Delta Music

When her savior is broken-hearted instead of bitter

We’ve discussed Alpha music and Gamma music, but I don’t know that we’ve ever discussed Delta music. I haven’t heard this song in decades, but when I heard Broken Hearted Savior by Big Head Todd and The Monsters yesterday, it struck me as a quintessentially Delta song.

Fields are white in snowy spring and I can't remember
The last time that I've seen her
The highway is still cold and wet and I can't forget
The way I had to leave her
And every passing day, she flickers and she fades
Is someone to catch her when she falls from the heavens?

And I'll love her yet, though she has done me wrong
And I'll bring her back, though she has been long gone
And I'll always be her
Broken hearted savior

And every heavy night
Takes out the little life that's left within her
Every man she gives her love, he takes it
And leaves her with a dinner
Our love was once a flame, now I'm just a forgotten name
Am I the only one to blame for ever loving her?

And I'll love her yet, though she has done me wrong
And I'll bring her back, though she has been long gone
And I'll always be her
Broken hearted savior

The oneitis, lower status, pedestalization, and white knightery are all there, but the distinct lack of bitterness, the steadfastness of the devotion, and the ready willingness to forgive instead of dreaming of revenge rules out the possibility of Gamma.

It’s definitely neither Alpha nor Sigma nor Omega. Or, obviously, Lambda. Which leaves us with Delta. And to the extent the lyrics accurately reflect the Delta perspective, it makes it easy to understand why women are so often predisposed to walk all over Deltas, and why they fail to respect the Deltas’ many positive qualities.

I was intrigued to find that when I put the chorus into AI image generation, it produced the following result.

It’s not a great mystery why this sort of music seems to harbor tremendous appeal to women. If I were to hazard a theory as to why, melancholy Delta music appears to serve as a way of metaphorically salving their wounds from rejection and indifference from higher-status men by reminding them that there are always broken-hearted saviors waiting for them and yearning to rescue them from themselves.

And yet, forgiveness sans repentance seldom ends well.