The Sound of Music (a bit long)

My favorite music comes from the decadent 70s.  Okay, so maybe I wasn’t into decadence but I love the music anyway.  The 80s brought with it some good tunes too even if there were copious amounts of big hair involved.  Even the 90s provided me with some great ear candy.  Such talent as Jackson Browne, The Eagles, Joe Walsh, Heart, Billy Joel and Crosby, Stills and Nash gave me audible pleasure in ways that Captain and Tennille never could.

Yesterday I decided to burn some of my favorite songs onto a CD and was a little surprised at how the lyrics to these songs not only still affect me but how I can relate to them in my life all these years later.

Eddie Money’s I Wanna Go Back is a song that speaks to my occasional desire to go back in time and change some things about my life (knowing I can’t.)  If I could hit rewind and go back I would tell all the bullies that plagued me in junior high that their opinions were just that, opinions, and they didn’t define me.  I also would have invested less of my hard-earned money on spandex and platform shoes.

 

The comforting feeling I get from Silent Lucidity by Queens Rysche reminds me that I can achieve my dreams, I just have to make an effort.  The spoken part of the song says, “Visualize your dream, record it in the present tense, put it into a permanent form; if you persist in your efforts, you can achieve a dream come true.”  A dream come true for me would be to back straight out of the garage and not veering off to the right thus running over the flower bed.  Once, just once, I would like to accomplish this.

Empty Garden by Elton John.  I love the song but there is one line that sticks out…”It’s funny how one insect can damage so much grain.”  I’m reminded that I could very well be that insect if I’m not careful.  My words, my actions, my reactions, if not expressed with kindness and respect, could very well be damaging to others.  I don’t want to be that insect.  I’m not a big fan of bugs anyway so that’s an added incentive.

Hootie and the Blowfish!  Woot!  Love them.  Let Her Cry is one of my favorite songs.  Sometimes you’ve just got to let a person be; let them do what they need to do in order to feel better.  “Let her cry, if the tears roll down like rain.  Let her sing, if it eases all her pain.  Let her go, if she walks right out on me.  And if the sun comes up tomorrow, let her be, let her be.”  And if she’s having an especially bad hair day you need to bring her chocolate before getting the hell out of Dodge.

Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.  More introspection from Sir Elton.  “Although I search myself, it’s always someone else I see.”  Have you ever felt this way?  You look deep within yourself and see someone different from what others see?  Me too.  It makes me wonder who I really am sometimes.  Of course sometimes when I search myself it means I’ve lost something.  Again.

Poison’s Give Me Something to Believe In touches me in a lot of ways.  Bret Michaels and company sing of stark contrasts in life.  The TV preacher who tells his followers all about Jesus’ love while reaching out his hand for a monetary reward.  The Vietnam vet who fought for his country but his country didn’t want him back.  The poor living on the street while just a mile away the rich folks are living it up.  My favorite part of the lyrics are “You take the high road and I’ll take the low road.”  The low road is the road less traveled and the one I need to spend more time on.

Against the Wind by Bob Seger.  Did that man have some seriously thick hair or what?  I can surely relate to this song.  “Against the wind, I’m still runnin’ against the wind, I’m older now and still running against the wind.”  When I was a young whipper snapper I thought there would come a day when the wind would be against my back, pushing me along and making life easier.  Uh…no.  I’m 49 and still running against the wind but the difference now is I realize that life doesn’t get easier with age but things can be easier to handle with the experience age brings.

If I really want to get my sorry butt up and moving I put on REO Speedwagon’s Roll With the Changes.  “So if you’re tired of the same old story, oh baby, turn some pages.”  (Insert some seriously flawed dancing on my part.)  If I’m tired of things the way they are then I have to be the one to change them.  I might succeed or I might fail but if I don’t do anything then I have no one to blame but myself.  Roll with the changes baby!

These are just a few of the songs that have stood the test of time in my life; songs that have followed me through years of living and learning.  I appreciate these songs and the timelessness of their message.  There are other songs besides the ones I’ve mentioned here but if I told you it would incriminate me and strip me of my coolness.

Can you say ABBA?