…while listening to “Sailing” by Christopher Cross:
People aren’t falling in love like they used to. And it is due to lack of imagination. Popular music no longer expresses the simple atmospheric imagery and philosophical depth of a song like “Sailing” by Christopher Cross or countless others of that era. In the 70s and earlier it seemed the act of falling in love was a mystery, an adventure, a great exploration of your own soul and that of another. And music re-presented the psychological, spiritual and yes, physical spaces and places of that journey. Now it’s just a carnal, materialistic romp through our own selfish expectations. Where is the joy in that, the exquisite pain and redemption in that? Even the most obscure little ditty or one hit pop ballad wonder of yesterday by pretty much anyone who made any kind of music back then tops anything that passes for a “love song” in the pop world today. Do they even exist anymore? Is it any wonder, many of us can’t find someone to love deeply, completely, unconditionally. We can’t imagine love anymore. We can’t describe it. We’re lacking the metaphors, the vocabulary, the imagery, the poetic license. Too many of us have traded in molecular, soulular, DNA level spiritual connection for temporal, fleeting, empty material transactions. And we wonder why we can’t find someone to love. For the artists still trying to hold it down for the deep, messy, nasty, mystical, ethereal, surreal, or simply wonderful worlds of love between one another, Bilal, Jill Scott, Ledisi, Lalah Hathaway, and everyone else I’ve failed to mention (feel free to add them to the comment section), keep doing what you do. We need you. Love needs you.
“Love’s in need of love today” – Stevie Wonder, 1976