Tuesday Tunes: What does this song mean to you?

Today we’ve decided to challenge ourselves again.  We’ve taken one song (the one above, lyrics below everyone's thoughts) and written what we think when we hear it. 

To be completely honest, when I submitted the song to the other ladies, I chose it because I thought it sounded pretty and it reminded me of a love found and then lost.  I hadn’t ever read the lyrics, only sang them so the religious overtones didn’t dawn on me.  Then when the opinions rolled in, I started laughing.  Sure enough, I’d chosen one that was probably meant to be a tribute to your God of choice.  LOL.  So, I actually have 2 thoughts on what I feel for this song:

1)   (My original thought) The song is about a woman who has fallen in love with someone she shouldn’t, whether it be because he can’t love her back or she’s forbidden from doing so because of someone she knows (father, friend, etc). She’s been fighting these feelings forever, but can no longer do so and she’s telling him how she feels and praying he’ll return the favor. 

2)   It’s a song of redemption.  This woman is going through something traumatic (maybe something like her own death?) and she’s finally come to accept it and she’s putting her faith in her God. 

Jessie caught on first to the religious overtones and said:

“A young nun, tears streaming down her face as light pours in through a monastery window, prays for divine guidance.  A boy, still in seminary school, has caught her eye, and possibly her heart, and she sits on a precipice between giving up everything she always thought she wanted and reaching for the one thing she never dared to seek.”

AE told me how she really felt ( :) ) and said:

“Maybe I'm going to sound mean with this, but my first real thought was "Too high-pitched. Kinda whiny. No wonder I listen to guy singers." *_* That being said, the actual lyrics are just beautiful, and really give a sense of abandonment in love. Though with the capitalization, it feels like a Christian song, and not necessarily a "love song" per say.”

Sheri showed her performers mind when she said this:

“The first image that came to my mind was a dancer, free on a barren stage, limbs swaying in a lyrical cadence. I thought of young hope, the taintless hope and dreams of youth. The innocence of teenage love, unknowing and...the knowing. It brought me back to the days when I longed for that love, that 'someone' to need me, want me, accept me for all that was and all that I would become.”

And Nikki had a slightly different view when she said:

"Although the lyrics read as if they could be uplifting and hopeful, the music didn't invoke those feelings at all.  Mandy's voice attempted the hope and sweetness that she usually conveys, but I felt the underlying melody to be sad and depressing.  As a teen this would probably be a song I'd turn on to cry after a breakup, not one for falling in love!"

What do you think?  What do see when you hear this song?

Only Hope sung by Mandy Moore, Lyrics written by Switchfoot

"There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again
I'm awake in the infinite cold
But You sing to me over and over and over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
and pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know now you're my only hope

Sing to me the song of the stars
Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing
and laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that You have for me over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope

I give You my destiny
I'm giving You all of me
I want Your symphony
Singing in all that I am
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope"