Music

Music has always had a profound effect on me. There are some songs that instantly calm me down while others make me edgy and antsy. Songs that I have loved, listened to over and over, memorized every word, those songs have the ability to bring back memories with the finest details. I love those songs, the ones that are intertwined with moments in my life that help me to remember the feelings, the seasons, the people, and yes, the outfits I was wearing at the time. I hold these close, probably won’t ever get tired of listening to them because they have the ability to transport me back in time to some great (and not so great) times. I guess you’d call them the soundtrack of my life. They should, and do, play in the background when I picture those times. Here are a few of them.
Piano Man by Billy Joel. I spent a summer at my Grandma Brown’s house in Ammon, Idaho with my sister Nancy. She and I packed up our Memorex tapes and our stereo and would listen to that over and over that summer. I love it now; not only is it a great song, but it has enabled me to remember the smell of my Grandma’s house. I treasure that. Of course, it also jars the memory of me with permed hair, hiking in Yellow Stone in my White Mountain shoes. Who does that?! I don’t listen to that song often. I’m worried that I could somehow wear out the context of that memory, maybe overshadow it with more current events and I would forget the smell and the feelings of that summer. I don’t want to risk it, so Piano Man is a rare treat for me nowadays.
U2, any of their songs, but especially Rattle and Hum album follows me through Junior High and High School. I listened to some of those songs while my life flashed before my eyes while driving with my friends Lindsay and Jules. Let me tell you, there were some white-knuckled moments in that giant Ford truck and Julie’s Bronco. That sucker had no seat belts in the back seat; it was a double-edged sword fighting over the lone seat belt in the front seat. One the one hand, you had a seat belt. On the other hand, you had a front row seat to what was going on. Sometimes it was a toss-up for what was the most harrowing. Having Bono cranked in the background was somehow soothing in those moments of being tossed around. I still find Bono comforting…
Pear Jam’s Black. Well, I love this song. I can’t really say more about it than that.
One spring at Utah State my roommate Michele and I obsessed over The Wall Flowers. Whenever I hear any of their songs, I’m back in that hole of an apartment with some of the craziest roommates I’ve ever had. I loved that year. I love being able to smell spring in Logan again. We would put on shorts in ridiculously cold weather, thinking it was so warm. When your fingers turn blue when you’re lying out, trying to tan your legs, well…that’s spring in Logan.
Clarinet Concerto in A major, Adagio by Mozart. Ah, this one is both a saving grace and great sorrow wrapped in one. I listened to this every night while I slept for a couple of months during the hardest time in my life. It comforted me when I didn’t think anything could. I hold this near to my heart and am overwhelmed at the peace that comes with this music. I love this piece and listen to it as often as I can.
The soundtrack to the movies “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “White Christmas”. They will forever remind me of my sisters and I both miss them terribly when I hear them, and am comforted in their absence by these songs. It is not an unusual occurrence in my house to have people burst into song. The Sisters song was a particular favorite for obvious reasons, as was Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend. I learned how to shimmy to that song.
These days, the music we listen to in our house has more…breadth. Everything from Sesame Street Disco (thanks a ton for that one Dan) to Collective Soul to classical. I have a great appreciation for the different music we have to enjoy. Each year on New Year’s Eve we have put together a CD of pictures of that year. For the music, Jon and I try to put the songs that have defined that year for us: the year Anabel learned the words to “What Do You Do in the Summer Time?” played for the summer pictures. It made us smile to think back on her tiny voice singing along. Hopefully my kids will have the memories to go along with some of the songs we play.
I have a deep and abiding respect and appreciation for what music can do. The songs that play through my mind in the quiet times are often the piano pieces I struggled to learn, the songs that we sang as a family, and even some of the songs that I can still find on the radio. It’s always a good day when you find a song you have to sing along to with the volume cranked up. It’s a happy and inspiring moment that will hopefully stay locked in our memories for the rest of our lives.