It's funny how a song can take you back to a place and time as if you were stepping into a time machine. Or can become this warm blanket that encompasses you and takes you to a place in your past - or even in your present. Even the chords before the lyrics begin can spark a memory you forgot existed within yourself. I have always been a musical person. While I couldn't play an instrument if my life depended on it, I can sing - and do quite often. Just ask my ten-year old daughter who is constantly telling me to zip it. I often consider myself a walking karaoke machine, because I can remember the lyrics to thousands of songs, even those I haven't heard in many years.
I love music about as much as I love food. Or sleep. Or oxygen. It gets me through hard times, good times, and even the times in between. Sometimes I make playlists of certain songs just to get my mind to calm down when it races into the wee hours of the night. I find that no matter where I am, where I go, or what I do, music is what I cling to. Some people listen to the melodies and swoon. I, personally, am a lyric girl. I find that song whose words can't escape me.
I used to make these incredibly elaborate mixes for people telling them what I thought of them and how I felt. Each tape (eventually CD) was painstakingly hand-crafted. I would sit in front of my boombox with my pad of paper for hours, rewinding and playing, rewinding and playing, rewinding and playing songs to make sure I knew each and every lyric. I had thirty notebooks filled with lyrics that I would sometimes just sit and read, singing along a cappella. I know the lyrics now to thousands of songs.
As a mom, there have been hundreds of songs I want to "dedicate to my daughter" so that when she hears them she thinks of me. Some that fit my situation so well that I can't help but weep when I hear them. About our struggle as a team of mother and daughter and how we can get through anything as long as we stick together.
My personal favorite is when you hear a song when you are somewhere random and you remember which movie it is from. When you get home you have to watch it because the nostalgia is so overwhelming. I place songs with movies constantly. I will hear the same song throughout several different motion picture soundtracks and feel this self-accomplishment that I recognized it. Like anyone gives a damn but me.
How about a love song that makes you think of a forgotten love in your life. Or a whole album you listened to that even one song on it slams you into a time you can remember as good as the back of your hand. It is amazing that songs have these capabilities to spark a longing inside of you.
I don't even know why I am sharing these thoughts. Perhaps because I have been soundtracking my life for the last 3 straight days. Belting out random lyrics that fit with what is happening or just a random up-tempo pop-tune to get me through to the next activity. Oh well, I guess there could be worse things, eh?
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