Sunday, August 2, 2009

Love Songs

Contrary to popular notion, the best love songs are not made by crooners. They may have the melody, the voice, and the words to make your heart swoon and make you bawl buckets, but somehow, it feels contrived. The words are easily relatable, but still, there's something missing. And if you put in the fact that they make love songs for a living, it somehow diminishes their song's authenticity. Overall, it creates an impact of cheesiness, rather than the intended romantic effect.

"Cause I don't know where you are
and I don't know what to do
are you somewhere feeling lonely
or is there someone loving you..."

It just doesn't bode well on me. Even with the augmented impact of the melody, it still would not convince me of the longing and helplessness the singer wishes to evoke. Though some people would swear unflailing heart-felt audulation over pieces like these, all I can say is "Hello?!"

"Hey girl, I don't want you to cry no more inside
All the money in the world could ever add up to
all the love I have inside
I love you..."

It is a common flaw in love songs to affect the gut area: that, and nothing else. It appeals to emotion, and oftentimes with nary a thought or regard to other vital functions. What puts me off with this is it tends to demote the emotion concerned into nothing but primal instinct: nothing more or less than fear or hunger. If poets and artists regard love as the greatest and most dangerous emotion known to man, how dare the crooners allude to it with dumb disregard?

More than the words themselves, and their pull on the heartstrings, is it asking too much to expect intelligent lyrics on my love songs? Love is known to make fools of men, but it doesn't mean that songs about love should cater to mere troll-like intelligence. Any song that purports to be a love song with indescriminate spatterings of the word "love" is immediately suspect in my books. It suggests a lack of originality and hints at low vacubulary. The English language boasts of a hundred and one ways to describe food, surely, there are as much words that evoke something as wondrous and multi-faceted as one's affection towards another.

"To see you when I wake up
Is a gift I didn't think could be real
To know that you feel the same as I do
Is a three-fold utopian dream..."

The best love songs, for me, are not done by crooners nor boy bands. Surprisingly, the best songs that evoke love come from sources that make you want to headbang while listening. They may not have the vocal range to describe the physical manifestations of love: its high notes of ecstacy; its lingereing low notes of longing; the rolling hums of contentment; and its siren-wails and whistles of despair; but what they lack at vocal acrobatics, they more than make up for with sincerity. Love, as relayed to by these precious few, is unapologetic, complex, and most importantly, intelligent.

"...Who would have thought it would end up like this?
Where everything we talked about is gone
And the only chance we have of moving on
Is try to take it back before it all went wrong"

For Love, and by relation, love songs, to affect the heart is common: it is expected. The majesty of it all is when love affects not only the heart, but also the mind; when one is able to feel love in spite of one's self. Therein lies the magic; it is there where one will experience the true power of love.


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For EyviCat and Gentle, who celebrates their fourth anniversary this month, for making me believe that intelligent love songs can exist.

24 comments:

  1. Ayus! Im a long time fan of Incubus too! ;)

    The only two songs I like from THE SCRIPT, that one, "Before the Worst" and their first single "The man who cant be moved"

    Nice! :D

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  2. pero ako talaga,

    yung melody ang tinitignan ko

    hahaha


    basta catchy pasado saken

    bahala na kung ano lyrics hahahaha

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  3. @ Homer: Same here, Incubus fan! The Script's songs aren't very popular yet, but given their two single's appeal, I think we'd be hearing more of them in the near future. :-)


    @ JasonHamster: Una naman talaga yung melody. If the songs aren't good to listen to, their message looses the appeal.

    But even if the song is catchy and I find out that the lyrics are inutile, I loose interest in the song.

    I guess to each his own. hehe

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  4. Like JasonHamster, I have to like the melody first before I even notice the lyrics. Hehe. But yeah, there are some songs which have great melodies but really ridiculous lyrics that they lose their appeal altogether.

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  5. Crooners get into me with their voices. Nothing else. Minsan talaga mga crooners yung kumakanta ng mabababaw na love songs. Maybe they think the song being catchy is enough for them to sell records, which I think is their primary goal. It may be sickening for real artists, but I guess that's just how it goes.

    I like your post. I'll be following your blog from now on. =)

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  6. @ Angel: The melody is essential. If you cannot sing a song in your head, then the song just doesn't matter.


    @ Livingstain: Which songs, the fist two, or the last two? Hehe, peace!


    @ Vajarl: I, too, have been hoodwinked a dozen times into listening to their songs. I dropped them like a hot potato after I found out what they were singing about.

    Thanks, Vajarl, do follow! Unfortunately, I'm having problems going to livejournal as of the moment. Will try to get to your site again. :-)

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  7. I went crazy for Smokey Mountain's Kahit Habang Buhay back when I was still in school. I'd even watch their mall concerts. I was crashed when they disbanded. I wonder where they are now. God, I'm so cheesy. Ehehe.

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  8. @ Andy: Ryan Cayabyab did really well with Smokey Mountain. They had very meaningful songs, Paraiso being one of them. I'm not sure where all the members are now, but Geneva will always be Geneva. Jeffrey Hidalgo is in theater, I guess. As for the others, I don't know.

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  9. Oh, and I am an Incubus fan too. Not that much of a fan, but still.

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  10. @ Vajarl: Another Incubus fan! Apir! :-)


    @ Lady in Green: More good songs from Incubus and The Script. Limewire na! hehe

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  11. yup. melody muna ang pinapakinggan ko.

    next na lang yung lyrics.

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  12. @ Poot: Yeah, it is the melody that would hook you first. But the lyrics is important to maintain my love for a song. :-)

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  13. Did you watch them when they were here? I didn't have the money to. Too bad for me. =(

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  14. @ jccaduldulan / Vajarl: Nope, like you, I didn't have the money to watch them, which was too bad.

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  15. Pwede ba Nobody ng Wondergirls dito? LSS ko yun the whole day. haha! Lovesong naman yata yun. :)

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  16. @ Acrylique: Hindi ako sure, kasi wala pa akong nakikitang transalation ng Korean lyrics niya. :-)

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  17. ang dami kong gustong love songs mostly alternative. i love songs with great melodies. i'm not so particular with words. hindi kasi sharp memory ko. hehe! but i love songs written by damien rice. nakakarelate ako. ehem. :P

    ---
    […love is a form of enegy.] I’m liking it! Hehe! Indeed love, friendship is a form of enegy that becomes a source of strength to anyone who can harness it. I’m fortunate… and blessed.

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  18. hello

    heheh

    mag sspam sana ko sa pakontest ni mon
    kaso closed na ata votings.
    hehee

    Good Day

    ReplyDelete
  19. @ Lucas: My memory isn't that good as well, but I still like to understand the essence of the music I hear. The music becomes double important that way. I've heard of Damien Rice, but I haven't really stopped to hear what he's singing about.


    @ Jasonhamster: Salamat sa pagbisita. Yeah, tapos na nga yung pa-contest. Hintayan na kung sino ang mananalo. Good luck sa atin. :-)

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  20. @ --E: You're more than welcome. :-)

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  21. someone said that love is an energy...i say love really is an energy..it cant be destroyed, it only changes its form.

    @topic: i like snow patrol's the planets bend between us...im not really into songs that tickles the few neurons left within mo....ang paboritong kanta sakin parang pagkain.dapat tama sa panlasa..hindi maxadong macheese, hindi maxadong mapakla, hindi maxadong matamis, at hindi maxadong bitter..(nagutom tuloy ako...dinner muna.)

    ReplyDelete

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