Tonight, Part 2

“Now therefore, while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,

And while thy willing soul transpires

At every pore with instant fires,

Now let us sport us while we may,

And now, like amorous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour

Than languish in his slow-chapped power.”

“To His Coy Mistress” – poem by Andrew Marvell, 1681

tonight (n): the present or coming night

Okay, so a quick review of the last post (the teacher in me cannot be suppressed…review is necessary!) before we move on to this new one.  So far, tonight has been split into two categories:  tonight as possibility and tonight as an end unto itself.  Both views of tonight are motivated by fear of what might happen tomorrow and, therefore, those who see tonight this way are banking on the fact that the benefits of tonight will provide something solid that will help to quell their fear.

Got it?  Good.  J  Then we move on.

#3 – Tonight as contradiction

This is the category that I went back and forth on in terms of how to label it.  I’m still not sure “contradiction” is the right name, so if you think of a better one while reading the lyrics and explanations I provide, please leave a comment with your idea.  Part of my dilemma stemmed from the fact that some of the contradictory lyrical ideas in these songs lead the singers into category #2 (tonight as an end in and of itself).  I believe categories #2 and #3 go hand-in-hand because contradictions tend to lead to quick solutions.  We are rational human beings and people (often?  usually?) know when they are being inconsistent.  Once we become aware of that contradiction we either (A) want to avert attention away from it as soon as possible or (B) want to use that contradiction to achieve a desired outcome.  In the case of tonight, I think (B) is the more popular choice.  Take a look at what I mean.

“We’ve Got Tonight” by Bob Seger

I actually laughed out loud while I was reading these lyrics (despite the fact that they are pretty pathetic-sounding) because of the blatant flaw in the singer’s argument to his lady friend:

“Deep in my soul, I’ve been so lonely / All of my hopes fading away / I’ve longed for love, like everyone else does / I know I’ll keep searching, even after today / So there it is, girl, I’ve said it all now / And here we are, babe, what do you say? / We’ve got tonight, who needs tomorrow? / We’ve got tonight, babe, / Why don’t you stay?”

First, the singer claims, “I know I’ll keep searching [for love], even after today.”  Then he asks, “We’ve got tonight, who needs tomorrow?”  Um…hate to break it to you, dude, but as a matter of fact YOU need tomorrow.  You’ve just shared that you’re going to keep looking for love “after today”!  But, the contradiction is necessary in order to get what he wants right now – the girl to stay.  His desire is to push the loneliness aside for a night so he can pretend to forget about it, and if he has to be illogical to get that, by golly, he’s going to be.  This is where category #3 meshes with category #2.  In order to create the pathway to treating tonight as an end in and of itself, the singer presents a contradiction about tonight that helps pave the way.

Just as a side note, I don’t know about you ladies out there, but if I was hearing this presentation about why I should stay, the most offensive part would probably be the fact that this guy is basically saying, “Well, you seem great and all, so you can help me with my loneliness problem tonight, but clearly you aren’t future love material, so I’m going to keep searching after our adult sleepover.  Thanks!”  Nothing like a boost of confidence to make you want to stay the night.

“Will You Love Me Tomorrow” by The Shirelles

I am glad that I was able to find a song from a little while back to draw into this conversation.  This song by The Shirelles presents a similar contradiction that Bob Seger’s song does, but I think it’s a little sneakier.  Here’s what the ladies have to say:

“Tonight you’re mine completely / You give your love so sweetly / Tonight the light of love is in your eyes / But will you love me tomorrow? / … / I’d like to know that your love / Is love I can be sure of / So tell me now, and I won’t ask again / Will you still love me tomorrow?”

I think that in the first part of the lyrics, the question makes the singer seem unsure of the situation (and herself in the situation), so the question makes her appear to be cautious and smart.  She seems to realize that in “tonight land” love is easy to give.  However, as the song continues, it turns out she is asking the question for the same reason Bob Seger was: she wants to be able to justify later what it is she wants to do now.  If she isn’t sure her man will love her tomorrow, maybe she should think twice about what she’s doing now.  I give the lady some credit for even thinking about tomorrow, but she wants an answer about tomorrow right now so that what’s happening right now can continue.  Tonight is still the ultimate goal.

#4 – Tonight as respite and strength for what’s coming tomorrow.

This was the category that surprised me.  I didn’t go into this expecting to find songs with a positive view of tonight, but it happened anyways.  I suppose I really shouldn’t be surprised since not everyone is obsessed with the right-now-in-the-moment lifestyle.  And therefore it’s possible to find healthy views of life in songs, as I did with these two.  In both cases, tonight is presented as a sort of hideaway.  It’s that place that we can always go when things are bad to be rejuvenated.  This makes a ton of sense since night time is when we sleep (usually), and sleep is such a renewing activity for human beings.  These singers see the positive function of night time, too.

“The Way You Look Tonight” by Frank Sinatra (and about a bajillion other great singers)

I’ve always wanted to dance to this song at my wedding.  It’s such a beautiful commentary on how a moment can last for much longer than a moment.  Furthermore, it is one of the first songs I found that suggests tonight has a function beyond just pleasure or killing loneliness:

“Someday when I’m awfully low / When the world is cold / I will feel a glow just thinking of you / And the way you look tonight.”

So many other artists seem to want to bask in the quick solution that tonight can provide.  They encourage listeners to snatch the moment and enjoy it while it lasts, but they forget to consider the fact that life goes on after tonight.  Even the singers who do recognize that tomorrow will eventually arrive seem to deal with it in unrealistic ways.  West Side Story suggests that tonight’s love can change tomorrow into a “star” of a world and that the “just an address” world of today will be gone.  Bob Seger doesn’t even really want to acknowledge tomorrow – he pretends like it’s not necessary!  The Shirelles use tomorrow as a tool to get what they want tonight and avoid really considering what tomorrow might bring if tonight happens the way they want it to.

For the singer of “The Way You Look Tonight”, it’s about embracing a moment while recognizing that he cannot live in it.  He knows life goes on – and it’s going to be hard – but tonight helps.  Tonight is worth enjoying even if it is a moment that will pass.  The awareness of that fact is part of what gives this song a healthier view of tonight.

“Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” by Elton John

One of my favorite things about music is the marriage of words and sounds.  A songwriter can take the most calming and serene words in the world and completely change their meaning by introducing high-energy music to go along with them.  This Elton John song, however, creates a whole picture of peace with words and music.  If you’ve never heard this song (because you live in a box), check it out.  I think you’ll see what I mean.  For now, here are the important lyrics:

“There’s a calm surrender to the rush of day / When the heat of the rolling wind can be turned away / An enchanted moment and it sees me through / It’s enough for this restless warrior just to be with you / And can you feel the love tonight / It is where we are / It’s enough for this wide-eyed wanderer that we’ve got this far / … / There’s a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors / When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours.”

Much like “The Way You Look Tonight”, the singer here sees tonight as an escape.  Unlike the previous singer, who is seeing tonight for its future escapism, this singer sees tonight as a way to escape the day that has just occurred.  Tonight is a respite from the “heat of the rolling wind” and the “rush of day.”  This is the first song I have examined that really sees tonight as a small part of a big today.  So many other singers have seen tonight as the biggest, most important part of a day.  Here, there is an acknowledgement that tonight is part of it, but not all of it.  Furthermore, what happens tonight helps to make sense of the bigger world (“There’s a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors / When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours”).  I appreciate that this song recognizes there is a bigger world and that tomorrow is coming.  Tonight gives this singer strength for tomorrow because tonight is not the end – it’s simply the end before the start.

So, you may be asking yourself, “What about the Fun song?  That’s how this whole post started.”  I’ve thought a lot about “We Are Young” and where it might fit in.  The problem I’ve encountered with this song (besides the disgusting number of times it is still being played) is that the song can’t make up its mind.  Let’s pick this last set of lyrics apart.

Exhibit A:

“Give me a second I / I need to get my story straight / My friends are in the bathroom / Getting higher than the Empire State/ My lover she’s waiting for me / Just across the bar / My seat’s been taken by some sunglasses / Asking ‘bout a scar / And I know I gave it to you months ago / I know you’re trying to forget / But between the drinks and subtle things / The holes in my apologies / You know I’m trying hard to take it back / So if by the time the bar closes / And you feel like falling down / I’ll carry you home / Tonight / We are young / So let’s set this world on fire / We can burn brighter than the sun.”

Here, we have two types of “tonight as possibility”, a smaller version and a more grandiose version: (1) perhaps his offer to carry her home when she feels like falling down will do something to fix their relationship or (2) because we’re young, we have the ability to change the world (at least that’s what it sounds like…).  So far, not so bad.  In fact, for the 2.2 seconds I liked this song, I totally appreciated the "set the world on fire" concept.

We continue…

Exhibit B:

“Now I know that I’m not / All that you got / I guess that I / I just thought maybe we could find new ways to fall apart / But our friends are back / So let’s raise a cup / Cause I found someone to carry me home / Tonight / We are young / So let’s set the world on fire / We can burn brighter than the sun.”

Here come the problems.  All of a sudden, tonight is “a contradiction” and it’s also “an end in and of itself.”  The previous set of lyrics suggested that one of the benefits of tonight would be that it might fix the future of this couple's relationship (no matter how unrealistic that might be).  Except now he’s saying that they could find “new ways to fall apart.”  Oh, and now wait…the friends are back!  So forget all the stuff he just said about apologizing and fixing things because he really just wants to drink.  And in the midst of all of that, apparently he’s found someone to carry HIM home.  What happened to carrying your lady friend home?  And is it your lady friend carrying you home or someone we haven't met yet?

(Don’t forget that somehow the possibility still stands that they will set the world on fire simply because they are young.)

It gets worse…

Exhibit C:

“The world is on my side / I have no reason to run / So will someone come and carry me home tonight / The angels never arrived / But I can hear the choir / So will someone come and carry me home / Tonight we are young / So let’s set the world on fire / We can burn brighter than the sun / So if by the time the bar closes and you feel like falling down / I’ll carry you home tonight.”

More of “tonight as an end in itself”, more phony “possibility”, and even more “contradiction.”  This is what I mean about the song not being able to make up its mind.  I know that many songs could be placed into multiple categories, but I think that this particular song’s schizophrenia is a current reflection of the average person’s attitude toward the “tonight” of life.  My guess is that most people see tonight a variety of different ways depending on how it benefits them the most.

I really think people want to believe that what happens tonight will help them “set the world on fire,” and the possibility of that sounds wonderful.  (And that imagery can mean many things to many people.)  But when you actually read the lyrics, this singer isn’t setting the world on fire because he is young enough to make positive change in the world.  He’s setting it on fire so that he and his friends can be seen more clearly (“We can burn brighter than the sun”).  It’s a scorched earth policy when you look at it that way.  It’s pure selfishness.

Here’s what I want to know.  How many people are embracing what tonight has to offer because they believe that tonight will help them to ignite something warm, bright, and powerful in their lives without realizing that keeping that fire going takes work, sacrifice, and fuel?  And how many other people are getting a fire going for a night but letting it die out by the time morning rolls around?  These are the questions that “We Are Young” leaves knocking around my brain (which might, in fact, suggest that I’m not very young...ha!).  I can't really say that I know the answer to those questions, either.  It's just something to think about, I suppose.

You can see up above that I included the definition of “tonight.”  What struck me most about this dictionary entry was that tonight can only be defined in terms of today.  There is no tomorrow in the definition of tonight.  However, that doesn’t mean that tomorrow doesn’t exist.  It’s still there…waiting to arrive.  And while it’s a separate entity from “tonight”, it cannot be ignored.  So, in the end, while we can always find benefits in living a "Carpe Diem" sort of lifestyle, it's pretty short-sighted.  Much like I said in the last post, living only for tonight makes us unable to see the wonderful possibilities that tomorrow might bring.  I believe we have to find the middle ground between embracing the now in case we don't get tomorrow and expecting that tomorrow will always bring better things that what we see now.

For me, tomorrow will bring a new topic!  I've had a request from my friend Noah to discuss traffic.  He and I have already hashed it out a bit, and I'm excited about it.

Until then!

Tonight, Part 1

“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today,

Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,

The higher he’s a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run,

And nearer he’s to setting.”

“To the Virgins to Make Much of Time” -- poem by Robert Herrick, 1599

“Tonight, we are young.”

“We Are Young” -- song by Fun, 2011

One of the things I always loved (and now miss) about being a high school English teacher was having the daily opportunity to show high schoolers that no matter what weird order the words are in or what ancient type of vocabulary is being used, the messages in literature have remained (largely) the same throughout time.  Another lesson that I emphasized in my classroom was that literature is all around us.  Sure, it’s usually found in books, poems, short stories, and essays; however, it can also be found in music.  Music was often a central part of my lesson plans, and I still find myself listening to songs muttering, “How can I apply that?”  (Just as an example, I once used a 50 Cent song to help teach the pastoral poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”.  J)

So, after hearing the song “We Are Young” by Fun adnauseam on just about every genre of radio station here in the Metro Detroit area, I started to think about the concept of “tonight”.  Fun says that word a whole lot of times in their song, but I learned a long time ago that just because someone says something a few times doesn’t mean they always know what it means.  I looked up the lyrics, and then started to think about other songs that use the word “tonight”.

Here are the song lyrics I read for this series of posts (besides the Fun lyrics):

“Give Me Everything” by Pitbull

“Tonight” from West Side Story

“Tonight, Tonight” by The Smashing Pumpkins

“We’ve Got Tonight” by Bob Seger

“Can You Feel the Love Tonight” by Elton John

“Will You Love Me Tomorrow” by The Shirelles

“Take Me Home Tonight” by Eddie Money

“The Way You Look Tonight” by Frank Sinatra

(F.Y.I…I’ll not be including the lyrics in their entirety during my discussion, so if you’d like to see the full lyrics, just click on each song name.  If you’d like to see the video, click on the artist’s name.) (F.Y.I. #2...the Elton John video is so cheesy that it's fantastic.  And The Shirelles video is a live performance from 1964!  Check it out!)

After reading all these songs and mulling over it for a bit, I decided that the idea of "tonight" is presented in four different ways.  I’ll deal with two in this post and two in the next.  Let’s go!

#1 – Tonight as possibility.

To me, this is the romantic version of “tonight.”  Possibility is a cloudy concept, and that leaves room for the anticipation of what’s to come.  The night is full of questions – What’s going to happen?  Where will I go?  Who will I meet? – and, as such, it’s a time of day that’s riddled with uncertainty.  Instead of that uncertainty bringing these singers to their knees, it brings them to a place where they grab onto the possibility of the night and use that as their certainty.  Tonight is exciting and it brings exciting things along with it.

“Tonight” – West Side Story

For those who have never seen the musical (and, I must confess, I’ve only seen parts of it), this is an updated version of Romeo and Juliet, set in New York and centering around two young people whose association with rival gangs makes their love seem impossible.  Not long after they see each other for the first time (and immediately fall in love), they sing “Tonight” to one another.  Neither one knows how they will make this love they’ve found work out.  But here are a few things they do know:

“Today the world was just an address / A place for me to live in / No better than all right / But here you are / And what was just a world is a star / Tonight.”

However it will all come together, Tony and Maria realize that the world before they met each other was ordinary.  Now that they have seen what the world could be, they want that world all the time.  The potential for more seems to become a reality in the middle of a tonight that is not a reflection of normal life.  Tony and Maria believe in the possibility of getting more than what they have already, and tonight’s new love is how they’ll achieve those bigger things, no matter how unrealistic it might be.

“Tonight, Tonight” by The Smashing Pumpkins

Apparently, this song has been compared to Robert Herrick’s poem “To the Virgins to Make Much of Time” (quoted way up top).  The part of the song that stuck out to me includes:

“Tonight, so bright / Tonight / And you know you’re never sure / But you’re sure you could be right / If you held yourself up to the light / … / We’ll crucify the insincere tonight, / We’ll make things right, we’ll feel it all tonight, / We’ll find a way to offer up the night tonight, / The indescribable moments of your life tonight, / The impossible is possible tonight, / Believe in me as I believe in you, tonight.”

This one might seem obvious since the lyrics mention possibility, but look around that mention at what exactly is possible: getting rid of insincerity, making things right, offering up the night, believing in “me”.  These things are labeled impossible, but yet The Smashing Pumpkins suggest they are possible because of what tonight means:  a beginning.  It is a launching point for what’s going to happen in the future, and that future includes achieving the impossible.  Even amidst uncertainty (“You know you’re never sure / But you’re sure you could be right”), there's a chance for something great to happen.

#2 – Tonight as an end in and of itself.

I’m pretty sure this type of tonight centers around casual sex and/or partying.  It’s sort of an “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die” attitude.  And it’s pretty dangerous!  I think of all the types, this tonight is the one that can cause the most regret and destruction because it’s completely focused on wanting a specific thing – healthy or not – without stopping to consider the fallout or the consequences.  In order to think of tonight as an end in and of itself, the idea that there might be some kind of negative result from living for the now cannot even be brought to the table.  Now is all there is, so who cares what the result might be?

“Give Me Everything” by Pitbull

I have to be honest: this song was not on my original list.  However, as I was cruising north on I-75 going 80 mph today, my radio flipping brought me to this song.  I felt like it was a sign since the lyrics fit perfectly with this category.  The lyrics that made me think that?  Here:

“Tonight, I will love, love you tonight / Give me everything tonight / For all we know, we might not get tomorrow / Let’s do it tonight / … / I want you tonight / I want you to stay / I want you tonight.”

Part of the big problem with this “tonight as an end in itself” thinking is that it doesn’t take into consideration what happens if you DO get tomorrow.  If you’ve used up all the good stuff tonight, what will you have left over for tomorrow?  I think this ties in with the current acronym of choice with the young folks: “YOLO” (which means “you only live once”).  I just read an article that talked about how this little abbreviation is being used to sanction all kinds of stupidity.  I don’t have a problem with taking risks or living on the edge of glory.  But I do have a problem with the idea that whatever happens in the now can’t possibly be better than what might happen tomorrow so grab all the good stuff you can in the moment.  Pitbull really isn’t helping the little ankle biters of the world make better choices.

“Take Me Home Tonight” by Eddie Money

I have to be honest…again: I love this song.  While I totally and completely disagree with Mr. Money’s ideology, I cannot help but blare the song every time it comes on the radio.  (Plus, it makes a great karaoke tune to “sing” with my pals Natalie and Greg!)  But I’m not here to spout my particular loves for a particular song.  I’m here to pick it apart!  The lyrics’ greatest offenders include:

“I get frightened in all this darkness / I get nightmares, I hate to sleep alone / I need some company / A guardian angel to keep me warm when the cold winds blow / Take me home tonight / I don’t want to let you go till you see the light / Take me home tonight.”

For this singer, tonight is about getting what he needs.  The goal is to avoid being alone.  Since darkness is coming no matter what happens, the tonight he is personally seeking is an end in itself.  However, seeing tonight this way is completely subjective, and I think it leads to framing everything that happens in terms of how it well it satisfies (or doesn’t satisfy) a person's need for what tonight might have to offer.  Just count how many times he says “I” or “me”.  It's clear that this singer's desires are front and center, but once the night is over, he puts those away until they rear their ugly heads.  On to the next night.

So those are the first two categories.  I guess what strikes me the most about these two is how alike they are.  In both scenarios, the person who is embracing tonight is unsure of what tomorrow might bring.  Therefore, tonight seems like a pretty solid rock.  Fear is really the motivator for these tonights, and the people populating them are going to do whatever it takes to overcome that fear.  I think what sets these two categories apart is that in the first, the fear of the future never completely negates the future, it just looks at it unrealistically.  (So, I suppose you could argue that fear, in fact, does negate any future because it creates a false tomorrow rather than accepting what's real.)  In the second, the future doesn't matter because the only thing that could possibly matter is what goes on tonight.

Either way you slice it, both tonights carry with them the possibility of something happening.  But the darkness that comes with night also makes people myopic.  There's a sense of people working hard to get what they need (to believe the impossible, to avoid being alone) or want (a less ordinary world, a lover for the night) because nighttime is dark, quiet, and lonely.  The world is smaller at night (which sort of contradicts the idea of possibility...but onto contradiction with the next post).  Smaller is more manageable and it's easier to predict what might happen.  If you know you're going home with someone tonight, you can at least feel sure about what's going on in your love life right now even if you have no idea what's going on in your love life in the future.

But the question I ask is this:  are we short-changing ourselves into believing that the possibility of tonight is more satisfying than the possibility of tomorrow?  Things seen in dim light are more attractive, but it's an illusion.  Have we welcomed nighttime possibility and convinced ourselves that it's just as good as big, morning, bright light possibility?

I'll work through this more in the next post, but I really wanted to get that question out there for people to think about.

More tonights soon…