Love is considered one of the most powerful emotions. Because of this, there are certainly no shortages of love songs out there. But so many of our love songs are superficial, focused on the physical relationship rather than the deeper connection.
Of course, this connection is not instantaneous. Love comes and goes in waves or builds in stages, long before it can last the ages.
Without further adieu, the 5 stages of love, according to songs.
Love You Madly - Cake *
Love starts out hard and fast for many. Its more about the experience than the person. "Love You Madly" makes the list for this very reason. It's fast pace and bumping base line highlight the typical mentality behind our dating scene.
The lyrics are highly appropriate as well, of course. Quite literally, John McCrea sings "I don't want to wander/ if this is a blunder/ I don't want to worry whether/ we're going to stay together till we die". The dating scene is about getting out there, experiencing things, and staying unattached.
The chorus goes on saying "I want to love you madly" throughout the song. This is passionate love, not lasting love.
5 Years Time - Noah and the Whale
"Five Years Time" represents a mature, but still early perspective on love. Maybe it's the first girlfriend/boyfriend or first long-term relationship, but the love here shows more commitment.
The lyrics comprise of the inward daydreams of the boy-in-love narrator. Imagining walking around the zoo in five years time with his signifigant other, he sees them "laughing at all [her] silly little joke" and "laughing at how [they] used to smoke/ all those stupid little cigarettes and drink stupid wine/ because its what [they] needed to have a good time".
There is an obvious forthought regarding their relationship. At one point he imagines telling his S.O. that he no longer feels like he has to be James Dean, meaning he no longers has to pretend to be someone else, someone superficially better, with her. They can be themselves together.
Mine is Yours - Cold War Kids
Cold War Kids' "Mine Is Yours", which came out on the album of the same name, steps the meaning of love up a notch. It makes the leap towards marriage, or some form of long-term commitment.
Very literally, "Mine Is Yours" talks about the shared responsibility that comes with lasting love. The lyrics at one point say "all my stones become your pearls/ all my trials are your treasures/ all my debt you inherit". Everything shared in love is not always good, but by sharing them they are made better.
This is a meaningful relationship, a life long relationship. It is beautifully real, no longer superficial.
Casimier Pulaski Day - Sufjan Stevens
Love is vulnerability, and the stronger it is the more beautiful sorrow it can cause. When love is lost it is absolutely heartbreaking. In the later part of everyone's life, they will have to face the death of a loved one, be it family, friend, or signifigant other.
This song shows the grief in losing a loved one, in this particular case a wife or girlfiend, to cancer. It is immensely tender and sad, the lyrics are full of melancholly memories.
I urge you to listen carefully, meaningfully.
Letting Go - Ben Sollee
After a loved one is lost, we must ultimately learn to cope and let go. It is with love that we must let go. We honor them by doing so. Would they want to see you lose yourself to sorrow?
Carry on.
*I originally wanted to use Dance of Love by The Nylons for this stage of love, however a recording of it proved impossible to find. . . Love You Madly will have to do.