What a difference a few years make...It is amazing to me that over the years; we don't realize how much our tastes really change. Take music for example. There is something to be said for a really great live version of "Layla" by Eric Clapton or a mother singing to her beautiful daughter a lighter, simpler version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." No matter who you are or what country you are in or from; music has an influence over your life. With that said, your music tastes change over the years, even slightly.
It so crazy to see that there is such a cosmic pull in your body when certain music plays. There are always "those songs." You know the ones that when played no matter where you are it is like an out of body experience. I know for me when I listen to "The Pot" by Tool, no matter where I am or what I'm doing I just... LET GO (which of course, I can't do while driving). It just makes me want to "dance it out" whatever I'm feeling at the moment. The reason I mention this, six or seven years ago I would have never thought such an "experience" could happen. I always listened to music, loved music, sang and danced; but it was only in those past seven years I have found how it can totally CHANGE your whole demeanor. How you can have one of those terrible, horrible, nothing is going right, kind of days and then you put on a little Bob, and you know that every little thing is going to be alright!
I have been going through my old Cd's; playing them one by one and singing every word (because I still know them somehow) and thinking, "why do those songs just stick like napalm?" I have not seen many 30-something year-old men blaring, Raffi, out their car windows lately; but if they have children they know every word to "Baby Beluga" because of their children and their own past. I remember growing up to my mom singing "You are My Sunshine " and now 28 years later singing it to my own daughter. I realize then that great music, " your music" last forever and is swayed by that period in your life.
I can feel the effects when a certain song comes on the radio or a specific memory flashes through my mind in the blink of an eye over hearing my favorite song. I know for me there are always certain songs that I permanently attach a person to. I could hear "I Saw Him Standing There" (Tiffany's version) and I'm 10 years-old again with my best friend, Anna, and we are putting on a show for her sister and her friends...Oh, and I still know the dance moves to this day! There is the "go to" song for karaoke, "Last Dance." Then, there are those rare times where your hear a band or singer for the first time, and it literally "changes your life." For me, that was Tori Amos, and my Uncle Jim introduced me to her when I was about 12 and it meant the world to me! I know then what my new dream was, song writing. Unfortunately, I could not play an instrument to be able to write music to the lyrics. Then there is that special song that I danced with my husband to "Making Memories of Us" by Keith Urban and that song will always remind me of my first husband an wife dance an how I truly felt at that exact moment, in love. Or if I turn on a little Bob Marley, I'm right back in Jamaica with the crystal blue water on naked island with a mudslide or a rum punch in my hand. I then discovered dancing (S-factor), and there are still songs that just make me "come alive" and feel the music. I hear "Gardenia" by Mandy Moore or "Closer" by Kings of Leon and I'm transformed into this creature that is just in my own world. It is an over whelming feeling the first time that you truly let go and get out of your head.
Now it seems to have come full circle as my daughter, Burke, is being so heavily influenced by music through her parents. Since she was a sparkle in my eye, she has been listening to music. She listens to everything from Tool or Metallica, to Bach, to Chris Botti, to Sugarland or Taylor Swift, she has heard it all. I could swear the other day I caught her singing in the car with me (she is seven months old). I was driving down the freeway and she was wide awake and happy. She pulled her Nuk out of her mouth and started babbling along with me and the music. I heard her, turned down the music and she stopped, then turned the music back up and she started up again. Coincidence? I hope not!
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"You are my Sunshine" is our song, too. My grandpa sang it to my mom, my mom sang it to me, and I've been singing it to Lilith since before she was born. It always calms her down. And we sing it every night. My mom has even found a Gund bear that plays it (thankfully, we found more because her original one broke). It gets played everynight and goes with when we go away. (Even for naps.)
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