Saturday, April 17, 2010

Is Romantic Music Still Alive?

This morning as I was driving to McDonald’s for breakfast, I started fooling around with the radio dial, wondering if the airwaves might be by some miracle carrying an easy listening station or two since I am usually not in the mood for screech and yowl music too early in the day.

Imagine my surprise when I came across the voice of Frank Sinatra crooning something, That Old Black Magic or Jeepers Creepers. I don’t remember at the moment. As a general rule, Frank is not one of my preferred balladeers. About the only song of his that I like enough to tolerate more than once is Once Upon a Time.

But this morning he seemed to strike a chord with me—in a quirky sort of roundabout way. Let me explain. Last night I tuned in to Larry King’s show for the specific purpose of watching Willie Nelson. During one of the breaks, Willie’s version of Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain filled some air time. I immediately thought of another cut on the same album, Remember Me When the Candlelight is Gleaming. That was one of my mother’s favorite songs and she hummed it incessant.

Then at the program’s end, Larry and Willie launched into a croaking duet of Stardust. This made for quite a mix. When Willie reaches for a high note, the result can often be a little ear-burn on the part of a listener, especially if his voice is amped up a little. Larry, on the other hand, can out basso any bull frog I’ve ever heard. The result was actually quite pleasant.

So, here we have a guy, Larry, a New Yorker who as far as I know, isn’t a singer, paired with the original Texas Outlaw, Willie, crooning one of the most romantic songs ever. And they did justice to it in an oddly masculine, beer drinking, campfire hugging male bonding event that only men can appreciate. Men are romantic after all.

At any rate, within this tangled skein of blood and tissue we call brain, I began to wonder about romantic songs in the various musical genres. There are all kinds and sorts of music—Classical, Traditional, Popular, Blues, Country, Western, Heavy metal, Hip hop, Jazz, Reggae, Rock, and probably some I’ve never heard of. Can we find a romantic song in each of these? Which genre or genres is regarded as the most romantic?

I have my own ideas, but those ideas will spring from my cultural background and fail to include thoughts about genres I am vaguely familiar with. Probably the most obvious example from my perspective is Rap. I have little if any knowledge about this genre. On the other side, the proponents of Rap will undoubtedly identify one or perhaps many rap tunes as romantic and omit tunes from the generation of Frank Sinatra.

What are your ideas and thoughts on this subject? What is your favorite romantic genre? Yes, Valentine’s Day is past but romance is alive and well year round.

p.s. I am not of Frankie’s generation. I’m a little further into the 20th Century. From my point of view, Elvis is a better male singer of romantic ballads than anyone I’ve listened to. But for sheer hotness, you need to listen to Kiss of Fire by Georgia Gibbs. Are hotness and

Sunday, April 4, 2010

A Bad Year for Romance

This hasn't been a good year for thinking about romance. Since my wife passed away, the furthest thing from my mind has been romance. I joined a Facebook support group about widows and widowers, and I notices that a lot of people in the group seem to be looking for someone to fill the void of a spouse's death. I established a Facebook friendship with several members but not for the purpose of locating a mate. I just wanted to see how others cope with the death of a spouse.

Occasionally, as I drive around, I'll listen to an oldies station that plays predominantly romantic music of my and my wife's early years and marriage. And the songs remind me how much I love her and the movies we often went to, like Love is a Many Splendored Thing, but sometimes my thoughts of the two of us together would remind me that she is gone forever from my Earthly life.

It has been ten months now. In the beginning, I spent my time with my family elsewhere. That helped a little to keep my mind away from myself. Perhaps eventually I'll think about romance, but for now, it's the furthest thing from my mind.