Oh Love

“Oh love, believe me,
Nothing ever comes to us easy,
The rivers never run up to meet me,
Gotta find your own way down.
And in this cruel storm,
Love, you got my back like a fog horn.
Anything I lack can be reborn
Anytime you come around.

But where do you turn to,
Wandering the streets that have spurned you?
Love, it’s just that nobody’s earned you,
But I will never let you down.

Oh love, running down my skin like it’s too much,
Never cried about a thing until now but us, us.
Oh love, where do I begin with my hard luck?
The walls are closing in but my head’s up, up, up.

And if you need more,
Just hold out yours hands ‘cause it’s all yours,
Boy, I’d break the dam to be your source
And I’d never let you drown.
But hey, believe me,
Nothing’s worth the love that comes cheaply.
Hold it back or give it up freely
And it will never let you down.

Oh love!
Oh love, running down my skin like it’s too much,
Never cried about a thing until now but us, us.
Oh love, where do I begin with my hard luck?
The walls are closing in but my head’s up, up, up.

The first to fall against the grain
Must bear the weight and bear the strain
Of everything, that it brings.
And every queen and every king
Looks to the sky when there’s nothing to do –

But you, love, running down my skin like it’s too much,
Never cried about a thing until now but us, us.
Oh love, where do I begin with my hard luck?
The walls are closing in but my head’s up, up, up.

Oh love, oh love, oh love, oh.
Oh love, oh love, oh love, oh.”

[ Oh Love – Phildel ]

Oh Love was another song that gave me a tough time figuring out. I like it a lot, but imagery-wise is kind of all over the place. As a suggestion, Luisa showed me an illustration of a couple on a boat, which is a classic scenario, and I decided to give it my own spin with a boat on a dried field that lies just beneath the fortified walls of Alghero. After all, the song is about a love that takes some effort to work, and what better way to show it than a boat all run aground, but with its “sailors” still stubbornly pointing and looking at the light ahead? Well, okay, the “pointing out” part was more of a spur-of-the-moment thing, in truth I was directing Luisa’s modelling when the shutter closed, but I ended up liking it and using it as the actual pose.

Even with Luisa’s assist and my knowledge of the city smoothing the conceptualisation out, this photo was still kind of stressing me out because we saved it for the last day, I had to rely on my mother’s assistance a lot, and due to time constraints I had to make do with a very strong, direct light. I was nervous because we basically only had that one shot at it and so many things could work against us. In hindsight, I think the strong light helped bring the scene to life, give depth to the background and give the photo a more hopeful, bright mood. In a way, I think Luisa’s and my being tired from all the other shoots but still determined to get things done and get them right somehow bled through into the photo and actually helped us portray the song at its best: we’re this close to letting go, but this thing is so important to us that no, we won’t give it up. That’s the beautiful concept that Phildel shared with her song, and I sincerely hope we made it justice in our photo.