Grief and Music

Amongst my prayers recently has been one that probably sounds quite odd - thankfulness for the popular music writers, performers and producers who capture shared human experiences so accurately, and therefore allow us to process them more clearly.

Last week I popped the song "Believe" by Cher onto a mix CD without really thinking about it - I knew I liked the song but hadn't listened to it in ages and needed one more song for the CD, so on it went. To my complete astonishment, when I reached that song it fitted the end of my relationship with S perfectly. I've been listening to it frequently ever since. Read the lyrics, it's really quite remarkable:

No matter how hard I try
You keep pushing me aside
And I can't break through
There's no talking to you

So sad that you're leaving
Takes time to believe it
But after all is said and done
You're going to be the lonely one

[CHORUS:]
Do you believe in life after love
I can feel something inside me say
I really don't think you're strong enough

What am I supposed to do
Sit around and wait for you?
I can't do that
And there's no turning back

I need time to move on
I need love to feel strong
'Cause I've had time to think it through
And maybe I'm too good for you

[CHORUS]

But I know that I'll get through this
'Cause I know that I am strong
I don't need you anymore
Oh I don't need you anymore
I don't need you anymore
No I don't need you anymore

[CHORUS]

Now, I'm enough of a cynic to know that the reason why songs like this become so popular is that they are written to capture a particular set of emotions that are common to a lot of peoples' experience. But still, I think it's good when we're hurting to know that we're not alone, and pop culture, particularly music, can do that very well. So I'm grateful for it.