I have two memories about Moulin Rouge before I saw the movie.
The first memory involves me riding in a car with one of my more pop-culture aware cousins. A song was playing, and she said that it was from the movie Moulin Rouge, and in the movie the moon is singing that part. Obviously, this sounded bizarre.
The second memory involves a senior in the class ahead of me and the final show choir concert of the year. Every senior in show choir could choose a song to perform at the concert, and she chose “Your Song,” by Elton John. Only she didn’t say it was by Elton John, she said it was from Moulin Rouge. I didn’t know any better, but I thought I was a nice song.
After watching the movie, I can confirm that the singing moon is bizarre but overall makes sense in the movie world, and that Your Song is a good song. If one song pops into my head when I think of Moulin Rouge, however, it’s Ewan McGregor crying, “All you need is love!”
Well, I don’t buy it.
My husband is a long-time gamer. He is also much more interested in music than I am, so in the car we’re usually listening to one of his playlists, which contain a lot of video game music. One of those entries is “You’re My Number One,” a song written for a Sonic game and sung by the very soulful, very white TJ Davis. It includes the lyrical gem
All I need is you
For always and forever
All you need is me
Remember when I say
All we need is love
For us to be together
Cause you’re my number one
It’s a catchy beat but definitely not winning any awards in the songwriting department. The last time I heard that chorus, I turned to my husband and told him, “You aren’t all that I need.” It was a nice romantic moment.
Finite, fallible humans and the love they can give are no match for our needs. For one thing, they die way too easily. What if the only person you need, whose love is all you need, dies in a car crash? What then? And, how can they possibly fill up the hole if your heart? My husband and I love each other deeply, and that doesn’t keep me from having moments of discontent and restlessness. I’d like to say that it’s not because he’s not enough, but of course he isn’t enough. He’s human. None of us are enough.
God created us to be dependent on him. He’s the only one who can make the love songs true – all we need IS his love; if he’s our number one, we have all we need. He can fill the hole in our hearts.
SDG