A love song to Vincent Van Gogh, Don McLean’s beautiful lyrics and music masterfully depict both the painter’s anguish and his beauty. The bridge in which the singer tells Vincent that “the world was never meant for one as beautiful as you” hits me every single time.
lyrics
Starry, starry night,
Paint your palette blue and gray,
Look out on a summer's day,
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul,
Shadows on the hills,
Sketch the trees and the daffodils,
Catch the breeze and the winter chills,
In colors on the snowy linen land.
Now I understand,
What you tried to say to me,
And how you suffered for your sanity,
And how you tried to set them free,
They would not listen, they did not know how,
Perhaps they'll listen now.
Starry, starry night,
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze,
Swirling clouds in violet haze,
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue,
Colors changing hue,
Morning fields of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain,
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.
Now I understand,
What you tried to say to me,
And how you suffered for your sanity,
And how you tried to set them free,
They would not listen, they did not know how,
Perhaps they'll listen now.
For they could not love you,
But still your love was true,
And when no hope was left inside,
On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do,
But I could've told you Vincent,
This world was never meant for,
One as beautiful as you.
Starry, starry night,
Portraits hung in empty halls,
Frameless heads on nameless walls,
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget,
Like the strangers that you've met,
The ragged men in ragged clothes,
A silver thorn, a bloody rose,
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.
Now I think I know,
What you tried to say to me,
And how you suffered for your sanity,
And how you tried to set them free,
They would not listen, they're not listening still,
Perhaps they never will.
credits
from On a Green Growing Tree,
released August 16, 2016
Don McLean, composer/lyricist.
VINCENT (STARRY, STARRY NIGHT)( 6910276Y MC LEAN), UNIVERSAL/MCA MUSIC LIMITED.
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