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Lyrics:
V1
I’ve been searching through my past
A backwards journey from the lie they cast
I find nothing of solace in the siren’s voice
The echoes of knowledge of a long lost noise
CH
Can you hear it?
Oh, can you feel it?
I’ve been searching for a melody that can’t be sung
It’s the song that I’ve been looking for since I was young
Can you hear it?
Oh, can you feel it?
V2
I look to the mountains, they call my name
I search for a label, but they all defame
My soul awakens when I hear the sound
Played on my heartstrings– this joy profound
CH
Can you hear it?
Oh, can you feel it?
I’ve been searching for a melody that can’t be sung
It’s the song that I’ve been looking for since I was young
Can you hear it?
Oh, can you feel it?
Bridge
This melody inside, I can hear it and feel it
Calling me to life and I need to be near it
Opening my eyes so I can see clearly
The longings in my heart I’ve been searching for fiercely
CH
Can you hear it?
Oh, can you feel it?
I’ve been searching for a melody that can’t be sung
It’s the song that I’ve been looking for since I was young
Can you hear it?
Oh, can you feel it?
Lyrics by Jacob L. Betts (ASCAP IPI #1095371544)
Behind the Song:
Every summer, my wife's extended family gathers at Gull Lake, just south of Kalamazoo, for a week of family camp. In 2021, I experienced this tradition for the first time, where we had the privilege of learning from author Matt Heard. Throughout the week, Matt delved into the meaning of true life (Zoë), drawing heavily from his book 'Life With a Capital L.' One particular theme that stood out was longing, or 'Sehnsucht'—a German word encompassing wistful, yearning desires.
C.S. Lewis frequently explored sehnsucht in his addresses, essays, and fictional works like Narnia and The Space Trilogy. Lewis understood that our souls are created with a longing for something beyond this world—a 'music we are born remembering.' Often, we mistakenly label these longings as nostalgia or beauty, but they merely hint at a deeper desire. Lewis writes, 'The beauty, the memory of our own past...are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never visited.'
Discovering the concept of sehnsucht felt like a missing puzzle piece fitting perfectly within my heart, providing language to describe the profound yearnings I've carried throughout my life. I've been searching for a melody I cannot sing. I firmly believe that by paying attention to the echoes of these longings within my soul, I draw closer to the joyous life I was created to live ('my soul awakens when I hear the sound played on my heartstrings; this joy profound'). After the lesson on longing, we spent several hours on a pontoon, and as the sun set over Gull Lake, I was reminded of my own 'echo of a tune I haven't heard.' It was during that moment that I wrote the majority of 'Can You Hear It?'. -- Jacob Betts
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