George Jones

Curious Musings

Sep 2024

All you need is ...

Does anyone see the fallacy in this?

https://genius.com/George-gershwin-our-love-is-here-to-stay-lyrics

It's very clear
Our love is here
To stay ;
Not for a year
But ever and a day
The radio and the telephone
And the movies that we know
May just be passing fancies
And in time may go!
But, oh my dear
Our love is here to stay
Together we're
Going a long, long way
In time the Rockies may crumble
Gibraltar may tumble
They're only made of clay
But our love is here to stay

The lyrics assume that romantic interest is a solid basis for a lasting relationship. Maybe? Sometimes? But as most of the literature and music of at least the last 100 years (see the entire genre of the Blues) shows, it can be very short-lived and the source of a lot of pain.

Other cultures have taken different approaches. Arranged marriages, for instance. I’m just stirring the pot, but why is that wrong? Why not base things on rational choice?

The idea of romantic love is found throughout recorded history. Take Cupid, for example—the mischievous little guy with a bow and arrow who shoots his arrows at two people at random, causing them to fall in love. The resulting relationship might have been socially appropriate or not (think Romeo and Juliet). His arrows were said to affect even the gods themselves. There was no escape.

Returning to my readings in ancient Rome, it seems that the Romans did not, in general, marry for love—at least in the records we have. Those records are largely skewed towards the upper classes who wrote and left records.

Pompey the Great married Julius Caesar’s daughter, Julia, partly to keep the peace between them during the tense final years of the Republic. It worked until Julia died in childbirth, shattering the political bond between the two men. Civil war ensued.

Pompey actually fell in love with Julia… and was teased for it. It was not “normal” in that culture. Apparently, the emperor Severus Alexander had a similar “problem.”

The Rockies are still there. Gibraltar is still there. The radio? The telephone?

But, oh my dear
But our love is here to stay

And if you’ve never heard the song, here’s Frank Sinatra’s version: Our Love Is Here To Stay