Sunday, June 2, 2013

Music and Love

I, like most people, love music. I love the seemingly infinite combination of notes, the poetry of each lyric, the emotions that are emitted from the writer and performer to the listener. Music is one of those universal things that sees a 35 year old electrical engineer from Ukraine and a 20 year old business student from California rock the crowd on karaoke night to the Eagle's Desperado.

One of the best things about music is that the same song can mean something completely different to two different people. The songwriter could have written a track about the pain of breaking up with their girlfriend while their song could translate to someone else's experience of their mom leaving them when they were a kid.

Now I understand that the absolute, most universal theme in the entire world is love. And while I, like most people, love music, I, unlike most people, have never been in love. So one can understand my frustration when recently, it seems that I can't go a single song on the radio or on shuffle mode without hearing about someone's heart being broken, or someone finding the love of their life, or how much easier and better and more beautiful life is now that they're in love.

My gripe is this: why aren't there more songs about people who haven't found love yet? I can think of two off the top of my head: Queen's Somebody To Love and Michael Buble's I Just Haven't Met You Yet. After that, I got nothing.

I know I'm probably in the minority on this one--you know, being in my 20's and not knowing love--but to all of you aspiring songwriters and poets out there: think about how you would feel if you had never experienced love or heartbreak. Think about the ache you would have in the pit of your stomach whenever you hear about a friend's engagement. Think about the doubts you would feel about yourself when you know you are missing out on such a basic human experience. Think about the hopelessness you would feel after yet another unsuccessful first date. Think about how no other aspect of your life would be able to fill the void of having a partner to share those other aspects of life.

Think about all of that and tell me there's nothing worth putting to music.