As I mentioned in my previous post, the emotional heart is a delicate thing, and it can be injured easily. The emotional heart is also something that cannot be quantified; that is, it is difficult to measure a person’s emotional state. I can order a test that shows the function of the heart in electrical terms (the EKG), and a test that shows the function of the heart in physcial terms (the echocardiogram), and I can measure the function of the heart in terms of power and fitness (a stress test). But the state of your emotional heart cannot be measured in any way that I know of. It requires talking, and observing, and spending time with someone.
My own heart can be difficult for others to observe and measure, depending on how good I am at hiding my emotions. However, someone who gets to know me will be able to spend just a short time with me and say, “Okay, what’s the matter? What’s going on with you today?” They are not observing test results to arrive at this conclusion; it is a matter of knowing and paying attention to me.
Bob Bennett, from his 1982 album, Matters Of The Heart, has two songs that look at this topic in various ways. As I read the words, I don’t feel like I get the same impact that I do when I hear it with the music, so be sure to read the words while the song is playing. The way he crafts his song is a reminder to me that the song writers are the poets of our generation. A hundred and fifty years ago, Bennett would possibly been writing poetry for a magazine or to published in book form. In the modern era, the poets find ways to put their works to song, and the result had more impact that the written word alone would have had.
This post actually includes two songs from Bennett’s album. The title song comes first, and then the final song of the album, Heart Of The Matter.
Baby smiling for an unknown reason
Birds singing in the dead of night
Hand reaching out for another one
Breeze catching a falling kiteSigh at the end of a working day
Sun sinking down in the ocean
Love letters from far away
Rain dancing in motionYou can show me your sales curves
Plot my life on a flow chart
You can show me your sales curves
Plot my life on a flow chartBut there’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
There’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
There’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
In matters of the heart
Matters of the heart
Matters of the heartEyes laughing in the face of disaster
Voices bleating on the telephone line
A spark of truth that catches on fire
First taste of the new wineYou can show me your sales curves
Plot my life on a flow chart
You can show me your sales curves
Plot my life on a flow chart
You can show me your sales curvesBut there’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
There’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
Oh, oh,
There’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
In matters of the heart
Matters of the heart
Matters of the heartThese matters of the heart
Matters of the heart
Matters of the heart
And now, Heart Of The Matter, which starts with one theme, and then returns to the theme of the previous song.
I’m just a man in a world full of men just like me
With a heart full of question and answers
That seem to be somewhat connected
And a head full of pre-conceived notions
That manage to get in the wayAnd I find myself longing to return
Back to the place where I started
Back when I knew next to nothing
Back to the heart
Back to the heart of the matter
To the heart of the matter
To the heart of the matterHearts
alternate
between tears and a rage
A short journey through the human zoo
In this mortal cageWords
like weapons
ask no questions as they kill
People
wounded
Once dancing, now they’re standing stillAnd all these things, I can’t explain
They keep on running, round my brain
Drive me deep, deep to the heart
To the heart of the matterLambs
to the slaughter
Well aware of their consequence
Saving (saving)
fallen man
Living and dying in this present tenseSo many things I can’t explain, oh
They lose and confuse me, again and again
Drive me deep, deep to the heart
To the heart of the matter
To the heart of the matter
The heart of the matterA light shining in this heart of darkness
A new beginning and a miracle
Day by day integration, the concrete and the spiritualYou can show me your sales curves
Plot my life on a flow chart
You can count up your converts
And miss where it all starts
You can show me your sales curvesBut there’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
These fragile pieces, priceless treasure
There’s just some things that numbers can’t measure
In matters of the heart
Matters of the heart
(A spark of truth that catches on fire)
Matters of the heart
These matters of the heart
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