I’m going to go a little off topic today, and talk about a band (group?) called the Young at Heart Chorus. But let me start off by saying that I am a music lover. I grew up listening to my dad’s old jazz and blues records (a passion I still indulge), in between teenage bouts of good old rock and roll. I am familiar with a wide variety of music, ranging from the Left Bank Bearcats and John Lee Hooker to The Who, Ramones, and Van Halen. My tastes even run into this century with bands such as Nickleback and Linkinpark. So when I ran across a series of YouTube videos of a group of senior citizens singing songs from my youth, straight through to more modern selections from bands like Coldplay, I was intrigued.
I was not, however, prepared for the impact their music would have on me. To hear “I wanna be sedated” by the Ramons come out of the mouths of an old man in a wheelchair puts a whole new meaning on the lyrics, one that makes me want to run down to the nearest old age care home and make some new friends. My favorite, though is probably the short medly that I have embedded below, for the story of broken hearts it tells. Check out the video, and I’ll continue my commentary afterwards…
Most of the time, we think about the guy who plays the field, leaving a string of broken hearts behind him, and feel for those poor women who were nothing more than his “flavor of the week”. While this is a very valid consideration, the end of the video reminds me that the guy is inflicting as much pain onto himself as he is to the women he “loved”. Setting aside concerns about AIDS and other STD’s, unwanted pregnancies, and all the other ills that come with promiscuity, there is a very real, and immediate impact on the promiscuous man (or woman): unremitting loneliness.
All the transient “love” (read: one night stands, or short term relationships), will not, cannot fill our basic human need for companionship. The Young at Heart Chorus, by singing the songs they do, add a new power and a new message to the music that shaped a generation, and continues to shape that generation as it grows older, and grows up.