caffeinated thoughts

We are incredibly vague. We’ve lost our sense of self. (These statements being fairly ambiguous in and of themselves.)

I was thinking about music today (which I’m apt to do). Almost all of the music of our day is about romantic relationship of some kind, that four –letter word, the one that starts with “L”. Being lonely, wanting to be in love, being excited about how great love is (or at least how great a lover is), emoting post breakup.

Now there’s obviously more to life than romantic relationship (or as some have boiled it down to – the physical outer workings thereof). It’s just that few of the musicians of our day talk about these things. Of course some of these songs about dating or not dating people are really really good, and even insightful into the rest of what life is really about. Ryan Adams comes to mind. And of course there is music being made about other things that matter. U2 comes to mind. I’m making on-the-whole-generalizations for the sake of brevity.

When did love (or sex) become the only thing that sells, the only thing worth talking about, or dancing to? Actually maybe that’s why. Dancing. No one wants to dance to social justice, and dancing (and other types of self-satisfaction) seem to be job number one In this year’s world. If we don’t know who we are, why we’re here, who we’re supposed to become, and where we’re supposed to go pleasure is all that’s left, really. Making music about love, mostly the romantic kind, makes sense. People write music (and do other things) based on what they value, and people value feeling loved.

I heard another person say the other day that “learning to love back is the hardest part of being alive.” This is challenging to think about. So much of what I’m about is being loved. The truth is I already am loved- perfectly- by God. Son of the Father, sheep of the shepherd, bride of the bridegroom. It’s the loving back that’s the hardest part of being alive.

There is a new trend in music. Storytelling. Bands like Eisley, Midlake, and The Decemberists weave fantastical tales, the stuff of nostalgia or dreams. Through this lens of vagueness and loss of identity, this too seems like a natural progression. People don’t resonate (at least not forever) with vague generalities, this is why cheap pop doesn’t last. Telling tales is a way to say very specific things while not needing to have any story of merit in and of ones own self.

I love music. I listen to it a lot. There’s way more to enjoy than complain about. A lot of the music I listen to really does an amazing job of putting my unexplainable emotions into explainable words, and I need that. It’s just that I cannot help mourning what we so often boil life (and the art that reflects it) down to. There is more. I know this in my soul. I just wish we would talk about it, singing on occasion.

[UPDATE: upon reading this again, I wanted to clarify a bit. I think that bands like Eisley, Midlake, and The Decemberists do a great job at creating artistic distance. I think that to some degree they are sharing their own actual stories, just doing so through fictional means. I prefer this sort of thing to bland relationship speak anyday.]