Doing Love W/ You-Anatomy Of A love Song

Love songs are so timeless, don’t you agree? My friends accuse me of being in love with love like it’s a bad thing sheesh.

Since 2000 BCE we've been recording love songs to show or deep appreciation and heartfelt passion towards another. Before then, we were writing poetry and publicly reciting the verses. And before then there were mythological love stories like nanna and Dumuzi (c. 2100–2500 BCE).

There is "some" science behind love-believe it or not. Unlike popular belief that it just happens-there is evidence to support that it all starts in our brains. Studies using brain scans show that being in love activates areas similar to those triggered by rewards like food or success. That's right, love is a drug! I thought it might be fun to analyze and/or deconstruct my latest love song Doing Love W/ You. The song is rife with metaphors, and you'll be able to see what I had in mind when I wrote the song. But you know songs outlive us all and will have different meanings to different people. It’s art and art is interpretative. In other words, we humans experience art including music through the world of our experiences.

Our experiences give shape to what we hear, see and feel, which is totally natural. As I go through and highlight some areas of Doing Love W/ You know that, if you connected with a certain line in a different way that is great. When you have a different take it’s like you are making it your very own. Many of you are very sharp, and have picked up on a couple of themes in the song I thought I slyly slipped in, so here we go!

The Themes:

1. Love as a gamble

My thought while writing the song was framing it in three different ways within the gambling context: 

• Starting a relationship = sitting down at the poker table

• Emotions and vulnerability = placing a bet

• The outcome = the hand you’re dealt

Because as most of us know, falling in love means taking a chance.

2. Getting the best possible hand

The poker terms I used point towards extremely good luck:

• “Pocket rockets” → two aces, one of the strongest starting hands in poker

• “Two of a kind” → a perfect pair

• “Two hearts and two minds” → emotional and mental compatibility

When you put it all together i'm basically saying:

“Love is risky, but somehow we got incredibly lucky.”

3. Other words that support the lucky gamble theme

The following lines reinforce that “we beat the odds” feeling:

• “Cloud nine” → euphoria

• “Baby you feel like home” → emotional security

• “The whole wide world can wait” → the connection outweighs everything else

• “Sweet ride” → enjoying the journey together

So what I’m saying is love is a gamble, but with you it feels like I was dealt the best possible hand.

4. The clever part of the metaphor

The lyrics also subtly combine two meanings of “pair”:

• A pair of cards (two of a kind)

• A romantic couple

Did you get it?

So when I say “two of a kind”, it simultaneously means:

• A strong poker hand

• Two people who belong together

I also want to show you one subtle lyric detail in the lines that most listeners miss, but it makes the song more clever I think. So, I’ve  never heard the phrase pocket rockets in a love song before, and think I’m the first to use it in the context of a romantic song. ♠️ It’s much more common in poker slang.

For context, pocket rockets is slang for two aces dealt to you as your starting hand in Texas Poker. It’s the strongest starting hand in the game. Players usually feel excited and confident when they get it, and it gives you a big statistical advantage, though it still doesn’t guarantee a win. The way I’m using it in the song is we have the best possible start.

Most love songs use very familiar metaphors like fire, gravity fallings. Using casino/poker language is less common, especially in a piano-driven romantic song. :D

The gambling metaphors continue in the song as some of you noticed with the following line:

“The world is on tilt”

In gambling (especially poker), being “on tilt” means:

emotions are running high, judgment gets shaky and things feel chaotic or out of control. Players say someone is “tilting” when they’re overwhelmed and not thinking clearly.

In Doing Love W/ You it means the world is a little crazy. But the following line tells you how the couple is handling life together. 

“We’re looking at the sparrows”

Sparrows are often used in writing to represent simple happiness, freedom, and small everyday beauty.

Instead of focusing on the chaos of the world that is on tilt, the couple is looking up at something peaceful and simple. They are calm and absorbed in the moment. It’s a love bubble idea in a way.  Two people tuned out from the chaos around them.There’s a lot more to the song, if you are paying attention. I’ll unpack another theme in a future blog post.

Switching gears, yes, I’ve finally posted the release schedule for this year. It’s been very hectic. I’ve been doing several corporate and private engagements this year. It’s been fun, and I’m writing so much music. I’m going to have to work w/ Sync and Song Pitchers because there is no way I would be able to record everything I write. I guess it's a good problem to have.