“This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you”

song ~ “Vincent (Starry Starry Night)”  
artist ~ Don McLean  

Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and gray
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul

Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free

They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue

Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free

They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night

You took your life, as lovers often do
But I could've told you Vincent
This world was never meant for
One as beautiful as you

Starry, starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frame-less heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget

Like the strangers that you've met
The ragged men in ragged clothes
The silver thorn of bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free

They would not listen, they're not listening still
Perhaps they never will     _{(Image source)}

Comments 

This quiet melody is Don McLean’s tribute to the great Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. Moreover, it was his attempt to clarify that van Gogh was not crazy, not insane.   

Light in the Sky, Darkness in the Soul

While van Gogh was painting “Starry, Starry Night”  and his other masterpieces – and not selling any of them – many people thought that he was crazy. Indeed, van Gogh himself may have thought so to, as he eventually committed himself to an asylum.    

While reading a book about van Gogh, McLean realized that the painter had not been insane. That in fact, the artist had a clear vision of the world, and that Van Gogh could even “know the darkness in my soul.”    

Love in the Heart of a Noble Man

Instead, this song portrays the artist as a man of love. Love for the downtrodden, the ragged and the wretched. Love for the world and all its beauty. That love is reflected not only in the paintings, but also in the song’s references to various textures and colors, which are dreamily evocative of van Gogh’s vivid paintings.   

No, McLean sings asssuredly, van Gogh was not crazy. In fact, the artist was a beautiful, loving, and noble man, “suffering for his sanity”  in a world that, in turn, hardly merited his love.     _{(Image source)}
Don McLean – "Vincent (Starry Starry Night)"  _{(Right-click to hear on YouTube)}
Lyrics by Don McLean, courtesy of – AZLyrics.com
References – SongMeanings.com
References – Telegraph.co.uk
References – VanGoghGallery.com
References – SongFacts.com

   A Compilation of My Previous Lyrics Posts 3~30

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