In my health class, we were assigned an extra credit paper. We had to react to either a heartfelt love song, or a vulgar sex ballad. It was a song of our choice, to reflect our musical tastes. Upon first hearing of the assignment, I went straight to "I Want To Know Your Plans" by Say Anything. I felt as though it was too obviously a love song, so I went with something a bit more thought provoking and realistic- Bright Eyes' "Lua".
The song “Lua” by Bright Eyes is not at first considered a love song. The first time I heard it, I just thought that it was a depressing tune about being alone. However, the background story is more than a shallow, doofy song about falling for someone and life being perfect- the typical definition of a love song. It’s about a man and a woman who are not necessarily together, but have feelings for each other. Their relationship isn’t flawless, and their own personalities end up getting in the way. It’s not a fantasy- it’s real life, and shows the less glamourous side of love. At the end, it doesn’t work out at all. “What is simple in the moonlight by the morning never is” is his lament, expressing the fact that it didn’t end up being what he wanted it to be.
Upon reading the lyrics without the music playing, it sounds like just a spoken word poem. I absolutely love the message and what Conor Oberst is saying in the song. Simply reading it made me really take in the true emotion and realize that it’s a love song in the most pure form. It’s true emotion. In no way is it covered up or hidden or a façade;it’s entirely honest and true. So often to we as a society get caught up in hiding our real emotions and pretending everything’s alright. As a Prozac and Ritalin-addled civilization, we feel the need to become nearly robotic in our emotions. This is not the case with“Lua”’s lyrics, which is why I love it so much.
“And I know you have a heavy heart; I can feel it when we kiss. So many men stronger than me have thrown their backs out trying to lift it” is a really powerful lyric. This is really what love is. Knowing that another person needs you, and you need them, and you’d do anything for eachother. The simple fact that he cares enough to try shows that he truly loves her. It’s beautiful and is often looked over in modern day love ballads. It makes “Lua” beautifully unique.
I still enjoy this song very much after just reading the lyrics, and listening to it quite a few times. It’s one of my favourite songs of all time. The first time that I heard it was during avery rough point in my life, and I remember hearing it and crying. Oberst’s voice really helps convey the emotion, and the stripped down feel of the tune drives it home. The beautiful lyrics put with the acoustic guitar are perfect to get lost in. I don’t think there’s any way I could ever get sick of this song, or not consider it one of the greatest compositions of all time, lyrically and musically.
I don’t think that this song really affects society at all because it’s not nearly popular enough. The story, however, is relatable to a lot of modern-day situations. For example, the film (500) Days of Summer has a similar plot- the man and woman’s relationship simply doesn’t work. Both of them are too broken, one gets too attached, and it’s far too complicated to even try and work out. I think that this happens more often than not. So manytimes are things considerably worth trying, until it ends up that it was wrong all along.
Music affects our society in countless ways. Everything from background muzak in commercials to the radio to YouTube are heard by countless people. Even if someone isn’t passionate about or reliant on music, everyone has a specific genre, band, or song they love. There’s no way for someone to entirely hate or never listen to music. No matter what, music has an influence on every person. Be it a simple folk tune or heavy metal or rap, everyone has an opinion and love for it.