1. Storms are brewin’ in your eyes (Starship)
2. You’re the poet in my heart (Fleetwood Mac)
3. Won’t you smile a while for me (Hall & Oates)

***

“Hi. I’m Sarah.”
“Ooooh have you heard that song…”
The eyes close, the head drops, and the hand-mic comes out.

Innocent fun, right? I feel there is one thing people tend to forget about these songs:
Even though they contain some of the most dramatic lyrics of the 70s and 80s, they are pop songs, chart-toppers, if you will. In general, one of the reasons a pop song becomes a universal hit is due to the vague nature of its lyrics, i.e., everyone can find a sense of “application” within them. So, as a “Sarah” experiment, I have collaged three Sarah songs into a poem that I feel highlights the fact that these love songs could have been written about any woman with a two-syllable name.

Feel free to substitute any name you want in the “huh-huh” space.

Waiting for the sunlight
no time is a good time for…

If you feel like leaving
hold on
there’s a heartbeat
there’s fire and ice.

(And huh-huh) loved me like no one has ever loved me before…

Alone and watching in the night
I’ll never find another girl like you
all I ever wanted
within the wings of a storm.

(And huh-huh) hurt me like no one could ever hurt me more…

I’d go anywhere
it doesn’t matter what for.
Woman’s eyes
stay until tomorrow
in the sea of love
where everyone would love to drowned.

If you’re reading this and realizing that upon introducing yourself to a Sarah you too have dropped to bended knee and belted out “No time is a good time for goodbye,” then know this: I don’t blame you. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that we all agree with that line. But, I guess, that’s just my point.

by Sarah Suzor
Boulder, CO