CARRY ME AWAY
(words and music by Rick Springfield) 

Stop, my head is playing tricks again, won't it ever stop
Baby, help me listen to my heart and then take me to the top 
I'm afraid of love, so afraid of love 
And I'm scared to make it right 
But I know tonight, that it's my last chance 
My last shot at real love and I wanna take it 
Last chance at the slow dance, in the big time 
And I wanna make it 
Tonight you're gonna show me what love is and why 
Between the sweat and  lovin'
The whisper and the cry 
I'm so tired of all this shit that I feel 
Show me something real

Carry Me Away, baby, Carry Me Away
I'm in love with you tonight, it feels so right 
Carry Me Away, come on, Carry Me Away
I wanna be with you, what can I do
You've got the power, you've got the love 
To take me to heaven or to lead me to heartbreak

I  spend my life waiting for the future and living in the past 
Baby, show me love that I can hold on to 
Give me something that'll last 
I'm a total wreck but I'm up to my neck in this love I'm in and I can't do a thing
It's a long shot, a far cry, from a real world, me and you, baby 
Last chance at the slow dance in the bright lights 
And I think that maybe tonight it's gonna happen no need in tryin' 
Between the sweat and  lovin', the whisper and the crying I'm so scared of all this feeling I feel
Show me something real

Carry Me Away, baby, Carry Me Away
I'm in love with you tonight, it feels so right 
Carry Me Away, come on, Carry Me Away
I wanna be with you, what can I do
You've got the power, you've got the love 
To take me to heaven or to lead me to heartbreak 
You've got the power, you've got the love 
To take me to heaven or to lead me to heartbreak

Carry Me Away, baby, Carry Me Away 
I'm in love with you tonight, it feels so right 
Carry me away, come on, Carry Me Away 
I wanna be with you, what can I do
You've got the power- you've got the love 
To take me to heaven or to lead me to heartbreak

(total playing time: 3:01)

SONG FACTS:

Rick performed this song during Live and Kickin' and  performed it  as part of a Medley at some of his concerts during the Karma - Alive tour.

It appears on the following releases:
Working Class Dog, Alive-Greatest Hits (as part of a Medley), Legendary,  Anthology (written in rock), and Working Class Dog Expanded edition.

The demo for this song appears on the Ltd edition of the Greatest Hits Alive cd.

According to US

Another awesome & fun song by our man Rick Springfield!!! Carry Me Away is one of those "make-out" love songs for me. This is a song that makes me want to grab my significant other and hug & kiss him! I think Rick really captured that feeling here. Carry Me Away…yep that is exactly what I want to do or have done to me when I hear this song. I wanna grab him by the hand and say, "let's run off somewhere and forget about everything but us!" Now at the time the song was first released, I wanted to carry RICK away! LOL I still can't help but sing/shout out the words in agreement where he says, "I'm so tired of all this shit that I feel, show me something real." HOW TRUE IS THAT?? Who hasn't felt that way on many, many occasions?! I think I feel that way most days…in concern to a lot of things, not just love & romance. That is a universal line in my opinion, and can be perceived several ways. 

I think the echoing sounds at the start of each verse add a perfect touch to what he's trying to say in the song…"Stop. My head is playing tricks again. Won`t it ever stop?" He desperately wants the real thing this time, but his mind keeps telling him that this love is probably too good to be true. It seems he is relying on HER to make it all okay for him: "help me listen to my heart and then, take me to the top," "tonight you're gonna show me what love is and why," "you got the power you got the love, to take me to heaven or to leave me to heartbreak," "show me love that I can hold onto," "show me something real." It's like he's put the ball in her court and HE wants to be the one who is swept away, rather than being the one doing the romancing. He is tired of all the crap, all the heartaches, all the bad feelings and he wants to grab onto this love and run with it. What a hot line when he says, "between the sweat and the lovin`, the whisper and the cry." YOW, I love that!!!! In other words, the sex is incredible, but I want love too…something deeper than just the physical aspects of the relationship. 

Despite the fun sound, rockin' beat & catchy lyrics of this one, I sense major insecurity beneath the surface. Well, he does come right out and say, "I'm afraid of love, so afraid of love…and I'm scared to make it right." He has been hurt so many times before, that he is leery of taking the plunge once again. Maybe that is why he's almost demanding that SHE take the reigns here, and show HIM what love she has to offer. Hopefully it will be "something real" and lasting this time. I like how the song feels like a living-in-the-moment song. ("I'm in love with you tonight, feels so right") It's almost as if he fears letting the moment slip by would be a sin…that they better grab on while they can, and hold on tight. ("but I know tonight that it's my last chance my last shot, at real love…and I wanna take it"). I am guessing that this song was about Barbie. And if that is the case, then he certainly got what he was after…a love that has lasted an entire lifetime and a love that's real. I am truly happy for Rick that the woman he longed for did carry him away and made it alright!  - Kelley Pearson

I feel much better that I got all the words right in the lyrics of this song! This is another rockin' song by the lyric-meister. I think my favorite performance of this one is on Live & Kickin'. Still is. I can't listen to this song and not picture that performance in my head. 

The strongest memory I have from this song back when I bought the album was listening to it in my room on my record player that looked like a suitcase when it was closed up. I would just sit there and sing along, and when it came to Carry Me Away, I would get up and close the door because I didn't want my parents to hear the s- word! LOL. I've said it before, they always thought Rick was a nice clean cut pop idol, and although I knew better just after the first listen of this album, who was I to tell them differently? (I think my mother has figured it out by now though, LOL) 

My favorite part of this song is when he sings the words between the sweat and lovin' and the whisper and the cry. That line used to give me chills at thirteen. I'm not even going to elaborate on what it does to me now, in my thirties!

When I was a teenager, I interpreted this song as Rick saying he wanted to, uh, well you know with the girl he was in love with because he was saying you've got the power, you've got the love to take me to heaven or to lead me to heartbreak. I can see he was saying so much more now, this whole song to me is a metaphor of the music business. He's telling the music business: here I am. This is me, what I love. I'm giving it my all, let it carry me away into stardom. Rick is just so good at this songwriting thing, you know? All the romance references kind of throw you, but I really think that this is what he was trying to say, and he was just saying it a way (I love the girl style) to make it more interesting to the listener. The more I listen to this however -the more I pick up another meaning to this song. I never realized how much I had used Rick's music as a release of sorts. If I had a bad day, I'd listen to Rick. If it was a good day, I'd listen to Rick. (see a pattern?) However, on those bad days -this is one of those songs that you can sing along with at the top of your lungs and by the time it's over you feel a bit better. The words do literally "Carry Me Away". - Michelle P.

I love this song! What more can I say? It is a 'fight back' song in my opinion. You can hear the passion and intensity in his voice and such demand . I love the line "I'm so tired of all this shit that I feel".......that is me most days and I can totally relate! Obviously, he was ready for a change and prepared for some 'action' when he wrote this and it's really another song where you can hear and almost feel the passion and urgency in his voice. I like the line..."You've got the power, you've got the love, to take me to heaven or to lead me to heartbreak" and I love how he just stops the song with that line and it ends instantly with no more music. Somehow, it's like he is saying 'end of story, that's it!' and I love that about his songs, the way he can make them sound and 'feel' like you can interpret them in more ways than one. That is pure talent! Amy L.

This is nowhere close to being one of my favorite songs. I don't care much for the music, but Rick does things in a couple of places that I really REALLY like, musically speaking. The tempo during the lines 'Tonight you're gonna show me what love is and why. Between the sweat and lovin'. The whisper and the cry' sounds very much like a heartbeat anticipating the 'slide into home base'. I do how he steers left here musically and for me, this is more of a hook for the song  than the actual hook that is intended to be (the 'Carry Me Away part for anyone reading this that is not familiar with what a 'hook' is) The other part of what I like on the musical side of things is when the music just stops (wow, doesn't that sound a little sarcastic eh) after the word 'heartbreak'. It is such a punctuation mark and it works really well.

Lyrically there are a couple of things I can relate to. 'Stop, my head is playing tricks again....I'm afraid of love...I spend my life waiting for the future and living in the past'. I also like 'You've got the power....to take me to heaven or to lead me to heartbreak', however for me in this part the line that immediately follows 'you've got the power' is 'you've got the love' and although it 'fits' musically I think that lyrically I would have preferred a different line.

I have never heard this song live (that I can remember) and maybe I would like it more if I had. I can understand what he might have been going through mentally when he wrote this song...being afraid of love....wanting to really commit himself to giving it a final shot with this lady...and hoping that it is everything he needs. Sometimes I wonder about the line 'I'm in love with you tonight, it feels so right'. Have you ever had one of those relationships where one day (or night) you think you feel more 'in love' than you really do? Maybe he is trying to continue with that feeling to get more out of this relationship?? Maybe I read too much into things. 'I wanna be with you what can I do?'...is this in reference of what he can do for himself to be in the mindset to be in a relationship, or what he can do for her to encourage her to be committed to it? 

Sometimes I skip this song, I just can't get into it. The lyrics are okay, the music is well, it's like junk food...serves its purpose in 'filling you up' but compared to other things on his musical menu, this is nowhere near the prime rib or caviar I have come to enjoy from Rick.

Oh, seems that last semester my students did like it though when they incorporated this song into the cover page of a advertising research assignment they had to do. - Kat Mendelin

I think Rick probably wrote this song at a point in his life when he was getting tired of the bachelor thing. He sings about it being his "last chance for love" and about wanting a "real love". This song was not one of my favorites when it came out. I don't really like the music very much. It just seems very choppy to me. I wonder what it would sound like if the beat was slowed down just a bit and maybe a little different arrangement. Maybe this is another of those songs he wrote about Barbara. Maybe he felt like he wanted more from this relationship than what he had in the past with others; "Help me listen to my Heart", and "Carry Me Away" both seem like he is asking for help in taking that next step of commitment. Overall, it is a good song, just not one of my personal favorites. Elizabeth S.

I think this is kind of a middle of the road song for me. I've decided that I want to like it more than I do. There are some really great lines, but it just doesn't come all together for me. On the surface, he seems to be saying he's really in love. I'm not convinced. For one thing, the words seem to be saying one thing, and the music is saying another. The music gives off a more anxious, desperate feeling to it. It's like he's in a panic, so he's just going to make her the one because she's there. And then he's making it totally her responsibility to make it work and make him believe it. Why is this his last chance? I really don't get that. And the kicker for me is "I'm in love with you tonight".....just tonight? What about tomorrow? 
I'm so tired of all this shit that I feel, show me something real....I love that line. - rlh

I simply adore this song but when I really think about the lyrics it challenges me. Upon close review the song seems like a guy's pleading attempt to convince a girl to sleep with him. Using phrases like 'it’s my last chance' and implying she is his 'last shot at real love' strike me more as a guy that is leaving town tomorrow (thus tonight's his last chance) or just simply trying to force the girl's hand with promises to see if he can get some action. And he is certainly trying to make it seem like it is all in her hands with lines like 'You've got the power, you’ve got the love / To take me to heaven or lead me to heartbreak'. I mean really how could you turn away from a line like that? But then more red flags show up like 'I’m in love with you tonight', he has to throw in that qualifier of 'tonight' so maybe tomorrow not so much. So with all of that it boils down to a 'let me get into your pants' type of song.

However when I take off the analytical hat my heart swings back and just enjoys the song. The up tempo beat and cool guitar chords just make the song fun. And I love the lyrics and the way he sings 'I’m so tired of all this shit that I feel / Show me something real' and 'It's a long shot, a far cry, from a real world, me and you, baby / Last chance at the slow dance in the bright lights' and finally one of my top lyrical favorites 'To take me to heaven or lead me to heartbreak {end}'

So in the end I can sit back and just get carried away by the song ~Jen H.