Leap of Faith

I'm sure all of you have heard the song 'The Only Exception', right? Let's try analyze this song as if it were a poem :) This time we'll go a bit deeper than we went with The Walrus and The Carpenter, explaining further on the author's background and also the meaning of the poem.

When I was younger, I saw my daddy cry

And curse at the wind

He broke his own heart and I watched

As he tried to reassemble it

My momma swore that

She would never let herself forget

And that was the day that I promised

I'd never sing of love if it does not exist

But darling, you are the only exception

You are the only exception (3x)

Maybe I know, somewhere deep in my soul

That love never lasts

And we've got to find other ways to make it alone

Or keep a straight face

And I've always lived like this

Keeping a comfortable distance

And up until now I had sworn to myself that I'm content with loneliness

Because none of it was ever worth the risk

But you are the only exception

You are the only exception (3x)

I've got a tight grip on reality

But I can't let go of what's in front of me here

I know you're leaving in the morning when you wake up

Leave me with some kind of proof, it's not a dream, oh

You are the only exception (3x)

You are the only exception (3x)

And I'm on my way to believing

Oh, and I'm on my way to believing

(Paramore, The Only Exception)


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‘The Only Exception’ is a song that is hardly unheard of by today’s generation. The writers are Paramore’s band members Hayley Williams, Josh Farro and Taylor York; namely being the vocalist Hayley Williams.

This song tells a simple story of a girl whose parents’ divorce had wounded her in such a way that she never believed in love again. This is until, of course, the girl meets a boy who loved her and she loved up to the point that she could not help herself but to just take the leap of faith – since he is her only exception. However, a long the lines, it is clear that she is a bit sceptic on whether it’s going to work out for them. At the end, she restates her willingness to just take the risk for him.

The aim of the song is mainly to tell the typical story of sceptics in love. It tells of how one’s parents, could affect a child if they were not in love. In this case, Williams wrote this song in reminiscence of her parents who got divorced when she was young. She probably wanted to express how the divorce had affected her view on love. And supposedly now Williams has found the love of her life, and finally really believes in love.

The song moves in a slow pace, beginning from childhood, to present time. It moves in such deliberation, as if to savour every moment. The abundant repetition of the words ‘You are the only exception’ shows that the writer wants to slowly convince herself that he is the one.

References:

Paramore's The Only Exception
[image] Google Images