Rufus Wainwright

I certainly like the musical nod to his previous piece, 'Want'. The guitar rhythm is the same, and in Want he sings, 'Yeah I'm ready, to love'.....and then in this one, 'Not ready to love'.

'Love' it!

I still have mixed feelings about this song, but I like it more whenever I hear it! But his voice is so beautiful on it!

quite beautiful. Gorgeous singing

what can i say about I'm Not Ready to Love?
ahhhhhhh, well i am glad it has finally been released on an album! *smirks*

i love the lyrics a lot, and they definitely come across as very heartfelt. however, i do feel "gloved murderer" disrupts the diction used throughout the rest of the song. for some reason, that phrase just really stands out to me... in a slightly harsh way

how great is it that rufus met Jorn right after writing this song?

actually, this is the song i tend to skip most often. it's not bad, just a little slow. i think the song is performed better live (I feel the same way about "Want"). it just has a way of coming across genuinely live, at least moreso than on the album for some reason. but, bravo rufus, it really is a beautiful song!

http://rufus.jt.org/song.php?i=NotReadytoLove

I'm not ready to love
I'm not ready for peace
I'm giving up the dove to the beast
I'm not ready to surrender to another gloved murderer

I'm not ready to love
I'm not ready to fly
I'm giving up belief in the sky
So you can take my seat in up above, on high, say goodbye

I'm not ready to love
I'm not ready to lie
I'm not ready to love
Until I'm ready to love you the way you should be loved
Until I'm ready to hold you the way you should be held
You should be held, but I'm not ready to

I too heard "Want" this is just beautiful and when I saw him do it live it brought tears...now I tease my husband by telling him that Rufus' songs for the people in his life are always the best ones and that this must be the one he wrote for me! Ha!

I'm not ready to love? Well actually I am, to love this song that is.
I've always found it so difficult to pick favourite songs of Rufus, as they are all the children of his creative genius, so I'll place this song squarely and fairly amongst all the other incredible brothers and sisters, who I love dearly..
I adore this song, and I'm listening to it right now. In fact its had loads of repeat plays today, just a flick of a dial in the car CD player and he is always ready to love, and so am I.
As for the words and meaning, I don't really know, and like lots of music I suppose that's the way artists like you to be, rendering your own emotional response to their work. They create the ambience and you create the journey.
I love this song, apart from anything else I find that the voice of Rufus is at its most gentle and unforced. The words just drizzle upon my soul like honey from the back of a spoon. To me, it's like laying down on a feather mattress of understated vibrato, I feel it as well as hear it.
It feels like I'm on my back in a sun kissed meadow with the swaying wild grass joining my vision of a deep blue sky above. You just can't buy the feeling, you can't create it yourself. It needs a catalyst. This song sucks me in like a slow breath on a misty morning, like the updraft of an angels wing. Who else sings like this man. His vocals just sit upon the music almost resting on one elbow whilst reaching into my soul.

I love the part where the song descends as though it's slid over a rainbow washed waterfall, and the chorus lilts up with the watery mist, "not ready to love", those backing vocals, oh those beautiful backing vocals, are the voices of angels, ethereal in quality. There but almost not there.
This is pure aural alchemy, it's medicine, it's food for the heart, it brushes aside my day and sends my dreams into a sweet caress of gentleness, it sends me to a place I want to be, somewhere between fond memories and happy-thoughts, between tears and rapture. I swear it actually physically brings my heart beat down with it's rhythm. I can think of a million places that I would love to be alone with this music, this song, this artist, this feeling.
It's beautiful, just like his talent.

Neili

This song shares the top spot with Slideshow. Luckily they're next to each other.
The singing is superb. The emotion, the lyrics.
The last line, "But I'm not ready to" kills me every time.

i love this one,even more so since i heard it live.the last three lines kill me,i could weep.i now always picture rufus at the piano playing this,with the smoke swirling around him,whatever place he is in whilst he is singing it,i'm there with him.