Friday, November 23, 2007

"It’s Agapē" (Love Styles)

I hope everyone is having a nice Thanksgiving weekend. Our next song involves the concept of "love styles," which were proposed by John Alan Lee of the University of Toronto and converted into a questionnaire measure by Clyde and Susan Hendrick, to whom I've dedicated the song. Clyde and Susan are colleagues of mine at Texas Tech, although we're in different departments (I'm in human development and family studies, and they're in psychology).

In doing research for this entry, I found a fairly extensive Wikipedia page on love styles, which I spruced up a bit. Specifically, I added the section about the Hendricks' measure and created the References section. Anyone interested in background information and further readings is invited to visit the Wikipedia page.

Today's song alludes to the six love styles: eros, ludus, storgē, pragma, mania, and agapē. Enjoy...

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It’s Agapē (please pronounce ē like “ay”)
Lyrics by Alan Reifman, Dedicated to Clyde and Susan Hendrick
(May be sung to the tune of “Have a Nice Day,” Bon Jovi/Sambora/Shanks)

What kind of a lover, do you want to find?
Should it be the eros or the storgē kind?
The ludus kind of lover likes to fool around,
The pragma person’s preferences just abound,
The mania type could fall right out of control,
How do you decide, before you get too old?

Ooh, if there’s one trait that I’m drawn to,
So we may rise above,
Selfishness, I know, will surely haunt you,
I want agapic love,

Eros reflects passion, friendship is storgē,
You have to decide, by the end of the day,

What choice will you come up with?
I say, it’s agapē,
It’s agapē…

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