1.
In the ancient myth, Cupid seduces Psyche, a human woman, into his bed. It’s too dark to see her lover and though Psyche might suspect his identity, she doesn’t know the reason for his passion: that the god of love has struck himself with his own arrow and for the first time he’s in love.
2.
In the comment section of Barry White’s YouTube, people are losing their minds.
OK!
Trust me, I’ve had my moments defending old Dr. Love. Sometimes in public.
But god? Come on.
3.
In an interview with Barry White1, Conan O’Brien captured on record all of the monikers the singer received in his 40 year career.
Dr. Love
Mr. Love
The Maestro of Love
Prince of Pillow Talk
(laugh break)
The Ambassador of Romance
The King of Disco
That’s a lot of names for one, human man!
But perhaps this shows he is more than a human man.
4.
The first time I wrote a song for a woman was also the last time.
She jilted me a week before, on a bridge at night, where we often rode our bikes together.
“You’re just too normal,” she said. “I would go insane.”
But she was a singer, and she told me that I should write a song for her and she would record it.
I’m not sure why she said that.
5.
A lot of love songs are about loss. Baby come back. Baby can I hold you. Baby why you gotta be this way. Baby it’s cold outside.
It’s easier to write sad love songs because passion is most visible when it bleeds.
But Dr. Love doesn’t write sad love songs. Dr. Love’s heart is too big to break. His only heartache is that there isn’t enough love to give and his only demand is for you to sit still while he tells you how good you make him feel.
I wanted to write a song like Dr. Love.
6.
It doesn’t work out for Cupid and Psyche. And wouldn’t you know it, the myth blames her. She goes nuts and seeks revenge on her sisters. It’s actually kind of awesome, like Cinderella meets Kill Bill.
But it’s also sad. Psyche deserves to be happy.
7.
Arsenio Hall once asked Dr. Love what he thought about the lyrics of the day2. The number one song of 1983 was 2 Live Crew’s “Me So Horny.”
Dr. Love said, “As long as people are telling the truth.”
8.
The song I wrote wasn’t bad. But it was subtly angry. I suppose it told the truth, but did that truth need to be told? I wasn’t trying to make it in the music industry. I was trying to get a girl back.
I might as well have written “Me So Horny.”
And I realized too late why she told me to write a song for her. She was never going to sing it. She was a talented songwriter and had no need for anyone to write songs for her. In that moment on the bridge, she was looking for a way out. Maybe she could have said, “I’m done talking now and I need to go to sleep.” But like me, she was a romantic.
9.
When Dr. Love was 16 years old, he went to jail for stealing car tires. Overnight, in prison, he listened to Elvis on the radio and decided to change. Later, he cited this moment as testament to the power of humanity. He called himself “a self-made god.” This was the kind of thing that pissed people off in those days.
Arsenio asked him about it and he said: “We are all gods on this planet, every man and every woman. We create life, we can take life, we control what goes into the sea, whether the fish can live or not. We decide if the trees can grow tall, we decide if the children will eat. We are very powerful beings on the planet earth and when I said ‘a self-made god,’ I meant just what I said. Barry White changed his life.”
10.
No thanks to me, the singer went on to become a big star. She has performed at festivals, on Tiny Desk, and on stages and desks throughout the world. She told me my song was funny and I got to name her first EP. We haven’t kept in touch.
Cupid still hasn’t taken responsibility for breaking Psyche’s heart. Perhaps he doesn’t recognize what it means to be a god.
Those of us self-made gods must know how hard it is to feel powerless. But don’t mistake the feeling of powerlessness for the inability to change.
Dr. Love believes in you.
Thanks for the restack!
Wonder what the name of the album is?