A Song For Every Feeling

I heard Gavin DeGraw's song "Not Over You" on the radio. Like always happens with songs, it's the music that hits me first. The banging piano pushes the beat forward. It gives energy. Gavin's voice is clear and adds a flowing melody. I can hear emotion in his voice and it adds humanity to it all.

Eventually, I pay attention to the lyrics. "If you ask me how I'm doing / I would say I'm doing just fine / I would lie and say that you're not on my mind / But I go out and I sit down at a table set for two / And finally I'm forced to face the truth / No matter what I say I'm not over you."

No wonder this song is so popular. How many people have been in this situation? It must be one of those universal truths, or something like that.

Randomly, Beyonce's song "Best Thing I Never Had" pops into my head. It strikes me that this song is the exact opposite of Gavin's. Beyonce "dodged a bullet" because her man "blew it". She could not be more enthused or excited to be out of her relationship.

This juxtaposition makes me wonder if stories (whether they be prose, poetry, lyrics, or other) really do hit on universal experiences, or if there are simply so many stories that every subject has been covered.

I can't think of any outcome of a break-up that doesn't have a song written about it. Really, every emotion from birth to death, love to hate, joy to sorrow, all have songs written about them. Sometimes I wonder if there really are universal truths, or if there is just a song for every feeling.