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I’m a big fan of Concrete Blonde, the alt-rock band from California in the 80s and 90s. They released some of the best and most intelligent music of the time.

Moreover, their lead singer was the incomparable Johnette Napolitano, whose magnificent voice is as captivating today (she still writes and records) as ever.

The band’s self-titled debut album in 1986 was a solid hit. Among its many great tunes: “Dance Along the Edge,” a thinking person’s love song.

Dance Along The Edge

By Concrete Blonde, 1986
Written by Johnette Napolitano and James Mankey

Sometimes, we laugh like children.
Go running hand in hand.
I never felt like this before,
I never will again.

Sometimes, we cry like babies.
And I hold you to my heart.
I just can’t stand to see you sad,
It tears me all apart.

And we’re so afraid, and it’s such a shame.
There is no reason we should doubt it.
And the things we want to say, we’ve never said.
And we look away, and it’s all okay,
And never really talk about it.
It’s a shame the way we dance along the edge.

Dance along the edge.
Dance along the edge.

We always seem so careful.
We’re always so unsure.
Our past mistakes, they make us shake, eyes on the door.

When do we stop searching
For what we’re searching for?
Then when it comes, we question love, and try for more.

And we’re happy here, but we live in fear.
We’ve seen a lot of temples crumble.
Some of flesh and blood, and love is under glass.
Will we come undone? Will we turn and run?
And will we know it when we find it?
It’s a game the way we dance along the edge.

Dance along the edge.
Dance along the edge.

And we’ll walk the line, and we’ll do our time
For just as long as we’ve been given,
And pretend that we don’t hear the things they’ve said.

Can we promise love? Is it all too much?
And do our old souls still believe it?
It’s insane the way we dance along the edge.

Dance along the edge.
Dance along the edge.

Dance along the edge.
Dance along the edge.

Dance along the edge.
Dance along the edge.

Dance along the edge.
Dance along the edge.

Dance along the edge.
Dance along the edge.