when you don't say a thing

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

All day long I can hear people talking out loud
But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd
Old Mr. Webster could never define
What's being said between your heart and mine

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

Love has no desire but to fulfill itself.  To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.  To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.  

- Kahlil Gibran

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