Unchained Melody by Alex North, Hy Zaret, and Sam Cooke
Unchained Melody is known as an ‘American Standard,’ a preposterously subjective category of music that connotes established popularity within a given genre. The song was composed by the fifteen-time Oscar nominee Alex North (he never won) in 1955 as a theme for a film titled Unchained. Set in a medium-security prison, Unchained follows its foolhardy, hotheaded, and anything but indolent protagonist Steven Davitt, as he grapples between the choice of serving out his three-year sentence to return to his beloved wife or escaping from prison and living the life of a fugitive. At first, he decides to escape because, no matter how much he loves his family, he’s too impetuous to wait out the years if there’s a more exciting, immediate choice on hand; why invest when you can steal? After much rah-rah 1950s Hollywood plot and dialogue, Davitt hesitates mid-escape and decides to head back to the prison, where he’s made a few buddies he’s become content spending time with (character progression). Davitt chooses to stay put, idly, until he can be reunited with his other half, overcoming his demons and poor personality traits in service of love—just some context for how this vastly covered, tear-jerking, masterful ballad came to fruition.
Every singer who’s tackled Unchained Melody, which appears to be anyone famous and iconic who’s ever picked up a microphone, chooses to place their emphasis on a different lyric. For example, with Al Green, it’s ‘Mine’, The Fleetwoods: ‘Love’, Lykke Li: ‘Woah’, Elvis: ‘Darling’ (unsurprising), The Righteous Brothers: ‘Hungered’, Roy Orbison; ‘Touch’, and finally, the best of the lot, Sam Cooke: ‘Time.’
This seems apt. There’s no better noun, no better construct, to connect with love and longing, the two predominant emotions this beautiful song so eagerly portrays. Time, Dr. Time, healer of all maladies, trustful interpreter of ambiguity, transcriber of the heart, body, mind, and soul. Time is one of the few things, like love, that can’t be bought or bargained with. It also, like love, is the most expensive commodity available, as it can’t be replaced. Come to think of it, time is a bit like God, or the many conceptions of it.
A long, lonely time
To get only slightly personal, this fall I was supposed to wed someone I love. That wedding, marriage, is no longer taking place on the ninth of November, and it is unclear if it ever will. No more details shall be disclosed, through purposes of decency, though I bring this up in the discussion of time as noun and verb, as it’s been the only sort of flatbed to rely on during what has been something of a multi-month crisis. Time is the escape of control, the one entity that will repair with no effort. All other entities and tools, like therapy, exercise, work, screaming into a bag, contrived meditation, require much effort and mental exertion. To be able to escape into time amid catastrophe and plight, no matter how endless these intervals may appear, is, well, nearly impossible. Situations must be faced, dealt with, and fully encountered. Meanwhile, time plays endlessly in the background, working its awfully subtle magic and wonder. It’s there, doing something mysterious and paranormal… and even further, you’ll never know what it has in store. Exciting, if not frightening.
Eternal is the antithesis of time. It’s the concept of something everlasting and unchanging. Such an example of the word’s falsity is the oft-used term ‘eternal youth’ or ‘eternal glory.’ As a general rule, anything deemed eternal tends in reality to be finite. And yet, there’s 'eternal love.’ There’s the eternal love of a parental nature, a filial nature, a platonic nature, and finally, of a romantic nature. Many believe in the first three, and just as many, if not more, decry the last; this is a consensus that I still disagree with. Eternal romantic love, in literal terms, everlasting strong affection and attraction, is still a notion to be considered, hoped for, and perhaps worked on, if only time will tell.