This brief blog post is inspired by conversations over the past couple of weeks on love, what it is, what it means, why it happens and where it exists. It is a 'thinking out loud' post about what my 'love' of music, lyrics and song has taught me through the years.
In writing this, I reflect upon whether the 'love' in these words is really what I experience(d) and how these lyrics have influenced how I feel about love. Or maybe they have even limited how I see love or what I actually know love to be?
Here goes...in no particular order or with no meaningful pattern...
Love -
Is a beautiful thing (Al Green) Hurts (The Everly Brothers; Peter Polycarpou)
Is a many splendored thing (Matt Munro) Ain't gonna let you down (Jamie Cullum)
Is only a feeling (The Darkness) Is a losing game (Amy Whinehouse)
Takes time (Mariah Carey) Is all around (Wet Wet Wet)
Will find a way (Yes) Ain't for keeping (The Who)
Is a good thing (Sheryl Crow) Bites (Def Leppard)
Is a Bourgeois construct (Pet Shop Boys) Will set you free (Englebert Humperdink)
Is a loser (Erasure) Is like a butterfly (Dolly Parton)
Is blind (Alicia Keys) Never fails (Brandon Heath)
Is war (Hillsong United) Is the answer (Weezer)
Don't cost a thing (Jennifer Lopez) Is... (Rod Stewart)
Is a silent thief (Katie Melua) Will remember (Selena Gomez)
Is stronger than death (The The) Is noise (The Verve)
Changes everything (Andrew Lloyd Webber) Is a stranger (Eurythmics)
's in need of love today (Stevie Wonder) Is strange (Micky and Sylvia)
Will tear us apart (Joy Division) Makes the world go round (Santana)
Is lost (David Bowie) Kills (Freddie Mercury)
Is pain (Girls Aloud) Made me do it (Cheryl Cole)
Is all we have left (U2)
Despite all these words and all the meanings behind the songs, I still don't know that I really understand love, what it means or why we love who we love...perhaps it just is?
What I do know, or have begun to learn, is that love grows. It sometimes fails, occasionally gets lost and can feel overwhelming. It may break your heart but it equally can fill your heart with joy, make you believe in yourself and help you see light when there was only dark. Love listens, hears, sees, cares. It stays with you when you lose sight of it and it remains through the loudest noise, the biggest arguments and the hardest times.
It cries, it laughs, it jumps, it flies. It is calm and quiet yet loud and noisy. It feels like it exists in the space between people and connects you in a way that mostly feels impossible to describe. You don't always realise it is there...but you notice when it is gone or does not exist (even though this might take a while).
Not everyone has love in their lives...yet everyone needs it in some form. Love does not get used up - the more you show it, share it, speak about it...the more you find.
Or at least that is what I think I think. For now, it feels great to be able to say that I know I am loved and to have people around me to remind me of that when I forget or lose sight of it...
...oh, and I also have a puppy who is teaching me things about love that I never knew existed. Puppy love is very, very real.
Love Jane x
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