Unchained Melody

Oh, my love
My darling
I’ve hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time

And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?

I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love to me

Lonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea
To the open arms of the sea
Yes, lonely rivers sigh, “Wait for me, wait for me
I’ll be coming home, wait for me”

Oh, my love
My darling
I’ve hungered, hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time

And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?

I need your love
I, I need your love
God speed your love to me

-music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret

This was written for a prison movie.  Go figure…?  Perhaps the greatest pop song of all time.  I think the “unchained” in the title is apt.  There are many occasions when I am in a funk, or just deeply concerned for my children and grand children’s future.  Any reasonable person who is aware of the trajectory of our politics, of the connection between public policy and well  being, must feel anxiety for our future together.  Unchained Melody came over the car radio this morning as a psychological life-line, a reminder that love binds us together.  Through love we are unchained from the tragic outcomes present to our imagination.

According to the song’s publishing administrator, over 1,500 recordings of “Unchained Melody” have been made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages.  Of the hundreds of recordings made, the Righteous Brothers’ version in July 1965, with a solo by Bobby Hatfield, became the jukebox standard after its release. Hatfield changed the melody in the final verse and many subsequent covers of the song are based on his version. The Righteous Brothers recording achieved a second round of great popularity when featured in the film Ghost in 1990.    — Wikipedia

I know that I’ve written about this before.  A song written in 1955 stands, — a symbol of sanity, of reason, an opening to a shining future.