Pain Means I Loved | Soul Blues Ballad About Love & Loss - Eli Rowan

[Verse 1] There’s an empty chair by the window Where the evening used to find you And a cup I still reach for sometimes Before I remember it’s mine Funny what the hands keep doing Long after the heart understands I can put away the pictures But memory don’t take commands I used to think this aching Meant something went wrong But maybe it just means Something beautiful is gone [Pre-Chorus] And I don’t have to hate the ending To be sorry that it came I don’t have to call it wasted Just because it couldn’t stay [Chorus] Let the pain mean I loved Let the tears mean it mattered Let the ending be an ending Not proof that we were shattered I won’t call those years a failure Just because they’re yesterday Let the pain mean I loved And let love Have its name [Verse 2] There were mornings in the kitchen Bare feet crossing hardwood floors Little jokes nobody else knew Keys left hanging by the door Nothing worthy of a movie Nothing anybody’d frame Just an ordinary Tuesday I would give anything to reclaim That’s the trouble with the good days You don’t know them when they’re here You think happiness is somewhere else Till somewhere else disappears [Pre-Chorus] So I won’t rewrite the story Just to make the hurting small Some things can be worth having Even if you lose them all [Chorus] Let the pain mean I loved Let the tears mean it mattered Let the ending be an ending Not proof that we were shattered I won’t call those years a failure Just because they’re yesterday Let the pain mean I loved And let love Have its name [Instrumental Turn] Warm piano, Hammond swell, restrained blues-guitar response. [Verse 3] I’ve heard people say, “Move forward” Like the past should disappear But I’ve lived enough to know now You can carry something dear Without begging it to come back Without living where it was Gratitude and grief can sit together Maybe that’s What healing does [Bridge — nearly bare] A sunset isn’t failure Because night came afterward A song was never meaningless Because you heard the final word And love does not turn foolish When two roads finally divide Some things leave an empty place Because they filled one For a while [Quiet Refrain] So let it hurt I know why [Final Chorus] Let the pain mean I loved Let the tears mean it mattered Let the ending be an ending Not proof that we were shattered I won’t trade away the memory Just to make today less hard Let the pain mean I loved Let the scar Mean I had a heart Let the pain mean I loved Let the years have what they gave Some love stays forever Some love Just cannot stay And I won’t call it failure Just because it went away Let the pain mean I loved And let love Have its name [Outro] There’s an empty chair by the window And tonight I let it be