Mark Heard released 13 studio albums in his lifetime (as Mark Heard & Ideola) also 1 album with Infinity Plus Three), and produced and performed with many other artists as well, such as Daniel Amos, Sam Phillips, Pierce Pettis, Phil Keaggy, Vigilantes of Love, Peter Buck of R.E.M., John Austin, The Choir, Randy Stonehill and Michael Been of The Call. Read Full BioJohn Mark Heard (1951-1992) was a record producer, singer, and songwriter originally from Macon, Georgia.
Mark Heard released 13 studio albums in his lifetime (as Mark Heard & Ideola) also 1 album with Infinity Plus Three), and produced and performed with many other artists as well, such as Daniel Amos, Sam Phillips, Pierce Pettis, Phil Keaggy, Vigilantes of Love, Peter Buck of R.E.M., John Austin, The Choir, Randy Stonehill and Michael Been of The Call. Heard produced part of Olivia Newton John's The Rumour, which also included a cover of Heard's "Big and Strong".
On July 4, 1992, Heard suffered a heart attack on stage while performing with Pierce Pettis and Kate Miner, at the Cornerstone Festival, near Chicago, Illinois. Heard finished his set and went to the hospital immediately afterwards. Two weeks after being released from the hospital, Heard had a cardiac arrest and died in August of 1992. Sadly, this happened at a time when Heard's musical career never looked brighter. Not only had he just released three albums (Dry Bones Dance in 1990, Second Hand in 1991, and Satellite Sky in 1992) that many hailed as his best work to date, but he had also just been included on a sampler from Windham Hill's High Street label.
Heard's early work was often marked by strong, poetic lyrics; but musically he lingered in a generic folk/folk-rock style. But Heard continued to experiment musically; his most extreme was perhaps the elaborately-produced electronic rock on the album Tribal Opera, which he released under the name iDEoLA. With Dry Bones Dance, however, Heard's music blossomed into an intense folk-rock fusion, marked by driving rhythms, virtuosic instrumentals, passionate vocals, and interwoven elements borrowed from styles such as Appalachian folk, zydeco, bluegrass, and country (though Heard's music is none of those). Second Hand returned to a more acoustic guitar-based folk sound, but retained the energy and creativity discovered through Dry Bones Dance. His final official album, Satellite Sky, was again more like the latter.
Mark Heard's lyrics are deeply grounded in a Christian view of the world, though explicitly so only half the time. He was often critical and had an eye for emotional pain and spiritual desolation, yet he remarkably avoided cynicism. When his lyrics turned to expressing hope or joy, they were powerful. As a poetic lyricist, Heard cultivated verbal sound (e.g. with internal rhyme), strong images and elaborate personae, while avoiding the cheap punch-line metaphors popular in much contemporary folk music. Some of his images, most notably "bones," can be found repeated and richly varied in their meaning across years of songwriting.
In 1994, many artists came together to record a tribute album called Strong Hand of Love. Artists lending their talents to the project included Victoria Williams, Chagall Guevara, Buddy Miller, Julie Miller, Daniel Amos, The Choir, Rich Mullins, Bruce Cockburn, and the Vigilantes of Love. The project was later reissued as a 2 CD set with additional tracks and retitled Orphans of God.
Nod Over Coffee
Mark Heard Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning | Line by Line Meaning
And all the little signs that I might give you
They would not be enough
No they would not be enough
So we nod over coffee and say goodbye
Smile over coffee and turn to go
We know the drill and we do it well
We love it, we hate it
Ain't that life
Ain't that the curse of the second hand
Ain't that the way of the hour and the day
If I weren't so alone and afraid
They might pay me what I am worth
But it would not be enough
You deserve better
So we nod over coffee and say goodbye
Do whatever has to be done again today
Get in the traffic and time will fly
Look at the sun and pray for rain
Ain't that the curse of the second hand
Ain't that the way of the hour and the day
The dam of time cannot hold back
The dust that will surely come of these bones
And I'm sure I will not have loved enough
Will not have loved enough
If we could see with wiser eyes
What is good and what is sad and what is true
Still it would not be enough
Could never be enough
So we nod over coffee and say goodbye
Bolt the door it's time to go
Into the car with the radio on
Roll down the window and blow the horn
Ain't that the curse of the second hand
Ain't that the way of the hour and the day
In Mark Heard's song "Nod Over Coffee," the lyrics describe the limitations of communication and comprehension in relationships. The speaker acknowledges that there are many things they may think or feel but are unable to express. They also recognize that even if they did try to communicate these things, it would still not be enough to truly convey the depth of their emotions. This leads to the routine of nodding and smiling over coffee as a form of goodbye, of doing what needs to be done, and getting through the day. The speaker also acknowledges the passing of time and the fleeting nature of life, expressing regret that they may not have loved enough. Overall, the lyrics of the song touch on themes of loneliness, frustration, routine, and mortality.
Line by Line Meaning
All the unsaid words that I might be thinking
I have a lot of unspoken thoughts that I'm keeping inside
And all the little signs that I might give you
Even if I give you all the small hints that I could, it still wouldn't be enough
They would not be enough
No matter what I do, it won't be sufficient
So we nod over coffee and say goodbye
We have a routine of simply nodding when we meet, over coffee, then leave
Smile over coffee and turn to go
We put on a happy facade and leave quickly
We know the drill and we do it well
We're used to this process and can perform it with ease
We love it, we hate it
We have feelings of both enjoyment and disdain towards this routine
Ain't that life
This is just how things are
If I weren't so alone and afraid
Maybe if I were more confident and less lonely
They might pay me what I am worth
My level of compensation would be more appropriate
You deserve better
You're worth more than what we're both getting right now
Do whatever has to be done again today
It's just another day of going through the motions
Get in the traffic and time will fly
Driving in traffic makes the day go by faster
Look at the sun and pray for rain
Sometimes we just hope for something different to break up the monotony
The dam of time cannot hold back
We can't stop time from moving forward
The dust that will surely come of these bones
Someday we'll just become dust after we die
And I'm sure I will not have loved enough
I know that I won't have loved to the fullest extent before I die
If we could see with wiser eyes
If we could see things more clearly
What is good and what is sad and what is true
If we knew what was actually good, sad, or true
Still it would not be enough
Even with more knowledge, it wouldn't be complete
Could never be enough
Nothing will ever be fully satisfying
Bolt the door it's time to go
Locking up the door marks the end of the day
Into the car with the radio on
We listen to music to distract ourselves on the car ride home
Roll down the window and blow the horn
We try to feel some sense of freedom while driving
Ain't that the curse of the second hand
This is the drawback of living a life that's predetermined
Ain't that the way of the hour and the day
This is just how time passes
Contributed by Alexander W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.