Paolo Nutini's song, "New Shoes," played on my car radio the other day. It was just what the doctor ordered: driving the open road, singing to my heart's content with the windows down.
Can life get any better than this? I submit that it cannot!
However, four hours earlier, my day was ... well, let's just say it's what Daniel Powter calls a Bad Day. Too many thoughts weighed heavily on my mind; burdened with projects needing to get done, and dealing with life's expectations.
On top of all that, a friend called me up just to say he heard a song that reminded him of me -- "Desperado" by The Eagles.
Thanks! I needed a reminder. (sarcasm intended)
Despite feeling sorry for myself, the radio provided musical medicine that helped rebuild the sense of optimism that had previously left me.
It's obvious that music runs deep in my blood, and that I have an affinity toward it. Music reverberates deep within the soul and is a powerful instigator of emotion.
We all experience different songs throughout life. Sometimes all we need is to sing to a good song -- just let it all out.
Now, if you don't mind, I've gotta get back to singing in my car ...
"Life is a highway; I want to ride it..."
Mormon Times
3 comments:
Ditto. I can't sing very well, BUT music has been a huge part of my life.
Songs can, like you said, turn your day around; they can bring you back to an exact moment in time; music and lyrics are so powerful.
Example:
WHen I was little, I suffered from undiagnosed childhood depression (it was the 70's, so people didn't know it existed, so that's why I say undiagnosed) Long story short: strict non affectionate mother; I was terrified of everything. Dreaded everything: school or anything that would take me away from my family or home. It was like being in a constant panic attack looking back at it now. BUT: my world changed one Friday evening when the family TV was on ABC and your dad and aunt came on. For that ONE hour I had no panic; no fear; no worries. I actually smiled and started going around the house singing: "May tomorrow be a perfect day..."
My mother noticed this change in me and then realized where it stemmed from. So she started buying me Donny everything!
But it was the combination of the happiness, the singing and how he looked right at me through the TV and made me feel like somebody every Friday. Thanks to that whole experience my world opened and I grew out of most of the daily issues I had always had. It was a wonderful freedom.
Musical Medicine part II:
Now: Flash Forward Dec. 2000:
My husband got a job in CO. so we packed up our 4 year old and newborn little girl and left Mississippi with tremendous guilt. (in the south, you DON'T EVER leave your family!) So it was a few weeks before Christmas. This would be my 1st Christmas ever without my parents and extended family. I was having a really tough time coping with that one!
While driving around running errands with the baby sleeping in the back of the SUV and got tired of the same old Christmas songs a local radio station was playing over and over. So I ran into Sam Goody's to grab a new Christmas CD. Note: I rarely buy anything for myself... I walked in and in the front of the store was a huge bin full of Christmas CDs. I was only digging around for 30 seconds to 1 minute and something familiar caught my eye..."Christmas at Home" by Donny Osmond. I actually smiled a real smile, not a fake one I had been giving to everyone in order to hide what was really going on inside me....
I looked at the picture of you all standing there with the Christmas lights hanging all over you and thought, "Huh.... I bet this is good. Checked out, hopped back in the SUV, used my keys to open the CD and popped it in. My heart stopped the second the singing started. I sat there amazed at the calmness and happiness that came over me. That CD brought me out of my funk! I played it constantly. I made my husband and kids listen to it. I thought it was so cool how your whole family was on it. But the best thing that came out of the whole thing was it brought me to a personal relationship with God. Going to church really meant something now. I made sure my kids understood what Christmas was really about and took them to a shelter to deliver packages we made up for adults and kids for Christmas. I saw life in a whole new light. I was happy and free again.
That big transformation just from music. Music that not only comforted me because it was a familiar voice; but made me think about the meaning of the songs and what I needed to do in my life so I could enjoy it instead of fear it.
(And I bet your mom and dad had no idea they were helping this pitiful woman just across the mountains! )
Musical Med. Part III:
People think I'm nuts because of how much I follow your Dad and all, but I owe so much to him for bringing me to a happy place. AND your mom, for setting such a good example of how to be a good wife and mother (my husband is a TV director and is gone A LOT, so I have always felt we had a common bond, and I have never even met her!) So twice in my life that caring voice brought me out of some deep dark places. TWICE....with a 20 year gap.
So weird... sometimes I think God went into Sam Goody's and put that CD there so I would see it!
And there is a bonus:
right before Christmas my husband handed me an envelope. An early Christmas gift. I opened it and saw: "JIM BRICKMAN with special guest DONNY OSMOND."
I couldn't believe it! My husband saw how different I was and why, so he went and got us the tickets! He liked the new me he had not seen in years!
I had not seen him since the early 80's when he came to the Mississippi Coast for the Miss USA pageants. (my uncle worked at the National Guard Base where your dad flew in so we got the heads up... AND you were there! A tiny thing all of about 3 holding your Uncle Jay's hand while your dad signed a few autographs.
We couldn't afford tickets to the night of the pageant so my mom would get me and 2 of my friends tickets to the dress rehearsal for my b-day present! I had the best b-day 2 years in a row!
Then, 20 YEARS LATER... my husband gets me the Jim Brickman tickets for Christmas and then the follwing May I got another envelope for his Broadway Concert!
I brought him 2 krispy Kreme chocolate covered creme filled doughnuts with a card attached to the bag. It had that picture of you holding your Uncle's hand in it with a note. I tried telling him that he REALLY needs to keep track of that card because it had something very precious to him in it, but I don't know what ever happened to it. It ended up sitting on the stage by the drum set the rest of the show.
I've always wondered if you guys ever got it. If you still would like a copy I can get it to you via email or snail mail. Which ever.
But back to your point:
Music is SO powerful. I was right there with you when you were telling your story about riding with the windows down!
I'd much rather listen to the radio and scan the stations then watch TV!
Sorry for such a long letter, but I have only told that story to 2 other people; and got to thinking, "Shouldn't the people involved get to know what they so innocently did just by being them??!!!"
Thanks and keep that volume turned up!
Amber M. Lena
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