Name ThisTune

Several years ago a game show used to come on television called "Name That Tune". In the game, contestants would try to guess the name of a song after listening to just a few notes of it being played. The object of the game was to identify the song in as few notes as possible with each contestant bidding on how many notes it would take them to "name that tune". The setup would go something like this:


Host: This song climbed all the way to number one in the charts in 1955, but don't let its melody "haunt" you while you try to recall its title.

Contestant 1: I can name that tune in seven notes.

Contestant 2: Well, I can name that tune in five notes.

Contestant 1: I bet I can name that tune in four notes.

Contestant 2: Name that tune!

At this point the band would strike up and play only four notes of the song Contestant 1 would have to guess. Given only the brief musical assistance and the accompanying clue, the contestant would then try to determine what tune he had just heard. It was a fun, lighthearted game to watch and half the excitement was in trying to play along with the contestants at home. Although I enjoyed seeing if I could also name that tune at home, this wasn't the most interesting part of the show for me however. My fascination was with the occasional savant-like talents some contestants acquired that enabled them to name fairly obscure musical scores in as little as two or three notes. It was as if their knowledge and intuition of music was so vast that they could easily extrapolate an entire ballad from just a few simple notes. I often wondered how anyone could possess such an immense musical library that undoubtedly took a lifetime to attain. My answer came when I noticed that the contestants who fared the best were often times the ones who appeared to be having the most fun. They were smiling, laughing, and genuinely enjoying themselves all while effortlessly naming song after song with the apparent ease of any virtuoso. And that's when I realized why. To these people, this game was not about how much money they won or a fleeting fifteen minutes of fame. Their reward was something else...it was the music. They loved music so much that simply being around it, being a part of it was enough. It was because they cared so much about music that they were able to attentively hear and understand its nuances when no one else could.

The relationships we have with certain people are like that. Sometimes when we care enough about someone and spend enough time with them we find that we are attuned to parts of them that no one else even notices. Where others might overlook a subtle glance or deft remark, a carefully tuned ear embraces such nuances and relishes in the understanding of things that often go unsaid, but never overlooked. When we spend enough time with someone our perception of that person changes. Where once we saw only a desire to travel and a love of music, we now see a yearning for freedom and a blossoming creativity that fills the soul. Her words become a novel and her face a canvas upon which no great artist could ever have imparted such interpretation. Yet you understand it all. You understand this woman because in your heart you know that you are just like her. And what's more, you know that you still love her. That you will always love her. Despite the years, the distance, and even the betrayal you know that a part of this woman will never leave you...and a part of you will never come back.

Some would say that such folly is but fodder for the poets, while others that it was only ever a fool's hope, but the intuition upon which I have come to rely beckons otherwise. Your face was one that I had not seen in four years and had no expectation of ever witnessing again. Eventually I accepted that and moved on. But I cannot deny that you sought me out this time for reasons that are known only to you. Perhaps it was curiosity. Perhaps it was surprise that our paths have wandered so close together once again. Whatever the reason, this is as brazen as I dare to venture without some measure of reciprocation clarifying your intentions. You told me to completely forget about you and I have been faithful to that request. But truthfully I still care about you, I have always cared about you. And if my words should fall on deaf ears, if they are simply misguided by a hope that was mistakenly rekindled, then I will harbor no animosity and will release my sentiments just as quietly as they arrived.

My last letter you carried across the Atlantic before opening it in a London dorm, yet this note has far greater distances to bridge. I hope it finds you, and finds you well.

The tune was Unchained Melody.