A gentle mix of harpsichord, strings and guitar, and the soaring voice of a young girl. “You and I travel to the beat of a different drum,” she laments. This is how young Linda Ronstadt presented herself to the world, and you could argue she never soared higher than on that first hit single, Different Drum. Rejection songs are interesting, I think, especially when they are as "nice" as this one. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good screw-you to a former lover in its time, but that is so much easier, in a way.
The commence of love is a solicitation, a meeting, weighing, of souls. We have enough testimonies on how great it feels when the scales even out, but when something shifts the weight, skews it, it is an altogether sadder story - sadder in sadness perhaps than the greatness is great when it does work out. “This is a gentleman's excuse me, so I'll take one step to the side,” sings Fish (of Marillion fame) in what might just be the most polite break-up song ever. Also in this genre is the accidental rendezvous of former lovers in Stars' Your Ex-Lover Is Dead: here is a love that has been and gone and, as it sometimes happens, both of the involved are fine with it: “I'm not sorry I met you, I'm not sorry it's over, I'm not sorry there's nothing to save.”
That takes care of the present and the future of a relationship. Different Drum takes up the challenge of politely breaking off what never was. “Oh, don't get me wrong,” Ronstadt sings, “it's not that I knock it.” And she later even acknowledges the boy's good looks. Now, this could also be the kind of apologetic stance that makes things worse (of the it's-not-you-it's-me variety) but it doesn't feel that way. It feels sincere. No egos were hurt in the unfolding of this particular tale. It simply wasn't quite the right moment for love. Maybe later. Maybe not.
The truth is of course that break-ups and courtships hardly ever work like this. We all know this, which is why we can appreciate the magic when it does. It might not be quite as glamorous a magic as the magic of love, but to me it is quite wonderful in itself. Sometimes, it is just fine to end up being two ships that pass in the night.
