Welcome to Our House of Perpetual Distraction!  Clear a spot and have a seat...
House of Perpetual Distraction
  • Thoughts, Feelings, Impressions: Blog
  • Oh, The Stories I Could Tell...
  • Well, Since You Asked... About Me
  • Contact: Hi!
  • Yes, Tips are Accepted

Love, Words, and Music

7/19/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
If you can't tell already, I am in love with words.  I am also a secret romantic, with an unconditional love of the R & B ballads that I grew up with in the 70s and 80s that current radio refers to as Slow Jams.

On the outside I am very philosophical about love and relationships, but on the inside all I need to hear are the first strains of certain songs that bring me back to the romantic notions of my youth.  Back on Valentine's Day, I commented that I like to rock when I'm driving.  I didn't mean that to say that I don't like love songs.  I do, just not all of them.  There is something about the whispered promises of love and fervent declarations of devotion that move me when it concerns the music that played in my house during my younger years.

Not to be one of THOSE people, but a lot of today's love songs don't talk about love as much as they talk about sex, which is fine if that's what you're into, but it's not really for me.  I miss the sensuality of the suggestion, rather than the bold talk about the act itself.  My mother always taught us to "leave something to the imagination".  The sweet sounds of Ronald Isley's tenor, mixed with the vivid imagery of sailing away from daily cares and worries to "a paradise, out beyond the sea" propels "Voyage to Atlantis" by the Isley Brothers into a realm of romantic iconography very hard to reach by today's artists:
The demand for instant gratification that drives a lot of popular music is noticeably absent from Cameo's tale of longing and anticipation "Sparkle"
If you have ever felt insecure in a relationship, the opening assurances in Debarge's classic "Time Will Reveal" will soothe whatever doubts you have in the opening 30 seconds:
I used to wonder what drove me back to these particular songs for repeated listening.  Maybe it was the intensity of feeling that people are afraid to express for fear of not seeming aloof, which seems to be the prevailing sentiment today.  Not so in the early 80s, when the thought of potentially lost love drove someone to song to express it:
There was a time when artists were not afraid to show vulnerability in their lyrics.  They were unafraid to show fear, doubt, longing, love or any of a host of emotions with beautiful words meant to let the listener know that they, too, experienced the same situations and circumstances.  Artists related to the audience, and invited them to go down this road to love and romance with them.  Bravado and lust had their place, but it wasn't the default the way it is now.  Music is the ultimate relational tool, and even if you couldn't explain exactly how you felt, out there, somewhere, was a song that could help you express whatever was in your heart to someone who may not understand your own fumbling attempts.  Even I can't fully explain it.  

Then again, maybe I can just play you a song.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Erica Washington

    A dedicated stream of consciousness that sometimes runs off course...

    Archives

    October 2019
    August 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All
    420
    Art
    Autumn
    Birthday
    Black History
    Books
    Childhood
    Christianity
    Christmas
    Cooking
    Dreams
    Economy
    Education
    Exercise
    Faith
    Family
    Fear
    Film
    Fitness
    Food
    Goals
    Hiking
    Holiday
    Homeless
    Housing
    Humor
    Hymn
    Inner Thoughts
    Intelligence
    Judgement
    Los Angeles
    Love
    Money
    Movies
    Music
    Nature
    Nerd
    New Year
    Outdoors
    Peace
    Politics
    Pope Francis
    Presidents
    Quiet
    Relationships
    Religion
    Sex
    Siblings
    Single Parent
    Social Skills
    Spirituality
    Starting
    Technology
    Television
    Tween
    Urban
    Walking
    Women
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from photosteve101, David Paul Ohmer, torbakhopper HE DEAD, WeGotKidz, omahanik, jeFRE Gilyen, Bex.Walton, qthomasbower, dmott9, McD22