'I hope you dont mind, that i put down in words'
Thursday, August 03, 2006
♥ Thursday, August 03, 2006
Let's try talk songs today. Whatever songs come to mind, 'your song' (elton john) or 'my sacrifice' (Creed), lets see where our thoughts bring us.
Contemporary music has always a way of saying 'i'll do it my way' (frank sinatra), the reflection of the growing indivualistic person, "its my way or the high way." (limp bizkit), and that of society. But, as the saying goes, "music makes the people come together" (madonna), we are all able to identify with the lyrics, as if there's some universal truth it speaks about-'if you had, one shot, would you capture it? or let it slip?"(eminem) this is about ambition; 'all out of love' (air supply) is about what it says it is. Regardless, it is amazing that the world speaks a common language through music.
A common language? Lets not so much talk about "we are the world" (lionel richie and diana ross) or "heal the world"(michael jackson), lets talk instead about mambo. :) Now, i dont particularly enjoy this, but tt doesnt mean i dont have any thoughts on it. See, gg zouk yesterday, i realised many people dance to the same tune. Not just rythmically but religiously? People seem to have a common 'step' that they are inclined to follow, to groove to the beat, a 'know' to the melody.
Take the song 'tears in heaven' (eric clapton), or 'Dance with my father' (Luther Vandross), or "Love Me"(Colin Raye) for instance. What all 3 songs have in common is their identification with loss. Eric Clapton composed the song as a 'melodic' mourning to his son, who died in a plane crash; Luther Vandross's " never dream that he, would be gone from me." and " if you get there before i do, dont give up on me...till i see you again, i'll be loving you, love me." speaks to us and helps us verbalise our own feelings on loss, or the fear of it. There is a certain wonder to this language that people can speak and yet not talk about and know that we all kinda dance to the same tune in life.
'i write the songs that made the whole world sing, i write the songs in love of special things.." (barry manilow) gives us a pretty good idea, to the idea behind composing. To make the whole world sing? For love of special things? haha..if you know whats the phrase after, you'll see my point as less relevant, actually. Ok anyway, yes. I made my point earlier, with the whole world singing. Special things? Hmm lets see, love? "how do i live?' (trisha yearwood), 'i will always love you' (whitney houston) ? Other than love, it is really quite hard to find more things people find special other than maybe 'New york City' in Arthur's Theme (we're gonna get caught between the moon and new york city? i know its crazy, but true!) or hotels..(give u a tip, its by Eagles) or maybe the moonlight? ( next tip, its by Leann Rimes.)
I am telling you, there is a certain eternal value about songs. People just want to keep on singing, and when they are out of new songs, they go back to old ones. They term this 're-mix' Ask Michael Buble, he'll know.:) His only new song in the album is 'Home', other than that, well, not like we dont know ' sway' and 'save the last dance for me'. Lets not go into the eternal value of hymns- i believe its gonna be a universal mystery the way hymns resonate and riches with age. ( like wine) Let us go instead into movies. See, music makes up for where picture fails to convey. Can you actualyl imagine Beauty and the Beast without the song, 'Beauty and the Beast"? Or Land Before Time without "If we hold on together"? What is Ghost like without 'Unchained Melody"? Sounds pretty spooky to me. And speaking of spook, whats Casper like, without 'Remember me this way'; and Pocahontas if we took 'Colours of the wind' out? I believe i've made my point. But still to be sure, lets go on the naggy winding road, to futher punctuate it.
HAve you watched Phenomenon? Its an awesome, awesome movie starring John Travolta. Its basically John Travolta's character suddenly acqurin weird powers. And the town is ultra shakened up by it, even the girl he likes kinda ostracises him. But, he uses it to change lives, not in a miraculous way..but in subtle, convincing and touching ways. He gets this guy hooked up, he manages to win over the girl he loves..blah blah. How does the movie ends? With the song 'Change the world' by Eric Clapton. If you heard the song, you'll understand how it actualyl punctuates the theme for the movie; its about love, and its about how we can change the world with it. How moving.
Haha but, but there's something more to music nowadays, and trust me, it IS interesting. Its about angry women who decided to put a tune to bitching. Check out 'Complicated' by Avril Lavigne; have you heard 'Superwoman' by Karyn White or 'Because of you' by Kelly Clarkson? Its super hilarious. "Because of you i'll only play on the safe side so i don get hurt.." Its sad when you want to feel it la, but if you take the parody-mindset, its really quite funny. But ok, lets for a second, be serious. And hear a father's song to a daughter, the way he sees her life in a summary, how a certain event tells him which stage of life his daughter is at. What is that event? "the butterfly kisses, after bedtime prayer, sticking little white flowers all up in her hair.." (Bob carlisle). Tell me, is it even possible you don feel the wave of emotion that builds up? Especially when the song climaxes at ,' walk me down the aisle daddy, its just about time. Does my wedding gown look pretty daddy, daddy dont cry!"
This is a sensational world. Its all touchy feely; in fact, this should be called the New Romantic era. The last one was simply too arty farty that ppl this age could hardly come close to that kinda culture. But, BUT it doesnt mean we arent romantic, it just means we are on a different level of that romance. It doesnt mean we no longer like mozart, its just that we prefer Kci and Jojo; it doesnt mean we cant appreciate Beethoven and Bach, just that we are more inclined to Bee Gees and Beatles. Yes true, its in the past we find all the truths and depths about life and love, and its true that people in today's society 'dont know what its like, to love somebody..to love somebody" , but still, we choose what we want to enjoy, and i enjoy Celine Dion a hell lot more to Schubert.
And it doesnt mean we arent arty farty anymore. HOw about 'Paint my love' by Michael learns to rock? Its a picture of thousand sunsets, its a picture of a thousand doves..there is something! I guess we're just getting literal. And the answer to the human spirit? 'Hero' by Mariah Carey. The question of the young, the children and their relevance to our world? We have 'Youth of the Nation' By P.O.D, and if you have a prejudice for rock, Whitney Houston's "greatest love of all" will definitely pacify you. 'i believe the children are our future...show them all the beauty that they have inside."
If the world was a picture, songs would be its paint. And should there be any shadow of cynicism that plagues our age, we'd take up the sword of melody and the shield of harmony, and teach the world to sing. For in singing, we know that we no longer are separate but one. There's a world joint by the hands of songs, a life made warm by the hugs of tunes and that 'if we hold on together, we know our dreams will never die.."
