Yes indeedy - and a lot of the old classics, too, weren't models of healthy relating at all.
"I can see, no matter how near you'll be, you'll never be close to me... but I can dream, can't I " -- I Can Dream, Can't I -- covered by the Carpenters, but written in the '40s.
"Alone from night to night you'll find me, Too weak to break the chains that bind me, I need no shackles to remind me I'm just a prisoner of love... What's the good of my caring, if someone is sharing those arms with me? Although she has another I can't find another for I'm not free... She's in my dreams awake or sleeping, upon my knees to her I'm creeping, My very life is in her keeping, I'm just a prisoner of love." --Prisoner of Love, Frank Sinatra's first big hit!
And this classic sung by Billie Holiday:
"It cost me a lot, But there's one thing that I've got, It's my man -It's my man
Cold or wet, Tired, you bet, All of this I'll soon forget With my man
He's not much on looks, He's no hero out of books
But I love him Yes, I love him
Two or three girls Has he, That he likes as well as me
But I love him
I don't know why I should - He isn't true - He beats me, too - What can I do?
Oh, my man, I love him so, He'll never know
All my life is just despair, But I don't care
When he takes me in his arms, The world is bright
All right
What's the difference if I say I'll go away
When I know I'll come back On my knees someday
For whatever my man is - I'm his forevermore."
These aren't love songs, but an entire nation has grown up on them as though they were.
Let me see if I can find a love song.
Here's one, although it's a bit obsessive - but even real love is, at the start.
"Maria!
I've just met a girl named Maria
And suddenly that name
Will never be the same
To me.
Maria!
I've just kissed a girl named Maria
And suddenly I've found
How wonderful a sound
Can be!
Maria!
Say it loud and there's music playing,
Say it soft and it's almost like praying
Maria!
I'll never stop saying Maria!"
"Maria" from West Side Story - Music Bernstein, lyrics Sondheim.
Here's another one that's more of a genuine love song -- again, close to the brink, with the idea of deserting one's friends and using love as an 'escape' - but it captures the feeling that with your love at your side you can conquer the world. This is also a classic '40s ballad, recently 'covered' by Queen Latifah!
"I could show the world how to smile,
I could be happy all of the while,
I could turn the grey skies to blue,
if I had you;
I could leave the old days behind,
leave all my pals,
and never mind.
I could start my whole life anew,
if I had you.
I could climb a snow capped mountain,
sail the mighty ocean wide.
I could cross a burning desert,
if I had you by my side.
I could be a queen uncrowned,
humble and poor, or
Rich and renowned,
there is nothing I couldn't do,
if I had you."
"If I Had You" - from the '40s, again.
Here's my just about favorite: written in the '70s, but even it is sad - there's loss at the end, but it's the kind of loss that does come with genuine love.
"A Daisy A Day"
(As recorded by Jud Strunk)
JUD STRUNK
"He remembers the first time he met her
He remembers the first thing he said
He remembers the first time he held her
And the night that she came to his bed
He remembers her sweet way of sayin'
"Honey has something gone wrong?"
He remembers the fun and the teasin'
And the reason he wrote her this song.
I'll give you a daisy a day
Dear I'll give you a daisy a day
I'll love you until the rivers run still
And the four winds we know blow away.
They would walk down the street in the evenin'
And for years I would see them go by
And their love that was more than the clothes that they wore
Could be seen in the gleam of their eye
As a kid they would take me for candy
And I'd love to go taggin' along
We'd hold hands as we'd walk to the corner
And the old man would sing her his song.
I'll give you a daisy a day
Dear I'll give you a daisy a day
I'll love you until the rivers run still
And the four winds we know blow away.
Now he walks down the street in the evenin'
And he stops by the old candy store
And I somehow believe he's believin'
He's holdin' her hand like before
For he feels all her love walkin' with him
And he smiles at things she might say
Then the old man walks up to the hilltop
And gives her a daisy a day.
I'll give you a daisy a day
Dear I'll give you a daisy a day
I'll love you until the rivers run still
And the four winds we know blow away."
If most of the love songs on the radio were like this, I wonder what our society would look like now.
