Jean-Paul Sartre, French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic
Written for Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt. Hand drawn portrait of Jean-Paul Sartre by Domenico Condello
For this week’s Thursday Inspiration post from Jim Adams, he gave us the image above and the word “lonely.” My mind immediately took me to the 1959 Paul Anka song, “Lonely Boy.”
Anka had a talent for writing about the teenage experience in the 50s. “I was a lonely boy and I’d see these lonely boys at all these hops,” he said in the cover notes on his Greatest Hits album.
Anka was just 16 in 1957 when his song “Diana” topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, making him an international star. He quickly became one of the biggest stars of the late ’50s. But he felt there was something missing. “In moving around so much, I never had time to spend with the people really close to me,” he said. “I wanted to experience more than just the success syndrome.
In this song, Anka revealed that, despite his success, he was still lonely: “I’ve got everything you could think of / But all I want is someone to love.” He said, “I was reaching out, saying, ‘Hey, I want somebody to share this with me.’”
When I was researching this song, I came across another song by the same name. Andrew Gold had an international hit with his song, “Lonely Boy,” in 1977. It spent five months on the American charts, peaking at number seven in both Canada and the United States, and number 11 in the United Kingdom.
Gold’s “Lonely Boy” is about the life of a child who is neglected by his parents after the birth of a younger sister. Many assume this song was autobiographical, yet Gold has denied this, despite great similarities between the lyrics and Gold’s own life. The lyric, “He was born on a summer day in 1951” matches Gold’s August 1951 birthday, and “In the summer of ‘53 his mother / Brought him a sister” matches his sister’s birthday.”
Which “Lonely Boy” song do you like better?
I wake up every morning since you’ve been gone and my pillow is soaked from having cried all night long.
I can’t believe that you left me after all we’ve been through together. My heart is broken and I can’t stop these lonely teardrops streaming from my eyes.
Won’t you please come home and give our love just one more chance? I know if you do we can rekindle our romance.
Please, my darling, say that you will come back home to me. You won’t regret it my love. Just say you will. Please say you will.
Written for Jim Adams’ Thursday Inspiration prompt, with a special not to Jackie Wilson.
Welcome to July 26, 2021 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.
I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).
Today’s word is “lonely.”
Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.
Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.
And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.
How many times and in how many ways can a man have his heart broken?
Only the lonely can understand how I am feeling. It’s as if I’ve checked into Heartbreak Hotel.
I now refer to myself as “Mr. Lonely,” and I just don’t care anymore. I will no longer allow myself to cry those lonely teardrops. I will stop shedding the tears of a clown.
From this day forth I resolve that I am a rock, I am an island, and I’ll be what I am, a solitary man.
(Exactly 90 words)
Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the word is “solitudinarian.”
How many song titles about being alone or lonely can you pick out in this post?
This, That, and the Other 