When I hear this song I am immediately filled with the feelings of warmth, joy, and home. Yes this is a very popular Carol King song, however, I associate this song (particularly this part of the song) with my all time favorite TV show, Gilmore Girls. I started watching Gilmore Girls when I was eleven years old, and have since re-watched the show countless times, usually when I’m in need of comfort or just need to feel good. I could go on and on about the reasons why I love this show, from the quirky town of Stars Hollow to which characters are my favorites and why, but you would be here all day. Instead, in addition to explaining why these lyrics move me, I want to talk about HOW these lyrics move me. To do this, I’m going to dissect this theme song line by line.
Let’s start with the opening lines:
“If you’re out on the road, feeling lonely and so cold”
These lines use ethos to create the feelings of desperation and sadness by using words like “lonely” and “cold”. The sentence “if you’re out on the road” creates the image in the audience’s minds of being away from home alone. The feelings and images created by these first few lines help to make the rest of the song feel super upbeat and comforting.
Speaking of the rest of the song….
The lines,
“all you have to do is call my name, and I'll be there on the next train”
creates a hopeful feeling in the audience by once again appealing to their emotions and creating the image of a loved one running to their side.
Finally the chorus of the song really emphasizes these feelings of comfort and joy saying:
“Where you lead, I will follow, anywhere that you tell me to, if you need, you need me to be with you, I will follow where you lead”
I connect this song with Gilmore Girls obviously because it is the theme song of the show, but also because I feel that the show provides those same feelings that the lines of the song do. Whenever I am feeling sad or lonely, I can turn on the show (thank God for Netflix) and enjoy seeing my favorite characters and stories again. Wherever I lead, Gilmore Girls will follow.
Thanks for reading!