Song Realization: Falling in Love as a Glimpse of Higher Consciousness

By Cary Bayer

Love songs from Broadway and Hollywood musicals speak of the intoxicating freshness of falling in love in language that transports its characters to glimpses of a higher life. In certain exalted states of consciousness, the world glows with light.

Tony and Maria in West Side Story glimpsed that glow through their dazzling love. Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics depict this heightened perception, as we hear in “Tonight.”

“Tonight, tonight

The world is full of light

With suns and moons all over the place.”

Life is no longer ho hum; it’s exalted: 

“Today, the world was just an address

A place for me to live in

No better than all right

But here you are

And what was just a world is a star Tonight.”

It’s not only sight that’s affected; sometimes sound is too. In “Maria,” Tony sings of the mantra-like power of his beloved’s name. Maria is like OM to yogic chanters, a name he speaks repeatedly. 

“All the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word, 

 Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria.” 

 

Sometimes the dawning of transformative love sharpens intuition before the beloved is met. Tony sings “Something’s Coming:”

“It’s only just out of reach

Down the block, on a beach

Under a tree

I got a feelin’ there’s a miracle due

Gonna come true

Comin’ to me!

When love in musicals becomes extraordinarily deep, it can make two lovers into one, a state often written about by Rumi. Yogis call it Unity Consciousness, in which seeker and Creator merge into One. Maria sings of this in “I Have a Love.” 

“I love him, we’re one; 

There’s nothing to be done,”

Rodgers & Hammerstein, Cole Porter, and Tin Pan Alley immortals penned anthems about awakening to a life lived with the gods. Alan Jay Lerner gives Freddy glimpses into higher consciousness, captivated by Eliza’s beauty in My Fair Lady. In “On the Street Where You Live,” he’s almost lifted off the ground:

“I have often walked down this street before

But the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before

All at once am I several stories high

Knowing I’m on the street where you live.”

The glory of fresh new love transforms the perception of Marian, the librarian in The Music Man. 

In “Till There was You,” Meredith Wilson has her sing:

“There werebells on the hill

But I never heard them ringing

No, I never heard them at all

Till there was you.”

It inspired her to see in ways she never saw before, as well:

“There were birds in the sky

But I never saw them winging

No, I never saw them at all

Till there was you.”

Her sense of smell is also enlivened:

“And there were wonderful roses

They tell me

In sweet fragrant meadows of dawn, and dew.”

The mantra-like power to glimpse higher worlds, through repeating the beloved’s name is echoed by Don Quixote in The Man of La Mancha’s gorgeous love song, “Dulcinea.”

“I see heaven when I see thee, Dulcinea,

And thy name is like a prayer

An angel whispers… Dulcinea… Dulcinea!”

The sense of Oneness echoes lyrics found in “And I’m Telling You I’m

Not Going” from Dreamgirls.

“We both share the same blood

We both have the same mind.”

 

The nearness of the beloved lifts one to the highest places. 

In Irving Berlin’s “Dancing Cheek to Cheek,” the singer senses Heaven. 

“I’m in heaven

And the cares that hang around me through the week

Seem to vanish like a gambler’s lucky streak

When we’re out together dancing cheek to cheek.

 

In Kismet’s “And This is my Beloved” we see more Heaven.

“And when he speaks and when he talks to me

Music! Mystery!

And when he moves and when he walks with me

Paradise comes suddenly near.”

The touch of the beloved is like electrifying darshan, a spiritual jolt gurus give disciples. “He Touched Me” echoes this.

“He touched me

….I felt a sudden tingle when he touched me. A sparkle, a glow

“…He’s real, and the world is alive and shining.”

 These musicals glimpse a higher world.

 

www.carybayer.com