There’s a song by Ricky Nelson which was on a mix tape that my mother used to play for me when I was a child. Called Travelin’ Man, it’s got fairly simple lyrics but it’s an interesting song:
In case you don’t have time to listen, here are the lyrics:
I’m a travelin’ man and I’ve made a lot of stops
All over the world
And in every port I own the heart
Of at least one lovely girlI’ve a pretty señorita waiting for me
Down in old Mexico
If you’re ever in Alaska stop and see
My cute little EskimoOh, my sweet Fraulein down in Berlin town
Makes my heart start to yearn
And my China doll down in old Hong Kong
Waits for my returnPretty Polynesian baby over the sea
I remember the night
When we walked in the sands of the Waikiki
And I held you, oh so tight
(It repeats the last two verses and then has a coda where he repeats that he’s a travelin’ man, whoa a travelin’ man, etc.)
Ricky’s performance is interesting, as he imbues the vocals with a tinge of boasting and a tinge of sadness which seems very appropriate. The boasting is appropriate to the natural virtue of being attractive. The sadness is appropriate to the moral vice of being deceptive and unfaithful.
The character in the song is going to greatly disappoint all but one of these women, and since they’re waiting for him they’re not just going to be disappointed, they’re going to waste possible years of their life in finding their real vocation. This could easily result in not having as many children or not getting as good a father for their children as they could.
And in practice, we know that he’s going to disappoint all of them, of course, because he’s not the kind of man to make a good husband to anyone.
All of this does serve as an interesting kind of observation on just how powerful romantic attraction can be. It’s often easier, in art, to highlight the magnitude of something by illustrating how terrible it can be, rather than how great it can be, and this song makes subtle use of that.
Chris Lansdown 