I don't remember how it started. Maybe it was an ad about the "Phantom of the Opera" being in San Francisco from mid-August to early October. But I'm having this obsession about the Phantom again the past few days. I've seen the movie, but not on stage. (I might have seen it on stage many years ago, but I can't remember for sure.) And I've always loved the music.
Anyway, I went searching for the album on Amazon Prime, and I found this song at the end. It was supposed to be played when the credits rolled at the end of the movie, but I don't remember it. For some reason (or reasons), it got my attention this time.
First, it didn't fit the rest of the album, which were mostly operatic, whereas this is more modern, more folksy even. I love the guitar plucking. And I love the words. And I'm surprised that Minnie Driver can sing!
Anyway, the song is very tender, very sweet. But not saccharine-sweet. It's not your typical song that encourages false hope and fake happiness. It's about facing reality, about learning to deal with the life you're dealt, about depending on yourself. And about finding genuine satisfaction in that.
"Learn how to love life that is lived alone."
Someone who is too afraid of being alone is easy to take advantage of, easy to manipulate, easy to use and abuse. Or that someone might be the one taking advantage, manipulating, using, and abusing, just to make someone stay with them. And that's how we create unhealthy relationships that invariably end up with heartaches at best and lost lives at worst.
Deep inside, we're all children of the wilderness.... Learn to be lonely.
