By Mike and Barney Chunn

A good pairing is generally comprised of two differing, complimentary components. If the two single entities in a pair are too similar, the point of having two becomes in a way redundant; each part should have its own distinct role, otherwise why be a couple.

If Paul didn’t have John would he have been a kitsch crooner with a silly disposition? If John didn’t have Paul would he have stuck to the rhythm and blues and never pushed his musical capacity? Do we reference The Beatles too much?

The concept makes sense, and is hardly an original idea. In fact, it could be argued it is a fundamental attitude of human nature, and perhaps all nature. People seek out a partner that has attributes they themselves do not have in order to collectively create a better-rounded unit than the one alone. Things, and beings, are strengthened by their relationship with a component that differs from them. The two can combine forces, and cancel out each other’s weaknesses. Such adages as ‘opposites attract’ continue to enjoy high rotation when it comes to clichés for the same reason most clichés do: there is some truth to what they succinctly espouse.

A functioning couple normally has one person more apt at one thing, while the other is more apt at another. A more dominant personality compliments a more docile one, as opposed to two dominant personalities working together or two docile ones: nothing, in either case, would ever get done. Ultimately this concept is what something so fundamental to human existence and human nature as reproduction is based on; finding a partner who can give your child genetic material you cannot, therefore enhancing the genetic strength of your as yet unborn child. How’s that for bringing it all back to its roots.

And so it is with most things. If you took the soundtrack out of a movie, it would most probably seem a little tame. If you took away the roar of the crowd at an intense sports game, it may seem a little less dramatic.

The Olympic Songwriting Competition is firmly founded in the celebration of such couplings. The Olympic Songwriting Competition is a competition to find a song that understands the way music can enhance the sporting experience. A song that mirrors the spectators’ emotional connection to the sportsperson; and the athletes’ ambitions on the world stage.

It will, in the way that a working member of a pair does, understand the differences between the two and the strengths of each; it will understand what sport and athletic achievement represents; it will appreciate the similarities, the commitment to craft, the motivation, the vocational belief in one’s code. Overall, it will celebrate.

Music and sport have been fundamental examples of expression of the human spirit since time immemorial. In a yinny, yangy way, they celebrate our ability for introspective depth and awareness and our physical determination and prowess. One focuses on the aspect of human nature that is competition and rivalry; a hierarchical, dog eat dog, survival of the fittest instinct. The other, an internal awareness of emotion and the ability to share experiences through sound and expression.

The top ten finalists for the Olympic Songwriting Competition all display an awareness of this relationship between music and sport. Each song celebrates sporting achievement and athletic commitment. Importantly, they all display an awareness of the way in which sport is not just sport, in the same way that music is not just music. Each can shift cultural and national awareness, pride, communal togetherness. Each has the ability to unite people by the common denominators of human interaction.

Which ultimately boils down to another fundamentally human subject (apologies for waffling on about human nature so much). Community. The idea here is that both sport and music are founded in our connection with our surroundings and each other. We have written before that community and personal environment has a lot to do with the production and creation of music. Both inspire a sense of community and pride in one’s community, often with a broader scope than many other codes. Both have the unknown quality of creating a bond or brotherhood.

And so where does that find us? It finds us poised to listen to the array of songs that have reached the FINAL Olympic Songwriting Competition album. Listen to them here. There are ten songs written by teenagers, grown ups, females, men from all points of the compass. Their lyrics bypass the clichés of silver ferns, black, land of long white clouds and Aotearoa in repetitive chants and proclamations.

There have been more than one hundred songs entered: one of them by Jaz Paterson, a teenage songwriter from the South Island, in her beautiful naïve impression, writes:

“You look a little shy in your track suit and pants

almost embarrassed like you’ve been bad….

Standing on the sideline waiting for the man

To call your name

Run boy run; run boy run

Show ‘em what you got; show ‘em what you’re made of”

That says it all…….

Listen to "Run" here.