Listening to a beautiful song, analyzing the patterns.
I think, “I could do that.” Melodies form in my mind constantly and while I always feared “accidentally copying” I come to realize that all melodic phrases are borrowed, and the math of it is that while combinations of “song length” are infinite, the combinations of three or four notes that sound good together are much more finite, and indeed all music is repetitive in that sense.
But then comes the thought, like Bill and Ted, what could be the power of a great song? Could a song unite humanity, bridge our gaps in understanding? This occurs because my prior thought was on the hopelessness of partisan politics, realizing that many people just will never see eye to eye with each other. Could a song be so powerful at conveying ideas and emotion that it unites even those people?
As I reflect I realize the answer is probably not. Sure, most people can share a transient emotion or something like mourning a bad event that wasn’t particularly ideological. But throughout history that has always been short lived, and usually when people get back to fighting over their usual difference the fighting is worse than ever. America came together like rarely before after 9/11, and by 2004 had descended to such fierce partisanship that swiftboating became a thing. No, none of those songs united us in a meaningful way – and indeed all are basically forgotten twenty three years later.
There is no easy answer to the problems of humanity – not even a song.