Never the Words

 mariel baumgarten

Lyrics:

“Oh, honey, don’t follow your dreams”

That’s what she said when we were

Nearly driving off cliffs and taking hard hits, hitting the road, following the gigs

It’s funny, ‘cause I dream of her

A hundred on Route 66

I never said a single word

She talked about getting her kicks

I said “You’ll get ‘em, one day, my darling, with me to the curb”

But she’s at the mic, and I’m in the wires

Tangled up tight in my funeral pyre

I’ll never be her

I’ll never be hers

I’ll have the music but never the words

I’ll have the music but never the words

She doesn’t write songs about me

So I try to be somebody fascinating

An enigma, a tragedy

A red-eyed, tongue-tied, inch-from-a-hitchhike bastard from an old western scene

But she’s at the mic, and I’m in the wires

Tangled up tight in my funeral pyre

I’ll never be her

I’ll never be hers

I’ll have the music but never the words

I’ll have the music but never the words

Now she’s deep in sleep

Curled in the backseat

And she looks so kind

I almost believe

Then she wakes up to

The glare of the moon

The red eyes of taillights

Says “Make me feel free”

To hear her laugh

I’m flooring the gas

Her hair’s blowing back

She’s laughing with me

And we’re going fast

The radio’s blasting

Up ahead, the flash

Of emergency lights

And the smell of the ash

She loves me at last and

We’re gonna, we’re gonna, we’re gonna–

The stereo’s playing her track

The one that she hated the most

Days later, I’m dressed in all black

So I can pretend that I’m with her, on to another show

An eighteen-year-old singer-songwriter from Arlington, Virginia, Sarah Mariel Baumgarten (also known as Mariel) specializes in fantastical, story-centric folk-rock. She first began writing in third grade, and her musical tastes sharpened themselves on a broad range of artists such as folk groups the Oh Hellos and Radical Face, jazz cats like Ella Fitzgerald and Jacob Collier, and all-around songwriting legends like Paul Simon and Fiona Apple. Having long nurtured a love of creating worlds and characters, her songs often link together. They form concept albums/“folk-operas,” in which she develops life-like characters, relationships, and complex narratives. Her debut album Sunspit! released on May 9th, 2025. Earlier this year, she was selected as a YoungArts Winner with Distinction in songwriting, and went to Miami for 2025 YoungArts Week. She is also currently a semifinalist in the U.S. Presidential Scholar program. When not pursuing her musical career, Mariel researches chemistry, her other major interest. In the fall, she will be attending the Harvard/New England Conservatory Dual Degree Program, majoring in Chemistry and Contemporary Musical Arts, respectively.