I’m a big fan of what some at this point would consider older music. This includes but isn’t exclusive to Rush, Rachmaninov, & Molly Hatchet. Sorry, I couldn’t get a good alliteration in there. I think that there is a lot to be said for some of the compositions of yore with their melodies and lyrics. Though I studied music at university for two years I am by no means an expert. This is not a professional opinion piece, more like an amateur fan boy one…so same as usual.
“What I want, you’ve got
And it might be hard to handle
But like the flame that burns the candle
The candle feeds the flame, yeah yeah“
WE ARE MEANT FOR RELATIONSHIP. Hall & Oates hit something here that resonates with everybody, which is why I’m sure this song has stayed around as long as it has (You Make My Dreams.) The lyrics, that we all inherently relate to, combined with a lovely classic synth that screams 1981 makes for a piece of nostalgia that makes me question whether I should take up keyboard.
Ok, push past all of that and what real substance do we have with this song? Let’s look at the first verse above. Similar to how the candle needs the flame to serve its purpose so we need the Lord to serve our purpose. That said, fire is not reserved to candles, the Lord has many children. So we can infer from this that fire does not need candles in order for it to exist. Similarly, God does not need us in order to exist. I’m not going to get into that side too much, rather I’d like to focus more on the reality that a candle must have fire to serve its purpose just as we need the Lord in order to serve ours.
This need is instilled within us and it is from this need that our desire for community and thus relationship with others, when properly ordered, stems out. Now I know that the song is very clearly a romantic relationship so it may in that sense be difficult to grasp how it relates to what we call friendship or maybe even brotherhood or sisterhood. Fine, so let’s look at the song as it is meant to be looked at, romantically. Who is your one true love? There is a right answer and it’s Jesus. The Lord desires intimacy with you! Yes you! He is your everything. Does that mean that your husband/wife or boyfriend/girlfriend gets none of your love? Of course not, a total gift of self to the Lord bolster whatever gift of self you make to others, it does not diminish it. Therefore, make the Lord first in your life. If you order your relationships starting with Him, not only will you find more joy in your relationship with Him, but your relationship with others will also be more full. As I mentioned earlier this is a need, we need this order for us to be who we are.
Next time you listen to this song, frame it around your relationship with the Lord. Are you able to say these things about Our Lord? I hope you can and if not now then may He give you the grace to grow that area of your life.
God bless you and please know of my prayers for you!
P.S. Notice how the title of the song is You Make My Dreams as opposed to You Make My Dreams Come True. The Lord is the fulfillment of anything we could ever want, which is beyond what we can dream of, therefore he doesn’t make our dreams come true because He is so beyond them. His magnificence rather has a dream like quality because of its elusive nature, He is mysterious and in that way makes our dreams. The love of your life Who is Love is the thing of dreams. Boom. Mind blown. Ok now I’m done.
Ipsa Duce 