Passengers In Time

Have a listen to Secret Separation by The Fixx.  Actually, have a listen, because the video didn’t age well.

Imagine your soul mate, your one true love, your reason for being - and you must giver her/him up because you are both committed to someone else.  You must sacrifice your happiness, and with it your true love’s happiness.  Talk about sad songs!  Heartbreaking lyrics, and, given we’re talking 1984, the music fits them perfectly.

Close your eyes, though, or you might not take the song seriously.  The video producers didn’t seem to.

Shot Through the Heart

Back around Valentine’s day, Rolling Stone had a fun list called 20 Love Songs We Never Want to Hear Again.

Aptly described as cheddar bombs, it’s hard to dispute that most of these songs induce more groans than sweet whispers.

But it raises an interesting question:  how does a song go from “love it” to “hate it”? 

By getting overplayed?  As tastes change?  As good memories change to bad ones?

The passage of time and changes in personal relationships will definitely alter your view of a song, especially a love song.  But is there a single moment when you decide you no longer like a song, or is a gradual thing, with the song creeping imperceptibly towards Yuckville?

Actually, in the case of these songs, my dislike was more or less instantaneous; we all like the idea of a love song, but man is it hard to pull one off without coming across as cheap and manipulative.

But the question still stands:  how does a song lose its appeal?  What makes us cover our ears and run away when we used to smile and hum along?

I’ve always believed that great songs become timeless because they take on a life of their own, so maybe this list just represent songs that aren’t so great.  Maybe the songs that wear out just lacked substance to begin with.

Please Release Me

Rolling Stone published a fun list for Valentine’s Day entitled 20 Love Songs We Never Want to Hear Again.  Their intro nicely sums it up:  “Steer clear of these romantic cheddar bombs, all of which give love a bad name.”

Amen to that.

Just quickly scan the list.  You are going to moan, maybe grunt, possibly hold your breath like there was a bad smell in the room.

Scan it quickly or worse things could happen.

What Pilate Said

John Lennon famously said, " Say what you mean, make it rhyme, and give it a backbeat."

And I agree. I also agree in "three chords and the truth," wherever that quote came from.

But what is truth? And which truth? One single truth? Multiple truths hidden in multiple layers? A vague truth anyone can relate to? A personal truth? A universal truth? A cliche?

It's been said that great art makes you say, "ya, that's how I feel." Sometimes, say in a straightforward protest or love song, the point is obvious. Sometimes, though, not so much.

And maybe it's not clear to the songwriter either. I know when the words for one of my songs started coming to me, I thought it was about unrequited love. By the time I'd written it all down, I decided it was more about loss of faith. By the time I'd recorded it, I was wondering if it was some kind of commentary on the futility of hero worship.

The lyrics work on all three levels, but who knows what I meant? Not me.

Maybe that's a good thing, because it frees the listener to infer his/her own meaning, and make his/her own emotional connection to the song.

I know that some of the songs I have the strongest reactions to defy explanation. Lots of songs tighten my chest and open my tear ducts. Happy tears? Remorseful tears? Bitter tears? I never know. If you were to ask me why I'm reacting, all can explain is, "this song just gets to me."

So maybe truth isn't enough. Truth is meaningless without audience participation.