songs

Writing about Dan Seals got me off on a mental tangent about some of my favorite songs and also how some songs can almost time travel you back to a certain era: I hear Air Supply and I am back in high school mooning over this one boy, or I hear Pat Benatar and I'm in John's Pizzeria with friends on a Saturday; I hear Depeche Mode, Talking Heads or Kate Bush and I am back in 1985 or 1986, not making the most of my college education. I hear "Macarena" and I'm in my car on my way to my ex sister-in-law's baby shower, feeling very wicked for listening to such a secular song. I hear "Any Man of Mine" and I'm driving back into Chestertown in 1999 ready to regain my sense of self...Hearing "I Can't Make You Love Me" I don't know how many times, but especially in NJ in 2007 and feeling in the pit of my stomach, finally, that some things had to change.

One of the good/bad things about music is its ability to evoke emotion.

A couple of weeks ago at work during one of our team meetings we had to do this thing called "Two Truths and a Lie." Evidently most people had played it before and it is a "great" icebreaker. Mine were:

1)My favorite actor is Russell Crowe.
2) I would love to live in the deep South.
3). I do still believe in true love.

The consensus seemed evenly split between either 2 or 3 being the lie. (It was 2). I actually do believe in true love, and this is my definition: in whose presence you are alive in a way unlike any other, someone you will forgive a thousand more times than you would yourself, and...that indefinable something. Do I believe that I will end up with my true love?... Are they still considered your true love if you don't "end up" with them? In my book, yes. Just because you don't have the desired result does not mean that the feeling isn't real. I would love to believe otherwise-that so and so isn't my true love because it seems highly unlikely to end well--but I haven't mastered that level of self-persuasion yet. It is what it is. It hasn't changed in X number of years, and it seems resistant to time and circumstance, almost like some kind of emotional super-virus. But I digress.


Anyway, these are some of my favorite songs dealing with that ...emotion. Some are kind of definition songs, stating what that person is to you or how they make you feel. I like the writing as much as, if not more than, the melody.

1. Now I Know How the River Feels (Diamond Rio). The writing is so symmetrical, the music so beautiful.

2. Somebody (Depeche Mode). The music's plaintive tone echoes the lonely yearning one has for that...somebody. One of my favorite lines is soemoe who will help me see things in a different light/ the things I detest/I will almost like."

3. One Friend (Dan Seals). It just says it simply and beautifully.

4. The Air that I Breathe (Hollies). I love how it begins and gathers steam and just becomes an expression of joy. And really, when you are with the beloved, it does feel as if that is all you need- their presence and air to breathe.

5. Follow Me (John Denver). It has been played so many times that it can be easy to lose sight of how beautiful the words are. The idea of "Follow me...take my hand and... I will follow you," is gorgeous; "take you places I'm going to and places where I've been...."-- how well that illustrates getting to know someone, letting them get to know you. (Unfortunately for me, another highly resonant line is the first: It's by the hardest thing I've ever done/ being so in love with you for so long." )

There are also "What I Would Do" songs"

1. Wild Horses (Rolling Stones)
2) Forever in My Life (Prince)
3) Where Your Road Leads (Trisha Yearwood)

Sometimes you're in a situation where you don't want to hear the particular song because it evokes something so strongly, and other times you listen to it for exactly the same reason.