It seems that no one is fine. Take the time to peel a few layers, and you will find true sadness. Victims of cycles, victims of life, victims of wrong, victims of right, victims of anything, and all the above, victims of hate, victims of love. It’s a hard up, hard luck planet we’re livin’ on. The winter’s on its way here to collect.
You want to be in love like the movies, but in the movies, they’re not in love at all. Real life is more than just two hours long. We could stay, but we don’t know how. There’s no fortune at the end of a road that has no end.
Even as hope seems lost, it may be found again. We are more than the sum of our parts, all these broken bones and broken hearts. The best beggars are choosers, the best winners are losers, the best lovers ain’t never been loved. If it’s the beaches’ sands you want, then you will have them. If it’s the mountains’ bending rivers, then you will have them.
The love you’re waiting for, it’s already yours. The hardest part is believing. Tell the truth to yourself, and the rest will fall in place. When you run, make sure you run to something and not away from.
Life cannot be written. It only can be lived. Have fun with your life, it’s a drama, just one period and all kinds of commas. Who cares about tomorrow? What more is tomorrow than another day? How long is now? Decide what to be and go be it. Break this tired old routine. Step back into the light. Give the love you find until it’s gone.
The very last word is love. And it spread into my heart, and it spread into my home, and it spread into my soul, and it spread into the world. I know now what it means to care about somebody other than myself. And walk through the night straight to the light, holding the love I’ve known in my life and no hard feelings.
God, will you keep us wherever we go? Can you forgive us for where we’ve been? How far is heaven? Is it in the air we breathe?
PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY
PLAYLIST ON APPLE
Artwork: The Art of Seth
Read next:
Your Heart Is The Measure Of Progress (Not Approval)
Endnotes are in the same order as the sentences they refer to.
[i] The Avett Brothers, “True Sadness,” True Sadness, American Recordings, 2016.
[ii] The Avett Brothers, “True Sadness,” True Sadness, American Recordings, 2016.
[iii] The Avett Brothers, “Victims of Life,” True Sadness, American Recordings, 2016.
[iv] The Avett Brothers, “Love of a Girl,” The Avett Brothers, 2024.
[v] The Avett Brothers, “Rejects in the Attic,” The Avett Brothers Live, Vol. 4, 2015.
[vi] The Avett Brothers, “Love Like the Movies,” A Carolina Jubilee, Ramseur Records, 2003.
[vii] The Avett Brothers, “Love Like the Movies,” A Carolina Jubilee, Ramseur Records, 2003.
[viii] The Avett Brothers, “Forever Now,” The Avett Brothers, 2024.
[ix] The Avett Brothers, “February Seven,” The Carpenter, American Recordings, 2012.
[x] The Avett Brothers, “We Are Loved,” The Avett Brothers, 2024.
[xi] The Avett Brothers, “We Americans,” Closer Than Together, American Recordings, 2019.
[xii] The Avett Brothers, “High Steppin’,” Closer Than Together, American Recordings, 2019.
[xiii] Avett Brothers, “If It’s the Beaches,” Four Thieves Gone: The Robbinsville Sessions, Ramseur Records, 2006.
[xiv] Avett Brothers, “If It’s the Beaches,” Four Thieves Gone: The Robbinsville Sessions, Ramseur Records, 2006.
[xv] The Avett Brothers, “When You Learn,” Closer Than Together, American Recordings, 2019.
[xvi] The Avett Brothers, “High Steppin’,” Closer Than Together, American Recordings, 2019.
[xvii] The Avett Brothers, “Tell the Truth,” Closer Than Together, American Recordings, 2019.
[xviii] The Avett Brothers, “The Weight of Lies,” Emotionalism, Ramseur Records, 2007.
[xix] The Avett Brothers, “Never Apart,” The Avett Brothers, 2024.
[xx] The Avett Brothers, “Never Apart,” The Avett Brothers, 2024.
[xxi] The Avett Brothers, “C Sections and Railway Trestles,” Closer Than Together, American Recordings, 2019.
[xxii] The Avett Brothers, “Swept Away,” Mignonette, Ramseur Records, 2004.
[xxiii] The Avett Brothers, “Swept Away,” Mignonette, Ramseur Records, 2004.
[xxiv] The Avett Brothers, Forever Now,” The Avett Brothers, 2024.
[xxv] The Avett Brothers, “I and Love and You,” I and Love and You, American Recordings, 2009.
[xxvi] The Avett Brothers, “Ain’t No Man,” True Sadness, American Recordings, 2016.
[xxvii] The Avett Brothers, “Back Into the Light,” The Third Gleam, Loma Vista Recordings, 2020.
[xxviii] The Avett Brothers, “Ill With Want,” I and Love and You, American Recordings, 2009.
[xxix] The Avett Brothers, “High Steppin’,” Closer Than Together, American Recordings, 2019.
[xxx] The Avett Brothers, “And It Spread,” I and Love and You, American Recordings, 2009.
[xxxi] The Avett Brothers, “Shame,” Emotionalism, Ramseur Records, 2007.
[xxxii] The Avett Brothers, “No Hard Feelings,” True Sadness, American Recordings, 2016.
[xxxiii] The Avett Brothers, “We Americans,” Closer Than Together, American Recordings, 2019.
[xxxiv] The Avett Brothers, “We Americans,” Closer Than Together, American Recordings, 2019.
[xxxv] The Avett Brothers, “Forever Now,” The Avett Brothers, 2024.
[xxxvi] The Avett Brothers, “Forever Now,” The Avett Brothers, 2024.