Ataraxia’s eighth track of The Fox and the Flame
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There's always something you gotta work out
Lost your temper then your feelings
Now you're contemplating how
A break
A phase
Down the aisle were you wrong to believe that this was your fate?
You want every answer
Blinded by your views
Uh uh
Look how far you've come
You've stepped out of the pews
haa
Two lives
Nature collides
Are you positive the pathways are right?
When one decides
Two will divide
Will we ever get to know the why?
And so you stay in the same four walls
Passing by each other, hoping one day it'll all resolve
A change
Can't wait
Do you really wanna throw away the last decade?
You want a better answer
To find out what was wrong
Uh uh
But it doesn't even matter
If the pieces don't belong
Two lives
Nature collides
Are you positive the pathways are right?
When one decides
Two will divide
Do you really wanna choose this life?
...
Everything you went through
Nobody else did
When you said, "I do"
You trusted him
But take your time
If this is where you part
What you need, what you want
Why do you remain?
Sometimes it don't align
Two moves opposite sides
The space multiplies
Sometimes it's more than a fight
Years pass and that's design
But maybe stars combine
Behind the Scenes
“Two Lives” is about the indecision to divorce. It narrates the hesitancy to end a relationship with someone you spent half your life with. It also speaks on behalf of the church and how religious beliefs affect a marriage. As an onlooker, I noticed that sometimes religion pressures two to start a family together despite the individuals’ personal goals in life. I convey that religious principles can blur the line between what is faithfully right and what the heart and soul really want. “Stepping out of the pews” means leaving the church.
As people change, a connection may also. When a relationship has a past of long arguments and consistent disagreements, one side may feel it is time to leave the marriage. I mention these arguments in the ending: “Sometimes it’s more than a fight, years pass and that’s design.”
I decided to connect this relationship to astronomy. At the time I was writing it, I imagined these two people as stars, intermixing in one phase of their lives and clashing in other times. I imagined what it was like for these two to first meet, having to change an entire life solo to a life together. As I learned more about the nature of stars, I discovered the concept of merging stars. I wanted to incorporate this into the last part of the song. While stars (two people in a relationship) have to have a gravitational balance, sometimes the energy between them causes them to combine (the relationship evolves into greater depths): “Maybe stars combine.”
— Ataraxia