Benefits of Companionship

If I was to tell you that today's selected song comes from the soundtrack for a children's movie, you'd be thinking Disney, right?  That could easily be the case.  I am a big fan of Disney soundtracks, but  I'm writing about 2006's Curious George.  While some songs were covers or revisions, Jack Johnson performed all the songs for the movie, and released them in the album Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George.  There was even a hit music video on VH1 (and possibly MTV) where Johnson sang Upside Down while swimming with Curious George.  I can't tell you how tempted I was to choose that song today, but I went with something a little bit lesser known.  It's called "Broken."

It's a song about companionship, but unlike his normal love songs, this is a little more universal in what type of relationship the song can refer to.  It can just as easily be about a romantic couple as it can be about a man in a yellow hat who has found a kindred spirit in a little monkey.

The song opens with Johnson singing about embracing the present and future with this person that he's singing to.  Leaving the past behind.  Although still working towards a sense of completion, it's much more preferable a journey with this person by his side.  Admirably Johnson imagines that this person may already have their life altogether.  He doesn't know if they even needed to put much effort into finding him, but he didn't exactly know what to look for in a potential companion until meeting this person.  In the end, Johnson sums up that what he's done before meeting this person has some value, but none of these achievements are as great as what they can do together.  

Between you and me, I don't think this song was just meant to refer to a cartoon monkey and his best friend.  The song is applicable to that situation, but it has all the tell-tale signs of a classic Jack Johnson love song.  There are songs where he writes about other subjects (songs that I'll get to in due time).  This just where music led me tonight.  I hope that you have the open minds to embrace soundtracks not always necessarily created for adult ears.  If it's music from Frozen, the Sherman brothers, the Ashman & Menken, the score of the Incredibles or other pieces.  I can even think of some Disney songs by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz that comes from one of the more under appreciated films from the animated canon.