It reminds me of him.

It’s no secret that some of Benjamin’s songs move me deeply. “Wake Me Up,” “Take Me Now,” “Do You Know What it Feels Like”… The combination of poignant lyrics and the emotion in Ben’s voice somehow reaches in and twists my achy heart until I sob. Crazy, I know, but I am not the only one who has felt this way about a vocalist.

Listening to this terrific version of such a beautiful narration reminds me of the power Benjamin’s gift can have over me.

 

“Strumming my pain with his fingers, singing my life with his words

Killing me softly with his song, killing me softly with his song

Telling my whole life with his words… killing me softly with his song…”

 

— Fugees, “Killing Me Softly With His Song” (written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel)

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It reminds me of him.

Marc Anthony is one of my favorite vocalists ever, and really, he’s the reason I know any Spanish at all. 🙂

The lyrics here (using the best translation I can find), and the determination in the way Marc sings them, brings Benjamin to my mind, as I often wonder what he was thinking and feeling during the later years of his journey.

Aquí me ven tratando de limpiar los restos que quedaron del fracas

Here you see me trying to cleanse the remains that were left of failure

Creyendo que tal vez podré recoger todos mis pedazos y recuperar mi vida

Believing that maybe I can pick up all my pieces and recover my life…

Aquí estaré y como un hombre asumiré que voy a retomar mis pasos

I’ll be here, and as a man I will assume that I’m going to resume my steps

Que lo que nunca pudo ser es cosa ahora del pasado

That what could never be is now a thing of the past

Y quiero amar sin mentiras… sin mentiras

And I want to love without lies… without lies

 

— Marc Anthony, “Amar Sin Mentiras”

Quoting Benjamin

On how he met Ric: “Got a phone call one afternoon. He said he’d like to meet me because he was watching me do this number on this television show called ‘Upbeat,’ and [we] became friends after that and pretty much stuck together through the years.” — “Rock Of The World” interview with host Phil Harvey, 1986

It reminds me of him.

“Loving you isn’t the right thing to do. How can I ever change things that I feel? If I could, baby I’d give you my world… How can I, when you won’t take it from me?”

— Fleetwood Mac, “Go Your Own Way”

It reminds me of him.

“La la la la la la… I can’t choke out my words

La la la la la la…. you’ve got a million other girls

La la la la la la…. and they’re screaming your name

But still nothing changes ’cause my love is plain and simple…”

 

— Jael Johnson, “Pretty Simple” ©2011

It reminds me of him.

“He kissed her on the nose and wiped a tear away with his great thumb. ‘We will make it a game. I will try to love you more, and you try to love me more. We will play until we die and see who wins.'”

— LeeAnn Bonds, Montana Rising

 

It reminds me of him.

“I need willpower ’cause I can’t get enough of you.

You got kill power in those eyes of baby blue…

Now who is going to save me, baby?

I’m so glad that you’re my bad habit…”

— FARRENHEIT, “Bad Habit”