Songs that might reflect a deeper sort of love, pt. 1
I wasn’t sure how to introduce this post properly, so at first, I just tried to write a poem about it.
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Love could be Saccharine Jealous, flaming red, Leaving you with dizzy dreams And groans upon your bed Exploding all your guts in joy Or freezing you in dread - But you could reach out to another And fall into yourself instead, Having not in mind her safety, His dark fears, or her great pains, Forgetting all their beauty And sending out the spears of blame. Could there be a surer way? Love can seem An electric dream, But sometimes it could be As small and steady as the rain Dappling bare feet - Or large and close as a warm hillside Or a deep, determined tree; It can look like worried eyes, Or putting pride to sleep. It’s a placid pool; there’s a danger of Just seeing your own face; But once you’ve dared to truly care, You’re in a hushed and steadier place.
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And then I realized that I'm not sure it expresses all I was hoping to say - something about how emphasizing the emotional highs and lows of love (the way we do in modern music) makes songs more self-centered, and the value to be found in steady, toilsome love that looks at the other person and their needs, not at personal fulfillment, and how this love is both truer and more comforting. I hope you will let me know if the poem expressed that.
For now, let’s move onto to the main substance of this post: a short list of songs I’ve found that explore love in this calmer, truer fashion, both romantic and not. These are songs that, listened to on a dim summer evening in my room, often evoke some kind of clinging pain that’s in the middle of longing and concern, mainly directed towards my friends. At the center of all types of love, I believe, not just romantic, is a emotion containing care, concern and wonder, and a desire not just for that person to be yours, but for them to be well. This emotion as a whole is lacking on most songs on the radio today, but I think I’ve found some strewn around in various places, so I want to share them with you.
I’ll try to explain at times how the music, as well as the lyrics, gives the songs their effect, but I may run out of words to fully express it, so you’ll have to listen for yourself to really know what I mean. It seems a lot of my thoughts on this topic come down to not knowing what exactly to say, or how.
This post is also be divided in half, so expect a part two hopefully coming soon.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4YfPYDQidHk6-IavO3mceMtuQ5JDFgSL Here are all the songs I will be talking about in this post!
Dusk by Alice Phoebe Lou
This is a delectable wisp of a song which, despite being romantic in its presentation, resonates with me just thinking about my friends whom I care for (and worry about). Using vocals processed to sound like forms cloaked in shadow, the singer begins
Oh she told me She gets lonely When the sky changes from day to night That’s when her demons come, say “Hey” Dusk is always harder for my baby.
Then the singer explains her answer:
So I told her Not to be afraid That I’d think of her at that time of day
Then uses these thoughts as an excuse to reflect on her subject’s beauty:
So I think about when her eyes light up The world, the whole wide world And the world don’t matter When we’re looking at each other Oh, she’s got this way of making you feel like You’ve lived a thousand times and never gonna die And she smiles illuminated by the strobe light She smiles and everything will be alright
The singer’s love fluctuates between reflecting on the relationship they share and the unique beauty of her subject. The little details of the sky and the strobe light settles the scene so it doesn’t seem like our characters are just floating in a vacuum. This song captures a few fond phrases of affection, as light and lilting as dusk breezes, and makes them even more musically appealing with the syncopated keyboard, piano ornamentations, and clarinets.
Smithereens by Twenty One Pilots
This is a love song that TOP’s lead singer, Tyler Joseph, wrote for his wife Jenna. The lyrics are straightforward, with not too much to analyze: they express the singer’s willingness to step outside of his own introverted boundaries and give himself, his own body, completely for the sake of his love.
You know I've always been collected, calm and chill And you know I never look for conflict for the thrill But if I'm feeling Someone stepping towards you, can't describe Just what I'm feeling For you, I'd go Step to a dude much bigger than me For you, I know I would get messed up, weigh 153 For you I would get beat to smithereens
The instrumental melodies float around contentedly like butterflies in a Disney movie, the gentle percussion holds the song steady and the bridge rings with boyish determination as he repeats, breaking the fourth wall a bit:
You know I had to do one You know I had to do one You know I had to do one on the record (For you) You know I had to do one on the record for her like this
The Graduate by The Arcadian Wild
This is a bluegrass-reminiscent song about growing up. It is not so much about the love of a specific relationship, but is about the love and empathy of a community.
At the beginning, the graduate - some youth entering adulthood - is simply being observed. The graduate is disillusioned from the grand dreams of the future he or she had when young. Suddenly trying to make their own way in the world, they discover their limitations, both within their heart and body.
When you were younger you dreamed of being tall But you discovered growing up just leaves you feeling small While you were sleeping everything changed at once You woke in the morning, stepped into the stinging light of dawn You are wandering through the wild You are wondering if and when you’ll reach the other side Weighed down by a heart of stone Bound to a body of broken bones Fragile and feeling alone But the whole story hasn’t been told When you were younger you saw all the world was yours But you don’t have the same eyes and you cannot believe that anymore You studied the pieces scattered around the room Failing is fruitful, so long as we do not forget to move
Hope comes when the “you” turns to “we”:
We are wandering through the wild We are wondering if and when we’ll reach the other side Weighed down by our hearts of stone Bound to these bodies of broken bones We carry such similar loads Turns out we are not alone We could cling to comfort, content to run in place, frozen ‘cause we fear the cost But how could we expect to find where we ought to go, unless we get a little lost? We are wandering through the wild We are wondering when, not if, we’ll reach the other side We share a heart of gold We are a body of broken bones When were we ever alone? Together we’ll make our way home
The singers could be fellow graduates, or the graduate’s elders, who have experienced their own fears navigating life and are still learning as their life goes on. Either way, the lonely individuals have become one body finding their way together, comforting one another in hope.
My Blood by Twenty One Pilots
It’s easy to sing softly and warmly about forever being by your loved one’s side, but it’s a stronger and more desperate love that cries out in the midst of danger for the beloved to stay.
It starts slow with ominous percussion and then gains light and momentum with synths that feel like they rub up against the fibers of my organs. Bass as determined as the singer keeps the song afloat. The lyrics, again, are pretty simple, but they’re made meaningful by the song’s sound and even the context of the album, Trench - an album which talks about darkness, death, doubt, and seeking escape.
In this album I imagine that the two characters - likely brothers, as suggested by the music video - have already entered into darkness and conflict together and one calls out to the other, begging him not to leave, and also assuring him of his relentless loyalty.
When everyone you thought you knew Deserts your fight, I'll go with you You're facin' down a dark hall I'll grab my light And go with you, I'll go with you ... Surrounded and up against a wall I'll shred 'em all and go with you When choices end, you must defend I'll grab my bat And go with you, I'll go with you … Stay with me, my blood, you don't need to run Stay with me, no, you don't need to run Stay with me, my blood, you don't need to run If there comes a day People posted up at the end of your driveway They're callin' for your head and they're callin' for your name I'll bomb down on 'em, I'm comin' through Did they know I was grown with you? If they're here to smoke, know I'll go with you Just keep it outside, keep it outside, yeah Stay with me, no, you don't need to run … (Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh) You don't need to run … If you find yourself in a lion's den I'll jump right in and pull my pin And go with you, I'll go with you … My blood, I'll go with you, yeah Stay with me, no, you don't need to run Stay with me, my blood, you don't need to run … Stay with me, no, you don't need to run Stay with me, my blood
Seven by Taylor Swift
Before anything else I have to talk about the beautiful instrumentals of this song. In this song everything is rippling in and out of dark and light - the pillowy piano, the rollicking guitar, the background synths. Strings ground it and give it a classic feel, harmonies shimmer underneath the melody, glimpsed like stones under water. The vocals draw out hypnotically and transition with traditional Taylor-esque grace to pull us into the dizzy dreaminess of childhood.
What all this does is set the stage for a plaintive love song for a childhood friend, and more broadly, the freedom of youth itself. The singer’s perspective changes from thinking of the past to reliving it by addressing her friend in the present tense. This expresses her enduring love for her friend bound up with her longing for the past.
She begins by remembering airy heights on a swing:
Please picture me in the trees I hit my peak at seven Feet in the swing over the creek I was too scared to jump in But I, I was high in the sky With Pennsylvania under me Are there still beautiful things?
Then she reflects on her childhood friend, who enters the song so naturally that her presence is seamlessly woven with the singer’s general nostalgia:
Sweet tea in the summer Cross your heart, won't tell no other And though I can't recall your face I still got love for you Your braids like a pattern Love you to the Moon and to Saturn Passed down like folk songs The love lasts so long
A little darkness enters the song when the singer, as a child, reflects on her friend’s family troubles, but innocently tries to resolve them with imaginary solutions.
And I've been meaning to tell you I think your house is haunted Your dad is always mad and that must be why And I think you should come live with me And we can be pirates Then you won't have to cry Or hide in the closet And just like a folk song Our love will be passed on
Looking back now, this must be still painful for the singer to process (and this makes sense given that many of Taylor’s other songs are about problematic men). At the same time she wishes for the days she could do as she liked and be untroubled. Ultimately, in a confusion across time and space, she wishes that her friend could join her and they could be free together, laughing and screaming and telling secrets once more.
Please picture me in the weeds Before I learned civility I used to scream ferociously Any time I wanted I, I … Pack your dolls and a sweater We'll move to India forever Passed down like folk songs Our love lasts so long
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More songs to come!