Because it was used in Season 2's finale of Grey's Anatomy, Irish band Snow Patrol's hauntingly beautiful Chasing Cars has become somewhat of a cult love-song amongst hopeless romantics all over the world.
The song has been in my head even before it played on GA here in S'pore. And it gets my vote for Song of 2006.
We'll do it all
Everything
On our own
We don't need
Anything
Or anyone
If I lay here,
If I just lay here,
Would you lie with me,
And just forget the world?
I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel
Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough
If I lay here,
If I just lay here,
Would you lie with me,
And just forget the world?
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden
That's bursting into life
Let's waste time chasing cars
Around our heads
I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own
If I lay here,
If I just lay here,
Would you lie with me,
And just forget the world
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden
That's bursting into life
All that I am
All that I ever was
Its here in your perfect eyes
They're all I can see
I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things
Will never change for us at all
If I lay here,
If I just lay here,
Would you lie with me,
And just forget the world?Like all good songs, the lyrics are open to interpretation. But one thing is certain amongst the thousands who have cuddled up with someone special while listening to it playing on the radio. It is a fantastic love song without the
cliche-ness of the words 'love', 'heart', 'pain', 'kiss' and all that soppy la-la-la's
a la Air Supply. And yet one feels the angst, the love, the heartfelt feelings of sincerity and romantic bewilderment.
To me, the song hints about a love that is somewhat uneasy and confused. It may be unrequited and one-sided or it may be difficult because of certain circumstances. But it exists and it is strong. It has been said that chasing cars is the song-writer's metaphor for chasing girls. His Dad used to tell him that after he finally gets one (car or girl), he won't know what to do. So he writes about inviting the one he loves to forget about the harsh realities for the time being and to just lie down, waste time, and indulge in some frivolous imagination. When he says that 'I need your grace, to remind me to find my own', he is telling her that she is the one he has chosen to be with.
Simply beautiful.