Never Had It

I am currently sitting here listening to, yes you guessed it, love songs. But these love songs are rather different. These songs of love and heartache ring a different type of bell in. This bell is more cracked that the Liberty Bell in Philly. These songs speak of love and pain, feeling and emotion, regret and remorse, and the knowledge that not all things will go my way, but I will still give it a try.
I am talking about Jackie Wilson, Luis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cook, and whoever else you can name. Even Frank Sinatra is in on this love affair.
This is WELL before my time, I am fully aware of this fact, but they have awakened something in me that has seemingly been malnourished for quite some time until now. It is almost as if I am having flashbacks whenever one of those songs come on. I am not even sure if I am able to label them "old school music." It just brings a beautiful aura to my world.
My beef is that nothing like this exists in the music we listen to anymore. I feel sad because I love the music that I grew up listening to, all of the love songs from Tyrese and Tank, Mary J and Monica, Brandy and Blackstreet, BoysIIMen and R. Kelly. The list goes on and on, but they just don't touch that nerve that is being tapped on by Cab Calloway. Maybe it's a direct representation of the times. Back then the black society, yes this blog is centered on black music specifically, was channeled to just exist and not want more than to feel something. Love was the ultimate feeling, and who does not want to feel love?
However, as the black society gained gumption and the willingness to branch out and demand more, the music turned into political war cries, full of lists of demand and expectations.
Wow this sounds like I am complaining about the time change. Oh well take it as you will.
I just wish music today resembled how you feel, and how you WANT to feel, not what you want and how you are going to attain it.