Yesterdays

Recently I was watching a TV show where the people were asked to figure out what a love song looks like to them. They all came up with songs that weren’t anything special, all written about happy love (y’know, the sappy Hollywood version of love). So I began to think about what songs I know that bring love to mind whenever I listen to them. After some thought, I landed on Yesterdays (believe it or not, I wasn’t just looking at Switchfoot songs, it just happened to come to this one). This may be an unlikely choice for a love song, but I feel it has more to say about love than say that silly song from the Parent Trap when they spell out l.o.v.e. and assign mildly appropriate words to each letter.

           

Ever heard that talk is cheap? Well it is. The problem is when you actually believe the words coming out of your mouth; it’s hard to show your feelings because you could easily just be flapping your gums. Ever hear someone say, “I love you” and think to yourself, based on the way they said it, “that sounds like a formality”. They may truly love the person, but they could just be throwing it out there in the same way you’re supposed to quickly respond with “no” when asked by a woman if something makes them look fat (regardless of how they actually look). Talk is so cheap in fact, I’ll bet that there are a number of love songs out there that were written based on a simple, shallow crush. I’ll go further and say that some popular songs out there were probably just formulated and not actually felt at all. So what the heck separates the heartfelt love songs from the fake ones!?

           

The reason I feel this song embodies a love song is because it’s sad, it’s a lamentation. It’s easy to sing about happy love but when something goes wrong, “if it doesn’t break your heart it isn’t love” (Yet by Switchfoot). Sure Nsync’s Tearin up my heart has the line “It’s tearin up my heart when I’m with you. And when we are apart I feel it too”, but seriously? If you’ve ever heard that song, you know that it’s not really different from their other poppy songs. I love Yesterdays because it actually makes me feel (that’s a feat). It’s so passionate and heart wrenching. It’s about death, yet the only feeling that I can pick up on is love. “Every lament is a love song” (Yesterdays).

If the words don’t do it for you, the music should. The bass and guitar(s) work together beautifully in the verses to create a feeling of sadness, of loneliness, of drifting through life in a big grey blur. And in the bridge, everything cries out (especially the vocals) with so much feeling that simply can’t be held back. While it’s sad, it’s simple, clear love.

Don’t get me wrong, love has plenty of ups. If it didn’t I’d question if it’s worth it to love at all. But in the midst of all the phony love songs out there, to me, this one shines through. What does a love song look like to you? Does it sounds like, “baby, baby, baby, oh”, or does it sounds like, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound”? Think about it.

Connect With The Spine

Considering this isn’t a song that will be heard by many more than Switchfoot fans, I’m going to link you to the song on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkazZXUptxU

This song is pretty short, with few lyrics. It’s also pretty musically simple in that there aren’t too many instruments being played and they pretty much stick with a simple melody the entire song. Though the shallow sound during the verses does a nice job of reflecting their message. All in all, the sound doesn’t fit into the typical Switchfoot mold; the lyrics, however, are a different story.

Celebrities live in a different world than we do. You might think it’s nice that they have loads of money, you may mock them constantly for something they’ve done that was plastered all over the news, or you might even idolize them because they’ve been in some sick action flicks. Whatever the case, they exist in a world where the majority of the public thinks of them (and probably would treat them, if ever an interaction occurred) as an object for their entertainment, pleasure, etc. They even end up dating each other quite a bit, probably because meeting people that treat you like a person is hard to do when you’re Tom Cruise or Jennifer Aniston.

Why the tangent you might ask? To that I would answer: 1) I’m not even sure it counts as a tangent if I never began describing what the song means, and 2) as it happens, that is what the song’s about. Not celebrities in particular, but rather not treating people as people. Often we treat people as objects. For example, I remember someone getting upset when they heard that Megan Fox wasn’t going to be in the 3^rd Transformers movie. Another example would be politicians, because a tiny percentage of the voting population will know the politician personally, their image has to be a friendly face with the look of trust. They very well may be trustworthy, but it doesn’t matter because we aren’t treating them as people, but as a nice smiling face that wants to make some changes. Granted, with the politics example, there are those who look at their policies and beliefs and such, but if their favorite politician were some bitter looking old man, do you think they would win too many elections?

Getting to the point, we sometimes treat people as a hot body or a friendly face. “I’m sick of the faces, the scene and the light / We’ll be fine when the faces connect with the spine”. Once we start seeing people as more than just a face or a body, and start seeing them as a whole person, fine doesn’t even describe how much better off we’d be.

I’m currently in the middle of reading a book for a professional development class I’m in called Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the box, and it’s essentially about treating people as people. The book describes how you can do anything while treating someone as a person or as an object, and the outcome of your action will greatly rely on how you were thinking of the person on the receiving end of this action. Think about a fight between a couple, if the guy says sorry in a manner that is overtly sarcastic or forced, all the girl will hear is “I’m upset with you”, and rightfully so. If the guy genuinely apologizes and there is a clear tone of regret in his voice, then it will be quite apparent to the girl that he actually is sorry. The book is well done and sends a good message. The biggest impression I’ve gotten from reading this book is “ ’…“Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no commandment greater than these.’ “. Yesterday, someone was pretty upset with her day. I was on my computer slacking off, when she got ready to leave I said, “see ya” without even glancing up at her. Realizing how impersonal that was, I then looked directly at her and asked, “Is there any way I can help?” with a happy face on, and she mirrored my expression with a clear display of appreciation. It was obvious how the second interaction went infinitely better than the first.

One of the things that bothered me about Christians when I first started to take my faith seriously was that I noticed how Christians are just like everyone else. C’mon now, I know enough scripture to understand that if we truly lived our lives as the bible teaches then we would stand out like the only thumb that isn’t sore. This is such a simple concept that many non-Christians could even tell you is from the bible. Love your neighbor as yourself. This doesn’t just mean with your actions, but with your interactions, in the way you care for how they’re doing or what they’re going through. “We’ll be fine when the faces connect with the spine”.

“Love is the revolution”