Words that wreck women

"You make me wanna buy a rose/ You make me wanna shine my shoes/ Baby, you make me wanna dance/ Better than I do/ You make me wanna be a man/ Who makes ya laugh and makes ya cry/ Wanna be everything you need/ You make me wanna make you love me"

"'Cause I wanna wrap you up/ Wanna kiss your lips/ I wanna make you feel wanted/ And I wanna call you mine/ Wanna hold your hand forever/ Never let you forget it/ Yeah, I wanna make you feel wanted"

"Light me up inside of this room/ I just wanna be close to you/ I cant take it anymore/ Baby I want you so much/ I wanna feel your breath on my skin/ Find that place we've never been/ I wanna spend all night/ Tangled up/ In your love"

These words, and millions like them, have wrecked women. Music has ruined women. While I am using country as an example — because I am a country girl first and foremost — it really happens in all music. Bono sang about waiting, with or without her. Don Henley sang about forgiveness even if she doesn't love him anymore. Liam Gallagher sang about flying away with his dream girl. But did any of them ever really mean it? Do they really believe a look or a touch can be enough? Or are they just trying to make a woman swoon enough to get into her pants?



My friend Katie has a theory — and I tend to agree with her — that romantic comedies have ruined women because what happens on the screen is the farthest thing from reality. No guy stands outside with a radio above his head. No guy chases a taxi or makes an ass out of himself in public just to apologize. And yet every girl watches and dreams of her leading man doing just that. It sets the bar way too high and all a guy can do is fall short and disappoint.

I always figured those movies were written and/or directed by women who were trying to rewrite their lackluster love lives. So what excuse do these men have? I know Henley and the Gallagher brothers wrote their own music, so they can't blame the mushy lyrics on another writer. Are they using music as a way to fulfill their romantic quota so they are able to leave it all in the studio and act "manly" in the outside world? Or are they writing fiction?

While nothing brings out my cynical side more than the idea of romance and relationships, I can't help but wonder if these songs are just making the situation worse. Or do men secretly know they can never satisfy our romantic dreams in real life, so they write a song where the hero takes that extra step to pull a little harder on that heart string?

I don't know which is right — or if I'm completely off track — but I do know that music makes me swoon and angry whenever I hear a romantic ballad or love song. Next time one comes on the radio, somebody, please, remind me to change the station.