Music and Medicine: Doctor of Romance by Doxter S

Doxter S has been creating original lyrical songs for over 6-years. Doxter S occasionally makes connections between music and art with medicine and health care.  Doctor of Romance by Doxter S is a love song that illuminates the benefits of the artistic side of the brain. Art and music have, throughout the centuries, often included references to doctors and medicine. One famous artist often sought out medical help.

Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh was famous for cutting off an ear and eventual suicide. During his life he sought out many doctors to relieve his suffering. Among the many remedies prescribed was FoxGlove, a plant that naturally contains Digitalis. Doctors used Digitalis for centuries to treat heart failure. We don’t know exactly why Van Gogh was prescribed this potentially toxic substance. However, there is evidence of its toxicity in his most famous painting: Starry Night (depicted on this page).

Scholars of science and art now believed the yellow used for this painting was a side effect of digitalis. Digitalis changes the artist’s color perception to see more yellow in everything. The brilliant yellows the artist used in his later paintings have been similarly attributed to this drug. No one knows for sure if these theories are correct. Among the artistically inclined in the health care fields this is a widely held belief. For a musical explanation of Vincent Van Gogh’s life, I refer you to Vincent by Don McLean, a very lovely ballad describing the emotional life of this famous artist. This was a favorite song for me.

Doctor of Romance by Doxter S is not about painting, but is about poetry and lyrics. The attraction of the artist remains very strong in our society, and point of this love song is to express that fact in the context of a romance.