Mehldau is first and foremost an improviser, and greatly cherishes the surprise and wonder that can occur from a spontaneous, directly expressed musical idea. But he also has a deep fascination for the formal architecture of music, which informs everything he plays. In his most inspired playing, the actual structure of his musical thought serves as an expressive device. As he plays, he listens to how ideas unwind, and the order in which they reveal themselves. Each tune has a strongly felt narrative arc, whether it expresses itself in a beginning and an end, or as something left intentionally open-ended. The two sides of Mehldau’s personality--the improviser and the formalist--play off each other, and the effect is often something like controlled chaos.
Mehldau has performed around the world at a steady pace since the mid-nineties, with his trio and as a solo pianist. His performances convey a wide range of expression, and he favors juxtaposing extremes. Often, the intellectual rigor and density of information in the abstraction of one tune is followed by a stripped down, emotional directness in the next. Over the years, he has attracted a sizeable following, which has grown to expect a singular, intense experience in his performance.
Blame It On My Youth
Brad Mehldau Trio Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Blame it on my youth.
If only for you I did exist,
Blame it on my youth.
I believed in everything,
Like a child of three,
You meant more than anything,
If you were on my mind all night and day,
Blame it on my youth.
If I forgot to eat and sleep and pray,
Blame it on my youth.
If I cried a little bit
When first I learned the truth,
Don't blame it on my heart,
Blame it on my youth.
If I cried a little bit
When first I learned the truth,
Don't blame it on my heart,
Blame it on my youth.
The lyrics of Brad Mehldau Trio's song Blame it on my youth revolve around the idea that the singer's youthful and innocent nature is the reason for their intense and all-consuming love for their partner. The singer blames their own youthfulness for their feelings, claiming that if they had been wiser, they would not have fallen so deeply in love. The lyrics suggest that the intensity of their feelings for their partner led them to forget about other aspects of their life, such as eating and sleeping. The repeated line "Blame it on my youth" serves as an admission of the singer's naivety and the acknowledgement that their youth was to blame for their all-consuming emotions.
The song's message is further emphasized by the imagery of childhood, with the singer comparing themselves to "a child of three" who believes in everything. The idea of innocence and naivety is also reflected in the repetition of the line "If I cried a little bit when first I learned the truth," implying that the singer's world was shattered by a harsh reality they were not prepared for.
Overall, the lyrics of Blame it on my youth convey the idea that love can be overwhelming, especially when experienced in youth, when one is yet to fully understand the complexities of life.
Line by Line Meaning
If I expected love when first we kissed,
I was naive and inexperienced when we first kissed and had unrealistic expectations of finding love.
Blame it on my youth.
My lack of experience and immaturity led me to expect more than what was realistic, so my youth is to blame for this misunderstanding.
If only for you I did exist,
My whole existence revolved around you and you were the only thing that mattered to me.
Blame it on my youth.
My youth made me put all my focus on you to the exclusion of everything else, making it impossible for me to see things more clearly.
I believed in everything,
I had a childlike faith in the world and everything around me, believing all that was told to me without question.
Like a child of three,
My naivety and lack of experience was akin to that of a three-year-old child.
You meant more than anything,
You were the most important thing in my life, and nothing could compete with my strong feelings for you.
All the world to me!
My feelings for you were all-consuming, just like the whole world is for me.
If you were on my mind all night and day,
I couldn't stop thinking about you at any given moment, and you were always on my mind.
If I forgot to eat and sleep and pray,
My fixation with you made me neglect my basic needs like food, sleep, and even spiritual practices like prayer.
If I cried a little bit
My emotions were so intense that I couldn't help but cry a little.
When first I learned the truth,
Once I learned the truth about something, it became a difficult and emotional experience for me.
Don't blame it on my heart,
My heart wasn't the reason for my emotional response.
Blame it on my youth.
It was my lack of experience and maturity that caused me to react in such a strong emotional way, so my youth is to blame.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Edward Heyman, Oscar Levant
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind