Essay About Ghost Song

Howie Day – Ghost
Bonnie Raitt – I Can't Make You Love Me
Coldplay – The Scientist
Avril Lavigne – Why
Kelly Clarkson – Behind These Hazel Eyes

The five aforementioned songs are meaningful in telling us something important about the American experience; however, they are certainly not your traditional blues songs. They are songs that many people have heard recently on the radio, and would probably be considered mainstream pop music. Regardless of genre, they can be considered be blues songs because they are relatively slow, sad songs in which the artist displays some sort of despair. You can almost feel their pain while listening to their lyrics which reflect their feeling of unhappiness and low spirits. All of these songs tell a story
of what it is to have love or a romantic relationship and the pains of losing it.

Howie Day – Ghost: Day is singing about his relationship that has gone sour. While he once thought that this relationship would last forever, he now notes that he actually never wants to see his partner again because of the pain she has caused him. He realizes to a certain extent how pathetic he thinks he is and even says in the song "take yourself a photograph and laugh at me" (I know there's little use in crying/It's more wide awake and dying then I'm used to/I thought we'd walk these streets together/Now I'm hoping that I'll never have to meet you).

Bonnie Raitt – I Can't Make You Love Me: In this song, Raitt tells of a relationship in which she is currently still in, however, realizes that her significant other no longer feels the love for her as she does for him. She still loves this man, but recognizes that she will have to end the relationship (I'll close my eyes, then I won't see/The love you don't feel when you're holding me/Morning will come and I'll do what's right/Just give me till then to give up this fight).

Coldplay – The Scientist: In The Scientist, Chris Martin (lead singer), sings about doing something to upset his significant other which ultimately led to their breakup. He implies that towards the end of their relationship things were bad, but that he still did not want this relationship to end. He wants to go back to beginning of the relationship, which some refer to as the "honeymoon stage", because that is when the relationship was better (Nobody said it was easy/Oh it's such a shame for us to part/Nobody said it was easy/No one ever said that it would be this hard/Oh take me back to the start).

Avril Lavigne – Why: Lavigne is still in a relationship but is despaired at the fact that her partner may not still love her, and is afraid that the relationship is soon ending. Her anguish of the relationship ending is the result of her heavy dependency on her boyfriend (It's not supposed to feel this way/I need you, I need you/More and more each day/It's not supposed to hurt this way).

Kelly Clarkson – Behind These Hazel Eyes: Clarkson sings about her misery over what turned out to be another failed relationship for her. She is torn up inside because she thought that this man was going to be the one she was going to marry (Here I am, once again/I'm torn into pieces/Can't deny it, can't pretend/Just thought you were the one).

What these songs tell us about not only the American experience but also a cross-cultural experience is the heavy emphasis of being in a relationship and that the ending of a serious relationship causes immeasurable pain. Suffering the loss of a love is a true emotional crisis. People should know that emotional abandonment can be as painful as grief over death, perhaps even more. This grief can burrow deep within us where it undermines our self esteem, wreaking havoc on our lives and even interfering with future relationships if left unchecked. Rejection and unrequited love can create a very deep and personal wound. It undermines our sense of self worth and destroys our security. People may feel intense feelings of panic, anxiety, hopelessness, longing, isolation, self-blaming, anger, resentment, helplessness, unworthiness, and despair.

Often times in American relationships couples create a fusion of personalities and when the relationship ends one or both partners feel incomplete when they relationship ends.
Both Clarkson's and Lavigne's songs show this heavy dependency upon their mates and the despair that they feel of being alone, as if they were no longer a complete person. Another aspect of the American relationship is the tendency to remain in a relationship even though they are void of love and emotion, for simply the sake of being in a relationship. Both Lavigne and Raitt sing about the emptiness of their relationship, however, while Lavigne contests that she needs that person regardless of the void, Raitt recognizes that she can not be in a relationship where there is no love, and chooses to end it. Also, when people enter relationships they tend to assume that the relationship is going to last forever. Clarkson's and Day's songs both represent this notion. They both assumed that relationship was everlasting, and that is what made the ending of the relationship even harder for them. Songs such as these are helpful to those who have experienced the pain of heartbreak, and they can often find themselves relating to the singers. It can prove to be helpful for them to know that other people have had similar experiences and can provide them with
hope. Experiences of these songs are most likely very different for those who are chronic heartbreakers, who have never had a significant other break a relationship off with them, and who have never been in a relationship before. Either way, it would be much different for those who have never experienced heartbreak. They should pay attention to these songs so that when and if they do enter a serious relationship they can recognize from the start that relationships are often indefinite and there is always room for future heartbreak.