by Kevin Burton
Found a lyric last week that is so cool, I want to use it to tell my happy Valentine’s Day story.
This is what happens when my usual Tuneful Tuesday post coincides with Valentine’s Day.
The song “Still The One” went to number five for Orleans in 1976. It’s a rollicking celebration of love going strong and growing stronger. Songwriters Johanna and John Hall wanted to write something positive because there were so many love-gone-wrong songs out there.
Mission accomplished. The song is so infectious that ABC television twice used it to plug its fall schedule of new programs. If you can’t have fun with this song, better check your pulse.
And the joyous message the song hammers home is “you’re still the one!”
“You’re still the one that makes me laugh. Still the one that’s my better half. We’re still having fun and you’re still the one.”
The song’s bridge provides a bit of a pause. The way the syllables fall into the music it’s hard to hear the words. I only got them by reading them, then going back and listening.
The line is “Changing, our love is going gold.
Even though we grow old, it grows new.”
Wow! That is much too great a line to keep it stuffed into that bridge. And it’s much too good and true a sentiment for me to keep to myself.
My wife Jeannette and I are in fact growing old. Our love is in fact growing new. She is still the one!
Lest you think this post was meant for an audience of one, here’s my universal message:
Celebrate!
Make sure your special someone knows without question, how you feel.
Here’s another nugget, no extra charge: After the red and pink cards have been removed from the stores and the chocolate sales are over, Keep letting that special someone know about it. Don’t let them forget it for a minute.
Just think about how many of life’s twists and turns could have sent you in some other direction.
A college friend of mine lost his wife not long ago. I will leave him unnamed, but you should pray on this Valentine’s Day, for him and for everybody who has had a spouse die.
And when you’re done with that, thank God for the abundant blessings he has brought you, starting with your spouse.
Every day is Valentine’s Day at my house. To the extent it is not, shame on me. It’s hard for me to express how blessed I am to have Jeannette, but I sure have fun trying.
A while back I about two songs with the same title and how different they are (“Consider The Source Of The Promise” Jan. 17). Well I am doing that again today on a \happier note.
Shania Twain has a song called “You’re Still The One” that is also one of my all-time favorites. We’ll call the two titles essentially the same, though this one has a “You’re” on it.
That feel of the two songs couldn’t be much different. The Orleans song is the woohoo celebration, Twain’s tune is the slow dance, the deep appreciation.
There are bushels and bushels of love songs in the world. At this point you have to do something truly special to make one stand out. I think Twain did so.
Twain co-wrote “You’re Still The One” with then husband Robert John “Mutt” Lange. The song went to number two in 1998 in the USA and was top ten in several other countries.
You’re Still The One has that underdog, beating the odds vibe that I love. It’s something I can really relate to. Jeannette and I call ourselves “the misfits. (and I have an unfinished song called The Misfits to celebrate us).
Some of Twain’s lyrics:
Looks like we made it
Look how far we’ve come my baby
We mighta took the long way
We knew we’d get there someday
They said, “I bet they’ll never make it”
But just look at us holding on
We’re still together, still going strong
(You’re still the one)
You’re still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You’re still the one I want for life
(You’re still the one)
You’re still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You’re still the one I kiss goodnight
I am feeling so good about life with Jeannette and the two songs I picked to talk about it, that I am going to overlook Twain’s bit of egregiously bad grammar.
I hope you can too. Happy Valentine’s Day!
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