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Nick Karavite

Professor Diehl

Humanities 2010

28 August 2020

What is Love?

The Beatles demonstrate many different aspects of love in most of their songs. Their lyrics

display love amongst family, friends, and lovers. A song by the Beatles that truly shows a major

aspect of love is “Julia”. This song is dedicated to John Lennon’s mom who passed away in 1958

in an automobile accident when she was only 44. Lennon demonstrates storge love in this song

to show how much love he had for his mom and to reflect on their times together. “Julia”

represents storge love using different love languages and tempo in order to set the certain mood

as it relates to other love songs the Beatles have written.

“Julia” obviously only relates to storge love as the song’s intended audience is John Lennon’s

mom. In this song, Lennon pours his heart out with love for his mom as he continues to grieve

her death. Lennon portrays his mom as beautiful and kind. The way the lyrics are written

describes how Lennon is talking up to his mom in Heaven. He states that what he says is

meaningless, but he says it just to reach his mom. Lennon also goes into how close they were

using love languages such as words of affirmation, quality time, and physical touch. Lennon uses

words of affirmation to confirm his love for his mother throughout the whole song as he repeats

how he is singing a song of love for her. Lennon describes the quality time he spent with his

mother through the eyes and point of view of his younger self. He saw her as beautiful and

someone safe to be with. Lennon also describes physical touch in the song as he requests for her
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loving touch near the end of the song. This shows how much he misses her and how he would do

anything just to see her again. All the lyrics describe a deeper meaning of Lennon’s love for his

mom, but the tempo/beat of the song plays a big role in setting the mood for the song.

“Julia” truly is portrayed as a song of remembrance as the tempo is very slow and

demonstrates a sad mood. The harmony that Lennon employs almost seems like he is singing at

his mom’s funeral. It is truly a sad song in which Lennon pours his heart out for his mom.

Whenever Lennon says his mom’s name in the song, he emphasizes it and shows how much of

an impact she had on his life. This song has important back story as Lennon describes why this

song means so much to him. He tells of how he lost his mom when he was five when he moved

in with his Aunt and now, she has passed away. Lennon feels like he has lost her twice in his life

making this song more passionate. This song is a true example of love from the Beatles that

relates to a lot of their other songs in different ways.

Even though “Julia” is a song that portrays storge love, is still has similarities with different

Beatles songs that don’t necessarily demonstrate that same love. For example, the piece “All My

Loving” is a song that demonstrates a newfound love. It differs from “Julia” in the way of how it

describes eros love, but it is similar in the sense of passion. Both songs demonstrate lots of love

for who it is directed to. Another song that relates to “Julia” is “The Word”. Although these

songs have different audiences, they both portray sad aspects of love and heartbreak. “Julia” is a

true example of the passion and love the Beatles put into their music.

John Lennon uses many different love languages and different tempos to describe the love he

has for his mom. This song shows many different aspects that draw relations to their other love

songs. Lennon really demonstrates passion in the song as he truly misses his mom. In my
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opinion, this song truly shows how Lennon appreciates his mom and does not take her for

granted.