Stalked By Eros

I enjoy picking a theme and creating a playlist, selecting songs from my CD collection. The most recent theme is 'Stalked by Eros.' If you think about it, in literature and song Eros has two major aspects.

There is the 'driven by lust' theme. For example there is Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" or "Othello." In music there is Verdi's "Tosca," just to name one example. Of course, the lesson that we humans never learn is that signing on with this aspect of Eros never ends well. But we do seem to like to sing about the experience.

The second major aspect is the quest for the perfect romantic partner; think Valentine's Day. Much of the classic repertoire from Tin Pan Alley in the 1930's and1940's is the most familiar interpretation of this aspect. These "encounters" can end well, usually only in fairy tales but there is Beethoven's "Leonore." More frequently it ends badly as described in the medieval chansons of courtly love and Lerner and Lowe's "Camelot."

What I found most interesting in selecting the songs for this playlist is the number of current singers who are writing and performing songs, almost meditations, that contemplate the very human reaction to these two aspects of Eros. "Where is the bargain with this cruel god?" seems to be the quest. These artists are working in the best traditions of the traveling troubadours of centuries ago. A very lucky time to be listening, in my opinion.

Here is the list of performances I chose for "Stalked by Eros"

• Walking the Back Streets and Crying - Vargas Blues Band
• The Next Step - Kelley Hunt
• All Around Man - Bluff City Backsliders
• Back to the Ground - Jamie Cullum
• Nature Boy - Nate Birkey
• Couer de Parisienne - Rufus Wainwright
• La Vie en Rose - Sophie Milman
• Taking a Chance on Love - Ethel Waters
• Out of Nowhere - Ella Fitzgerald
• Heart and Soul - Mel Torme
• A Sunday Kind of Love - Ella Fitzgerald
• The Man I Love - Sophie Milman
• The Man that Got Away - Judy Garland
• Drunk on Your Tears - Jeremy Fisher
• Think Again - Teddy Thompson
• I Taught Myself How to Grow Old - Ryan Adams
• Loving You - Paolo Nutini
• Stay - Sophie Milman

All these performances can be purchased on line, and please support the artists by paying for the music you want to have in your collection.