Claire Fan - Week 3: What's Love Got to Do with It?
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| A love letter to...well, love. |
Chances are, if you’ve listened to music recently, at least one song has been about love. But not just any kind of love—romantic love. Whether its subject matter relates to falling in love or experiencing heartbreak, the concept of romance has been the focus of ballads since Neanderthals first learned to blow notes of different pitches through a piece of wood. But why? What is it about romance that seems so enticing? And what about music makes it such a perfect medium for expressing aforementioned emotions?
To me, it’s always seemed that there were always more worthy topics of singing and composing about. Even within the nebulous concept of “love” there exists an infinite number of relationships that can all fall under that umbrella…platonic, familial, even self-love.
In the 1950s, nothing was more desirable than finding a spouse, having children, and buying a house with a white picket fence. That was ostensibly the American lifestyle. Over time, it became the American Identity. For example, women who were perceived as being above the marriageable age were deemed “spinsters,” a pejorative term that implied a lack of fulfillment and deep failure in life.
There is little in this world that doesn’t change—with the exception of death and the passing of time, of course. But love transcends all of that; it persists despite and through time. ‘Till death do us part, so the saying goes. It’s also relatable and accessible. From Tchaikovsky to Frank Sinatra, the emotions they convey are simultaneously easy to understand and deeply nuanced.
So maybe it’s not simply that love is a low-hanging fruit, but it’s the timelessness of it. Love tells us that maybe everything changes, but also that maybe our hearts don’t have to. Yes, Romeo and Juliet had a great love. But is every love not great? Rich or poor, love is something everybody has the capacity to experience. It costs nothing and yet is of infinite value. Love is an essential cornerstone to the very identity of humanity. And in life, maybe that’s all that matters.
Hi Claire! I’ve never really thought about how much the music that we regularly listen to is centered around love, and now I almost can’t unsee it. I agree with your take that love is strongly tied to human identity, and that it’s something that everyone in this world is lucky enough to experience. I guess part of why love is so ingrained in everyday music is because it is one of those emotions that is harder to describe and put into words, and a song is the perfect medium to at least somewhat capture the passionate nature of it.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, I also think that it’s interesting that even though love is considered to be such a universal theme, it somehow manages to never feel repetitive in each song. Every song has its own distinct interpretation of it, and interpretations of the song might also depend on the personal experiences of the listener—that is, a love song might sound totally different to someone who is newly in love versus someone who is experiencing heartbreak.
Hi Claire!! Love songs are all around us, and I am reminded of their omnipotence every time I hear “love songs after dark on 96.5 KOIT!!” for the 185th time. But I hadn’t quite noticed how much of that love was specifically romantic love; there aren’t really any popular songs anymore about loving ice cream, or loving cats, or even loving oneself. Romance and romance music have essentially been integrated into the American identity with how prevalent it is in our society. I think it’s probably about time we broaden our focus around romance, not that romance is necessarily bad.
ReplyDeleteI was quite intrigued by your mention of Tchaikovsky--it’s so interesting to see how western Classical composers made romantic music without prominent vocals, or without vocals at all. It really highlights how, as you mentioned, love transcends the barriers of time between eras of human civilization. My personal favorite example is Liebestraum No. 3 by Franz Liszt (I’ve been learning it on and off on the piano; please go and give it a listen!). Its lack of any words make it fundamentally different from today’s love songs, but each one encapsulates such a specific feeling of romantic love that I think is, fittingly, beautiful.
By the way, I love those little grey blank-faced people doing the most random tasks (like offering a comically large heart) and I will be using them more often :>