Way back in the late summer of 1989, when I had but just turned fourteen years old, Cher was riding high on one of her many comebacks – ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ – and even at my young age, my old soul felt resonance with this track. At my more advanced age, it rings differently, and no less powerfully.
Back in 1989, it was more of a wish to go back in time just a couple of months, to the start of the summer – the summer before high school, when everything would change.
If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I’d take back those words that have hurt you
And you’d stay
I don’t know why I did the things I did
I don’t know why I said the things I said
Pride’s like a knife, it can cut deep inside
Words are like weapons, they wound sometimes
I didn’t really mean to hurt you
I didn’t wanna see you go
I know I made you cry, but baby
If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I’d take back those words that have hurt you and you’d stay
If I could reach the stars, I’d give ’em all to you
Then you’d love me, love me like you used to do
(If I could turn back time)
Cher’s video for this single caused an uproar worthy of Madonna’s typical fare at the time. (See ‘Like A Prayer‘ or ‘Express Yourself’.) I happened to love it – the outfit, the big-ass boat canons, and the sailors – all those excited sailors… I’d lose my gay virginity to a sailor many years later on the Mississippi River, but that’s a story that doesn’t need to be retold right now.
My world was shattered, I was torn apart
Like someone took a knife and drove it deep in my heart
When you walked out that door, I swore that I didn’t care
But I lost every thing, darlin’, then and there
Too strong to tell you I was sorry
Too proud to tell you I was wrong
I know that I was blind, and darlin’
If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I’d take back those words that have hurt you and you’d stay
If I could reach the stars, I’d give ’em all to you
Then you’d love me, love me like you used to do, ohh
If I could turn back time (if I could turn back time)
If I could turn back time (if I could turn back time)
If I could turn back time, oh, baby
