Lance and I watched a documentary the other night about Motown Music. We watch a lot of music oriented documentaries, concert videos or artist profiles on TV, Netflix, etc. We’re nerds, I know. It’s funny but the night Lance and I met one of the first things we discovered we had in common was the fact that both of us were HUGE Todd Rundgren fans – not too many of us out there, but I’d been a fan since highschool and had a lot of his music. That connection in the first 15 minutes was just the “inkling” I needed to feel a huge possibility of a connection with this boy. We found out over the next few weeks just how important music was to our lifestyles and daily routines. The more we’ve discussed it over the years, we’ve discovered that our memories and feelings about music are for different reasons a lot of the time. Music is really a personal language for all of us.

You may have noticed that a lot of my blog posts begin with a song title; yes, that’s intentional. I can always relate my feelings to music – whether I’m happy, sad, bored, motivated, excited or in deep sorrow, music has always been there to support me, enhance my feelings, soothe my feelings or numb my pain. I’m not hooked on one type of music either – my mood drives what I feel like listening to that day or even creates the mood. I love pretty much any kind of music – my iTunes is full of gospel, blues, jazz, classic rock, indie rock, alternative, to rap to heavy metal; the only kind of music I avoid is opera (my short time spent taking voice lessons killed that interest quickly).

At times I focus on the lyrics, the songwriter and the time period in which the song was written. I personalize the experience by trying to imagine what the songwriter was feeling or thinking at that time – what was the writer’s intent for those words? To heal, motivate, inspire or just simply to entertain the listener? Sometimes the songwriter is interpreting the musical score with words – the chords, the notes, the musical progression and feeling by adding lyrics in a certain way to create an experience.

Music is so personal for so many reasons. Anyone can take the lyrics or a musical score and personalize it, making it reflect a person’s current thoughts and feelings.  Even if you can’t carry a tune, or play an instrument, or read music, you can make a song personal through your own mood and experience. Sometime put on a song and just let the words and music wash over you like a flowing river – listen, sing, feel, love, grieve, cry or even shout! Do what you need to do to let the music take you wherever you need to go at that point in time. Let it excite you or motivate you, or let it soothe your pain and heal your inner wounds. Anything is possible with music.

I hope if you’ve never really gone beyond just listening to music and taking it for what it is, that you will dig a little deeper.  Read the lyrics of a song that moves you – imagine the writer and the time it was written. It’s so easy to find the lyrics to most any song using Google today. Dig deep and see why that song touches you or why you like that singer/songwriter so much. You’ll find that the more you focus on the lyrics and the music, you will find so much pleasure in just a simple song. You may discover that a specific artist has the ability to speak to you, and possibly for you, and make a difference in your life.

Music can be so many different things to different people. I’ve started digging into the work of Bob Dylan, one of Lance’s very favorite performers, and other artists of the 1960’s. It is really speaking to me right now in these times of change. So for the next few weeks, I’m going to focus on music and how it relates to certain parts of my life. Lance is going to chime in as a guest blogger as well. Even though we love so many of the same artists and music, we’ve discovered we relate to it and love it for different reasons. His take on certain albums are things I’ve never considered and vice versa. We’ve had some lovely conversations reminiscing about the songs of our youth and why they are so important to us. 

I think the next few weeks will be fun as we challenge each other and share memories. Whatever you do, find a song that does something to you and sing it loud.  

Enjoy one of my very favorites from Marvin Gaye released in January 1971…

“What’s Going On?”

Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today – Ya

Father, father
We don’t need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we’ve got to find a way

Right on

Mother, mother, everybody thinks we’re wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long

Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today

Oh
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see

What’s going on
Ya, what’s going on
Tell me what’s going on
I’ll tell you what’s going on –

Uh

Right on baby
Right on baby