Love Songs

"Why are there so many love songs?"

Thus queried my eldest. Her parental units responded, as I am sure you can guess, by singing a few spontaneous verses of "Silly Love Songs" - off key, sure, but at least we were loud. We even harmonized a little. "Your father shall be henceforth known as Sir Paul Daddy!" I proclaimed. "I don't want to be Linda in her current state, though", I added, much less ceremoniously and perhaps a bit unnecessarily.

There are so many love songs, of course, because artists are inspired by love. Looking for love, finding love, making love, losing love, mourning love - I don't have any facts in front of me to back it up, but I imagine that those topics comprise a pretty darn disproportionate number of all of the songs ever written. Throw in love of friends/family/pets, love of God, love of country, love of cheeseburgers/alcohol/drugs and love of motor vehicles and - well - I think you would be hard pressed to come up with a song that ISN'T about love in one way or another under those parameters.

Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs. And what's wrong with that?

Now I couldn't write a song to save my life (although I make a damn fine collaborator, if I say so m'self). My attempts at poetry would best be compared to the attempts of an average fourth grader (no offense intended towards any fourth graders who may be reading).

Sometimes I wish I could, though.

Wouldn't if be wonderful to have a song written just about you? (I have. It is.)

A couple years ago I wrote a blog post for my eldest, my Lea, on her birthday. When she told her friends this, some of them didn't know what a blog post was and her response was, "It's kind of like when normal people write you a song." Ok, I don't know what 'normal people' she'd been hanging out with (Sir Paul Daddy and I generally discourage too much association with the 'norms')- writing each other songs all willy nilly - but there you go.

If I COULD write her a song, though - oh, Lordy - it couldn't be confined to a song - it would have to be a rock opera in three acts. The first act would open with a gentle song about the sweet mother-love I felt for her before she was even born. This would lead into a rather interesting medley of silly play songs and sweet lullabies interspersed with regular segments of discordant collicky cries. There would be songs about pride and songs about disappointment. Mostly pride, though. Very heavy on the pride. There would be an emotionally heavy song about how fast she is growing up right before the end of the first act. The second act would open with a punk-rebellion anthem. The second act, come to think of it, would contain a lot of punk. And a little emo. But mostly punk. There will be dueling banshees. More pride. More disappointment. Mostly pride, though. Very heavy on the pride. Act three? The curtain hasn't risen on that act yet. Who knows what it will hold? I'd be willing to bet, though, that there will be a silly love song or two. There almost always is.

Sorry it's not really a song, Sweet Child O' Mine, but it's what I've got.


Happy birthday, Lea. I love you like music.

(Back to back birthday posts! I think I have that out of my system for a couple months... Oh! And I hope you click through on the links - and on some of the links within them - and let me know what you think. Lea's 13 y/o birthday post was much more poignant... and the 'damn fine collaboration' deserves a listen...)