Music - The Skinny

I've been on kind of a musio-kick. As if there has ever been a time when music didn't influence my moods, my choices and my willingness to shed tears without reason... I have listened to and sang and written music for as long as I can remember and cannot recall a time when I didn't have a musical instrument within arm's reach. I have used the medium of song to convey my love and my sorrows, my loneliness and my fleeting wistful moments. That said, I have been thinking more about music lately, and the way it makes me think and feel.

I have a very visceral connection with music. I can not only hear it, I can feel it and taste it - sometimes I can smell it, if it's really good - but I think the strongest connection I have with music is with my memories. A song can bring back a particular moment in time - good, or bad - the opening chords of a particular tune can make the hair stand up on the back of my neck and likewise, make me run for cover.

I remember when I received the Beatles "Let it be" album for Christmas when I was ten years-old and playing it until I wore it out. The opening strains of "Two of Us" still takes me back to that winter every time I hear them played. Certain songs - "Every Day I Write the Books" by Elvis Costello, "I'll Remember You" by Elvis Presley and "Everytime You Go Away" by Hall and Oates all transport me to a different time and place and never fail to bring a smile to my face.

I think we should all pay a little more attention to our music, be it Fallout Boy, Britney Spears or Led Zeppelin, and realize the impact it will eventually have on the big picture. As the movie or our life unfolds and the plot-points take us into unexpected hinterlands, sometimes the magic of the music will be all we have to help us keep the sexton of our story focused on the good and pure.

Keep your memories sacred and keep your songs close by - you never know when you might need them.