"Till There Was You" -- but who is the You?

Did you ever look at the words of some schmaltzy old song and say, “My goodness, this could almost be a hymn!” Clearly I did, and the song is Till There Was You, which apparently came out in 1957 as part of the musical The Music Man. It didn’t enter my universe until the Beatles sang it, and most famously sang it at the 1963 Royal Command Performance (an annual event where the British stars of the day perform in front of a select audience including the royal family). This is the occasion where at the end of the show John Lennon said, “For our last number, I'd like to ask your help, the people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you’d just rattle your jewelry."

Some love songs are touching, some insipid, and some – somehow – stop being about one relationship or hot affair, and become about love itself, larger than the localization, let’s call it, of romantic love. Till There Was You speaks about perception. Until there was you, I didn’t notice a whole world out there, from bells in the hills to fragrant meadows and “wonderful roses.” This is just like tripping. Until I took this pill or ate this mushroom I simply didn’t notice just how deeply fragrant the meadows were, or the wonderfulness of the roses, I was missing out on a couple of dimensions. My enhanced perceptions became able to see deep into life and rejoice.

 Who then, is the “you” of the refrain? For the normal understanding of the song it’s some boyfriend or girlfriend who at least for a while was magical, but the “you” that fosters these enhanced perceptions is someone/something a bit more universal. And that’s what makes this song a hymn. The source of the magic, this enhancement of noticing things, is love itself, the divine energy let’s call it. While tripping, I notice that there is “love all around” and I also notice that until this day “I never heard it singing” because through the action of this drug or this plant, I see that living things are the expression of love when it sings out its name. I have no choice: for this little while my eyes are opened by a moment of ecstasy, and it is on me to remember what I heard and saw — perhaps by creating a song.

 There were bells on a hill
But I never heard them ringing
No, I never heard them at all
'Til there was you

There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
'Til there was you

Then there was music
And wonderful roses
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
'Til there was you

Then there was music
And wonderful roses
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
'Til there was you
'Til there was you