YOU’VE LOST THAT LOVING FEELING

 

In a maudlin moment, I watched a video of three women reacting to the Righteous Brothers singing You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, a song released in 1964.

OMG.  Watch the girl on the left, when her expression changes as she gets into the lyrics.  The link is at the end of the next paragraph.  The other two, caught up in the rhythm, continue to smile and sway to the music.  Obviously, they are reacting to the vibe.  The girl in red, however, changes her reaction halfway through the song.  Something in the lyrics appears to have hit home.  Just watch her and see, in comparison to her two friends.  

Pay attention to the change in her demeanor.  Her sway ends.  Her eyes close.  Her smile disappears. It’s like she’s retreating into some dark and private corner of her mind.  Were the Righteous Brothers speaking directly to her?  Was she one of those who felt love slipping away with no way to stop it?  We’re not told.  But go back and watch what happens when it appears the lyrics hit home and the joy of listening is replaced by something else.  It’s as if the lyrics laid bare some deep scar on her heart.  Watch and see:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRfDIGeZtFM

I’m just guessing, of course, but the change in her demeanor is obvious.  Her expression changes at this point in the song:

“Baby, baby, I get down on my knees for you,

if you would only love me, like you used to do.

We had a love, a love, a love you don’t find every day,

So don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t let it slip away”

ignore the repetition of words.  Obviously the songwriter hit a brick wall and kept repeating the same word to keep the cadence going.  The message is what I'm focused on.  The young lady in red tried to get back into the rhythm of the tune, but she couldn't do it.  I looks to me that the song evoked a brief but painful recollection, some dark memory that was cut into her soul, and then the sound of her own quiet voice saying “This shouldn't have been how things ended.”

For her sake I hope I’ve misread her reaction.  But I know a kindred spirit when I see one.

Anyway, I don’t know that young lady and never will.  But it might be a conversation worth having.  We all take secrets to the grave.  They remain written on our hearts ‘til the day we die, like demons who occupy our inner sanctum until we finally learn how to exorcise them.  Often someone comes along and steals our heart, helping to banish the demons.  Otherwise God is needed, which may be just another way of saying the same thing.  God comes to us in many forms, though sometimes only through prayer.

BTW, and on an unrelated note, is the girl in white a Diana Ross wannabe?  Didn’t afros go out of style in the 1980s, same as mullets?  Asking for a friend.