Parallels between 'What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?' and Book 6 of 'The Aeneid'

Now, this blog started as a way for me to purge all those weird an wonderful thoughts about things that I have been carrying around in my mind for the last few decades. The blog has gone off in many other directions since then but has retained this function too, and very successfully. I find writing this blog very therapeutic and it has helped me to deal with many of the challenges I have faced in the past year. You may say that with over 230 postings in 12 months I have a lot going on, but of course, this blog has also become rather a scrapbook too as well as a response to political, social and economic developments as they appear. Today I am going back to that first purpose and this is going to seem an oddity, because I am going to write about what I see the parallels being between the pop song, 'What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?' and Book 6 of 'The Aeneid'. I cannot think of many pop songs with a Classical connection, the only others are possibly 'The Back Stabbers' by The O'Jays (1972) which may have a tenuous link to the murder of Julius Caesar and 'Delilah' by Tom Jones (1968) with its Biblical story.

First some background. 'What Becomes of the Brokenhearted' was released on the Motown record label in 1966 by Jimmy Ruffin, it proved to be his most successful song. The backing was provided by two groups, The Originals and The Adantes and the music came from the Motown in-house band The Funk Brothers. The lyrics are:

As I walk this land with broken dreams
I have visions of many things
Love's happiness is just an illusion
Filled with sadness and confusion,

What becomes of the broken hearted
Who had love that's now departed?
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
Maybe.

The fruits of love grow all around
But for me they come a tumblin' down.
Every day heartaches grow a little stronger
I can't stand this pain much longer
I walk in shadows
Searching for light
Cold and alone
No comfort in sight,
Hoping and praying for someone to care
Always moving and goin' nowhere

What becomes of the broken hearted
Who had love that's now departed?
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
Maybe.

I'm searching though I don't succeed,
But someone look, there's a growing need.
Oh, he is lost, there's no place for beginning,
All that's left is an unhappy ending.

Now what's become of the broken-hearted
Who had love that's now departed?
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind

I'll be searching everywhere
Just to find someone to care.
I'll be looking everyday
I know I'm gonna find a way
Nothing's gonna stop me now
I'll find a way somehow
I'll be searching everywhere
Just to find someone to care
I'l be looking every day
I know I'm gonna find a way
Nothing's gonna stop me now
I'll find a way somehow

What becomes of the broken hearted
Who have love that's now departed?
I know I've got to find
Some kind of peace of mind
Maybe, please.

'The Aeneid' was produced around 29-19 BCE by Greek poet Virgil (70-19 BCE). It is in 12 books and recounts the adventures of Aeneas, a Trojan who escapes Troy after it has been captured by the Greeks in the Trojan war. He travels the Mediterranean and eventually settles in Italy conquering the Latins and setting up the foundations for what was to become Rome. In Book 6 of the poem, Aeneas goes into the Underworld to find out useful knowledge about the future, something Odysseus does took in Book 11 of 'The Odyssey' by Homer (Odysseus is a Greek warrior who takes 10 years returning from the Trojan War and like Aeneas is buffeted to various locations around the Mediterranean). In Greek and Roman myths after you died your spirit crossed the River Styx and went into the underworld ruled over by the god Hades (Pluto in the Roman myths). There was no distinct heaven or hell, all spirits ended up in the underworld but allocated to different areas either to live in luxury as on the Elysian Fields or to be punished in areas like Tatareus in very similar ways to one might expect in the Christian Hell depending on your behaviour during life. The underworld was also full of spirits of people who had not done wrong but were dissatisfied because they had died tragically or had been betrayed. Aeneas meets Dido a woman who had fallen in love with him in Carthage but he deserted to continue on his journey. These spirits, often called 'shades', are like ghosts in our modern perception. In Virgil's portrayal of the underworld there also spirits waiting to be born and Aeneas meets the spirits of Romulus and Remus (legendary founders of the City of Rome) and the Roman Emperors Augustus (emperor 27BCE-16CE) and Julius Caesar (emperor 49-45 BCE).

Anyway I had to study Book 6 of 'The Aeneid' when I was a teenager and whenever I heard the Jimmy Ruffin song, which still gets played a surprising amount I always felt there were parallels with what I was reading. Ruffin's song is quite unusual as it portrays 'a land of broken dreams' in which he 'walk[s] in shadows' and 'see[s] visions of many things' and 'happiness is only an illusion filled with sadness and confusion'. This to me summed up the environment of shadowy shades in the underworld many, notably Dido ('love that has now departed'), are sad. The underworld itself seems full of lots of illusion and a great deal of sadness and Aeneas sees visions not only of the past but of the future too. Ruffin also sings about 'always moving' which is what Aeneas experiences in all the time covered by the stories. It is a passionate song that moves along strongly and I could feel Aeneas feeling like that in turns upset and frustrated but also determined to continue.

I know that Greek myths are popular on the curricula of American schools and colleges and I will probably never find out if the writers of the song, William Weatherspoon, Paul Riser, and James Dean were influenced by 'The Aeneid', but that is not going to shake me from thinking about it whenever I hear the song.