Warmth is an interesting concept.
In terms of temperature, warmth is difficult to define. If someone asks you for a glass of warm water (and I’m not exactly sure why they would, but let’s go with it) what temperature would you aim for?
You’d probably run the water over your finger until it felt neither cold nor hot. Which, I guess, means that “warmth” is just the temperature of your own skin, and heat and cold are relative from there. It’s the temperature at which you don’t notice temperature. The absence of heat or cold.
But of course, warmth isn’t just about temperature. You can send warm regards. You can give a warm welcome. If you don’t like someone, you can always warm up to them. Unless you feel lukewarm about them, which for some reason means you don’t like them very much. The absence of interpersonal heat or cold.
There are plenty of synonyms for the emotional kind of warmth: friendliness, kindness, hospitality, spirit, zeal, passion…but if you’re looking for synonyms for literal warmth, you’re out of luck. The only temperature-related synonym I could find is the incredibly unimaginative “warmness,” a term which, ironically, doesn’t seem to have the warmth of the word “warmth.”
I think there’s something about the word itself that’s really comfortable. Warmth. Almost sounds like the sound your head makes as it hits a nice soft pillow. Find your favourite pillow and give this wonderfully warm track a listen.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The piano is old and out of tune, like it’s been sitting in the sun too long.
2. The “ooooh” of the backing vocals is a nice contrast to the piano’s honky-tonk sound.
3. The way it loops between its two sections gives the same laid-back groove as “A Maze” by Freddie Joachim.
Recommended listening activity:
Watching butter melt in a warm frying pan.