Music Mondays: Luther Vandross - Anyone Who Had a Heart.

“Anyone who had a heart/ Would take me in her arms/ And love me too”. I heard those lyrics when I was around 8 or 9 years old. I found an old tape that my Grandparents owned and I was going to put paper inside the wholes at the top and record over it. Y’all remember recording over your parents tapes? I am still paying them back for it. Well, I pushed play and I heard a sweet voice; it was Luther Vandross! It was love at first sound. What touched me as a child were love songs, lyrics of love, pain, longing, yearning, and joy. What I now understand is that is the heart of a romantic. Romantic or The Lover, I was too young to understand this pull on my subconscious, but there I was listening to this sad love song. It reminded me of my personal life. How could my parents say they love me and leave? “You couldn’t really have a heart and hurt me like you hurt me and be so untrue”, as Lutha says. So the longing began. The need to be recused and fantasy flooded my mind of a better day and the perfect love. Love songs allowed me to escape a deeply emotional, scared, sad, and abandoned childhood. Of course I had wonderful Grandparents who raised me and I wouldn’t change my life experience for the world. But that’s not what this is about. This is the truth. My love story, not censored. My love story is a story about pain and redemption; to be whole, broken, and whole again.

To understand the life of the romantic you have to first go into their childhood. You have to look at the lover’s first heart break, the feeling of loss and despair. How could someone who loves love be so sad? It’s the complexity of the romantic. But also a beautiful reflection of life itself! To fully love life we have to learn to embrace both good and bad. To be fulfilled as human beings we must see our dark/shadow and light within ourselves. Being able to accept this paradox is what makes us whole!

When you listen to “Anyone Who Has a Heart” you enter the life of a true romantic. “Knowing I love you so” Luther sings. To still love and commit to a relationship that is damaging to your soul. To be able to let go, a constant struggle for the romantic! The hurt and abandoned that sums up the lyrics at the end of the song, “No one is going to make you feel the way I do”. My goodness… Below is one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite singers. Enjoy!