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.
You Could Lie to Me
Mark Heard Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I would not understand
You could lead me on to the pits of Hell
I'm a less-than-perfect man
Oh Who's gonna warn me
Oh-How can I tell
Oh-It's so easy
Believing the lies you tell
You could take my heart, turn it into stone
And I might not even know
You could season me until my feelings are gone
And the pain is felt no more
Oh Who's gonna warn me
Oh-How can I tell
Oh-It's so easy
Believing the lies you tell
I do not see the casualties
I don't know what might have been
You're making friends out of my enemies
And enemies of my friends
Oh Who's gonna warn me
Oh-How can I tell
Oh-It's so easy
Believing the lies you tell
The lyrics to "You Could Lie to Me" by Mark Heard convey the vulnerability of the singer in regards to someone they love or trust. The opening lines of "You could lie to me with a ring of truth and I would not understand" suggest that the singer is aware of the possibility of deceit, but is uncertain of their ability to see through it. This is reinforced in the second stanza with "You could take my heart, turn it into stone and I might not even know" which indicates the potential for the singer to be completely fooled by someone they trust. The chorus emphasizes this vulnerability with the repeated lines of "Who's gonna warn me? How can I tell? It's so easy believing the lies you tell."
The third stanza introduces a new idea of the singer being oblivious to the harm being caused by the deceitful person. They say "I do not see the casualties, I don't know what might have been. You're making friends out of my enemies and enemies of my friends" which suggests that the lies being told are causing wider damage than just to the singer. The song ends with another repetition of the chorus, emphasizing the singer's helplessness and inability to easily identify deceit.
Overall, "You Could Lie to Me" highlights the complex emotions and internal struggles that come with trusting someone and being vulnerable to lies and deceit. The lyrics paint a picture of someone who is aware of the possibility of deception, but feels powerless to prevent it or recognize it once it has happened.
Line by Line Meaning
You could lie to me with a ring of truth
Even if you lie convincingly, I may not be able to differentiate between the truth and the lie.
And I would not understand
I will be unaware of your deception and will believe what you tell me.
You could lead me on to the pits of Hell
You can manipulate me into doing things that are not good for me, even if it leads to undesirable consequences.
I'm a less-than-perfect man
I'm not invincible, and I have my weaknesses, so it's easy for you to exploit them.
Oh Who's gonna warn me
I don't have anyone to look out for me or alert me when I'm being deceived.
Oh-How can I tell
I have a difficult time figuring out what's true or false, so it's easy for you to trick me.
Oh-It's so easy
Deceiving me is effortless because I'm gullible and not skeptical enough.
Believing the lies you tell
I'm obedient enough to trust what you say without questioning its authenticity.
You could take my heart, turn it into stone
You could deceive me in such a way that it affects me emotionally, callously turning my once caring heart into a cold, lifeless stone.
And I might not even know
I may not even realize that my heart is becoming colder toward others due to your deception.
You could season me until my feelings are gone
You could deceive me to the point where I don't feel anything, numbing all of my emotions and leaving me empty inside.
And the pain is felt no more
Even the agony that comes from being deceived will dissipate, allowing me to feel nothing at all.
I do not see the casualties
Blinded by your lies, I am unable to see the harm that it causes to not only myself but those around me.
I don't know what might have been
I am oblivious to the missed opportunities, relationships or experiences that could have been if I was not deceived.
You're making friends out of my enemies
You're turning those who I perceived as my adversary into my allies, in turn creating a distorted sense of reality.
And enemies of my friends
You're creating animosity between those who I considered friends, undermining the trust and loyalty between us.
Contributed by Mila I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.