My heart is flagellated by music- elevated, crushed, beheaded, bedazzled, illuminated, whatever- All. Listening to Journey's Faithfully in my car, wind in my hair, tears down my face, I stopped- what, what was this? These tears for a song, for thinking that I have less than, when in real life, the marriage Faithfully was crafted from ended in divorce in 1987.
Music is a fickle master, pulling your hair and hardening your nipples one minute, ( Def Tones, Digital Bath ) spiraling into teenage nostalgia the next, ( Guns and Roses, Sweet Child of Mine ) mourning for what is, ( Bruce Hornsby, The Way It Is ) what was, ( The Cure, Pictures of You ) what could be,
( 2Pac, Changes ) rejoicing for life itself, ( Irene Cara, What A Feeling ) --- ' all alone / i have cried / silent tears / full of pride / in a world / made of steel / made of stone / but i hear the music / close my eyes / feel the rhythm / wrap around / take ahold of my heart ' MUSIC.
So in the name of love, and women crying in cars everywhere, lets look at the true life story of love songs.
1. Maps, by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Karen O wrote this for her boyfriend, Angus O, who was so late- hours- to the filming of the
video that Karen despaired him to show up and was in a state of upset by the time he finally
arrived. They broke up. MAPS= Make Angus Please Stay
2. Love Will Tear Us Apart, by Joy Division
Ian Curtis wrote this famous ( to certain generations of my own and after ) song for his wife,
Deborah. And in the end, the song was right- The saying rests on his headstone in the U.K.
He killed himself at 24.
3. There She Goes, by Sixpence None The Richer
The song that sounds so innocent and so sweet ' there she goes / there she goes again / and i just can't
contain / the feelin that remains '- it's about heroin. Not love.
4. Ring of Fire, by Johnny Cash
She said/She said- Johnny Cash's second ( famous ) wife, June, claimed to have co-written
this song with Johnny Cash, about falling in love. Johnny's first wife, Vivian, claimed that June
had nothing to do with the song- that Johnny wrote it when he was high and drunk, and that instead
of being about love, it was about a certain private female part. Wow.
5. Silver Springs, by Fleetwood Mac
Oh Stevie, badass magic woman of our collective musical hearts. She wrote this song for Lindsay
Buckingham, and sings it to him on stage with fire in her voice and ferocity in her eye. The song
was supposed to be on the album Rumors, but was cut- without her knowledge- at the last minute,
crushing Nicks. She gives back tenfold.
6. Up To The Mountain, by Patty Griffin
Oh this song. One of my favorites, and not about devoted love of a personal kind, but more of all
humanity ( although honestly I can't hear it any other way ). The song was written about Martin
Luther King Jr. and his inspired, America changing speech on civil rights.
7. Against All Odds, by Phil Collins
" Do you like Phil Collins? "
" I've got two ears and a heart, don't I? " ( 30 Rock )
Phil Collins wrote this song for the soundtrack of the 1981 movie with the same name ( I remember
seeing this movie in the theatre as a kid- loved it ) about his wife who left him. ( Movie has Jeff
Bridges, sigh... ) It's one of my favorite songs, power ballad or otherwise.
8. Emptiness, by Rohan Rathore
A devastating love song by a young man madly in love with a girl who does not love him back.
The young man writes song for girl, releases it, and it goes viral. Yay! But the young man has
cancer, and dies just days after the release. Boo. Or not! It was a very successful marketing ploy!
9. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, by Roberta Flack
This hauntingly beautiful song was written by Ewan MacCol. He was a singer/songwriter and in
love with Peggy Seeger- who was married to someone else. They eventually married. I remember
being a little girl and hearing this song in the car and tears coming to my eyes.
10. Tunnel of Love, by Bruce Springsteen
This awesome song ( The Boss is one of my top ten artists ) was written by Springsteen after
the breakup of his marriage to then wife Julienne Phillips. ( Side note: I would watch Bruce
walk moodily by water in his leather jacket any day of the week. )
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