First Gentleman with Wilson Orhiunu
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“If music be the food of love play on. Give me excess of it, that surfeiting. The appetite may sicken, and so die” says Duke Orsino in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. By suggesting that a dose of music might calm the pain of unrequited love for Lady Olivia, this character links music to love. Perhaps music could be that substitute for love. If Love has music for breakfast and looks healthy, those without love who want to look like love should ‘eat’ the music.
There is no doubt about the link. The pure romance created by stroking violin cords the right way is not in doubt. Many a singer has made his fortune just singing about falling in love or being in love despite a large proportion of his listeners not being in either category. Music can indeed be a substitute for love. A comfort that romance still exists and it lays just a chance meeting away. People sometimes love to hear songs about what they do not have. Aspiration, maybe fantasy or a bit of both.
Barry White really could set the scene. ‘You are My First My Last My Everything’ is a song that could make a lonely person grab his or her pillow and fall in love with being in love. Then there is Nat King Cole whose submission is that “when I fall in love, it will be forever”. And he goes on to sing that song ‘Unforgettable’. Now which human being does not want to be unforgettable to someone else?
Fantasies come true in music. I really loved Barry White’s music growing up. A wonderful distraction from the harsh realities of the economic and societal upheaval that comes with living under a military dictatorship. The love fantasy did not need a partner, just the right music and closed eyes.
But trust Gwen Guthrie to burst the bubble. Her ‘Ain’t Nothing Going On But The Rent’ really spoilt it for me. That line “you’ve gat to have a J-O-B if you wanna get with me. No romance without finance” was not what a Naira deficient student wants to hear. A crude awakening!
Enough of my emotional trauma. What do the present crop of Nigerians songs about in relation to the wooing game? I might as well start with the good news. Davido in his song ‘Aye’ found a girl who does not want designer items, and shuns a Ferrari but is satisfied with his love. Hurray! Love is alive and romance has been resurrected?
It goes downhill from here I am afraid.
P-Square says “chop my money…I get am plenty”.
Now impressing a girl is all good but a relationship is not quite a financial transaction. If it is, then one needs a receipt and also a warranty just in case goods and services do not meet the international standards the purchaser has come to expect.
Money and love in the same sentence loses its romance. Payment for services is a business transaction. That moves no one emotionally neither does it inspire. I go die love is more interesting than I go charge love.
But many seem to charge it seems. I was watching a lady on the internet talk about how a boyfriend should buy her clothes, shoes, and hair. I wondered what her father buys. And if the father cannot afford the items does that not mean she is living above her means and relying on romantic subsidy? Now who pays the piper dictates the tune, for the paid love or relationship providers are servants to the Pay Master.
How does a girl eat her agbalumo and have it? With great difficulty. Once you charge you cannot turn round and complain that your buyer is unromantic.
Some things should never have a price tag but the minute friendship is monetised, it is not friendship anymore. It is a business transaction.
I don’t blame the musicians for they are just barometers of society. They sing what they see.
Wizkid asks “are you gonna dance, if I show you the money?” in the song ‘Show You the Money’. I like the song and the beats on it. It has an air of danger about it. But the phrase “show you the wallet” makes me think. (Maybe I think too much sef).
That the singer has to ask suggests the answer could go either way. A ‘Yes’ shows a crude lust for money and a ‘No’ would be dignified. Perhaps the singer knows the society in which he lives and thus has modified the wooing techniques passed down from generations to fit his modern day reality.
All Naija ladies claim to be romantic (for why else would they say Naija men are not romantic?) ‘Show You The Money’ and ‘Chop My Money’ are directed at ladies and these tunes are loved by them. However we all know that cash notes are not romantic.
If romance was truly in the air, the song would have gone:
Are you going to dance?
If I show you my problems
Are going to dance
If I show you my heart
Are you going to dance?
If I show you my heartache
Are you going to dance?
If I show you my piles
Shebi true love conquers all abi?
May you all live in love and happily ever after.
