The Words (2014) – Christina Perri

Now to the cream of the crop. Christina Perri released the delectable ballad The Words in 2014 on her album Head or Heart, after first promoting the singles Human and Burning Gold, both of which have already featured here. To give the song an international push, a music video was released starring Colin O’Donoghue – better known to many as Captain Hook in Once Upon a Time. Christina confirmed the song was dedicated to Hook and Emma, a couple in the series. Of course, Perri is no stranger to tying her music to big-screen love stories – her song A Thousand Years, written for the Twilight saga, remains her signature hit.

I mentioned in my earlier article about the Brokeback Mountain theme that The Words bears a striking musical resemblance to it, and that still rings true for me today. Longtime readers will also know Christina Perri is my favourite female artist. I could watch the video for The Words until the cows come home, not just for the song, but because how beautifully the story unfolds – and then the unexpected ending where everything suddenly clicks. Few songs and videos feel as seamlessly entwined as this one, and it’s wonderfully filmed.

A spoiler alert here: if you haven’t seen the video, do yourself a favour, watch it first, and then come back for a breakdown of what on earth is going on (and your own two bob is welcome since it’s all up for interpretation).

Video story breakdown

Perri haunts O’Donoghue’s character like a ghost drifting through his country house. She appears and disappears, as if she might be the memory of a love he’s lost, her presence hanging around him in silence. This gives weight to the line: “’Cause love is a ghost you can’t control.” His tending to orchids is an important detail – we see later how this connects. Orchids, after all, are a striking metaphor for love: rare, delicate, and requiring patience and care to truly bloom.

Towards the end, we see him take the orchids into town and step into a florist. That’s where the real Perri appears as a shop assistant. When their eyes meet – clearly not for the first time – she delivers the killer line: “And I know / The scariest part is letting go.” From O’Donoghue’s reaction, it’s obvious they’ve both been thinking of each other all along. She’s lingered in his thoughts, which explains why her presence felt so near to him. For me, the song captures that hopeful moment of taking a chance on love again.

The following was extracted from the Wikipedia article below:
The Words comes from Head or Heart, the second studio album by American singer-songwriter. The first song that she wrote for the album was “Trust”, according to Perri, which inspired the rest of the album. She wrote it by herself for three months and then along with other songwriters for another three months, and recorded a total of 49 songs that she had to choose from for the album by May 2013. Perri says that these 13 songs that she has chosen for the album “were what I think are pure songs, where I wasn’t trying.

Head or Heart debuted at number four on the US Billboard, selling 40,000 copies in its first week.

[Verse 1]
All of the lights land on you
The rest of the world fades from view
And all of the love I see
Please please say you feel it too
And all of the noise I hear inside
Restless and loud, unspoken and wild
And all that you need to say
To make it all go away
Is that you feel the same way too

[Chorus]
And I know
The scariest part is letting go
‘Cause love is a ghost you can’t control
I promise you the truth can’t hurt us now
So let the words slip out of your mouth

[Verse 2]
And all of the steps that led me to you
And all of the hell I had to walk through
But I wouldn’t trade a day for the chance to say
“My love, I’m in love with you”

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
I know that we’re both afraid
We both made the same mistakes
An open heart is an open wound to you
And in the wind of a heavy choice
Love has a quiet voice
Still your mind, now I’m yours to choose

References:
1. Head or Heart – Wikipedia