Live to Tell, I can’t remember when I heard the song for the first time. However, every time I hear it, it gives me a special feeling inside. I certainly heard the song before I bought her compilation album, the double-LP: 'The Immaculate Collection', but it was after listening to that album, several times, that the song got a specific meaning to me.
If I’m right, the album was released in 1990 and I probably bought it when it had been on the market for a while. I was quite a young teenager at the time and I don’t know how good my English was, probably not that good. At least I don’t think I really listened to the lyrics that carefully.
If English isn't your native language you’ll experience a song that’s sung in English differently. I think this also applies at present, when I'm an adult and claim to be fluent in the English language, fluent but not fully learnt. I can learn new things every day. If you have studied a language, this also applies to your own native language, you soon become aware that there’s a lot that you don’t know, and that there’s a lot you could learn. When it comes to lyrics, however, most people get them and they at times affect you instantly. Still, if the lyrics are in a second-, or third language, there’s always a filter for your perception of the song.
“I have a tale to tell, sometimes it gets so hard to hide it well /.../ I hope I live to tell, the secret I have learned, ‘till then, it will burn inside of me, the truth is never far behind, you have kept it hidden well, if I live to tell, the secret I knew then, will I ever have the chance again? /.../ Will it grow cold, the secret that I hide, will I grow old? How will they hear, when will they learn, how will they know?”
These lines of lyrics affect me deeply and I identify myself with them. It was also what I did as a teenager. The song became a song for and about me. In these lines of lyrics lie other lines of untold experiences, of hidden matters and masked outcomes.
In recent years, however, I have begun to wonder, I may have things to reveal, but do I want to tell my story? I have previously thought that I wanted to tell, and also that I had a need for it. Today, I‘m not so sure, I can’t say either yes or no.
Nonetheless, the song touches me deeply. Additionally, the performance Madonna and her dancers did to this song on the 2006 Confessions Tour makes it even stronger. The beginning of the performance is heartfelt. See it and listen to the stories told! You'll find the link here:
Madonna - Live to Tell from the Confessions Tour.
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