For Your Listening Pleasure

"Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from Heaven to the soul."

I've been in a funk for the last few weeks. I'm not going hash it all out here because let's be honest - a real man hides his emotions from the outside world (a little something I picked up from the Old Man) so that no one thinks he's a pansy. Also, I realize that I have a uterus and that actually makes me a woman, but I tend to have a man's mentality a lot of the time. 

Anyway... I feel like I've been going through life on autopilot lately, and that has left me with little motivation to enjoy daily life and little motivation to write. I apologize for slacking off. This isn't exactly Rolling Stone, but I love that my little blog allows people to escape from their lives and experience mine momentarily. I hope you take what you like from my ramblings, and leave behind the words that hold no value for you.

Music is - and always will be - the cure for what ails me, and I feel like that rings true for a lot of people. I like to think that people don't make a living in the music industry simply because they want fame or fortune, but because they want to create something powerful and share it with others.

I love that music has the ability to be interpreted differently by each person, and to take on a new meaning to the listener each time they hear a song even if it's been heard a million times before. To inspire us to live and to feel through the good times and the bad, and to encourage us to carry on when things don't go as planned. 

Last Friday, I started my day feeling emotional as a result of the ups and downs I'd experienced during the week. I drove to work, my mind stumbling across various low points, driving my outlook into darkness. And then, a song I've heard a million times before came on the radio - "The Cave" by Mumford & Sons. 

I've always enjoyed the song - the driving rhythm of the drum and banjo combination, the empowered rise of the chorus, and the cadence of the lyrics as they are sung. A million times before, I'd heard the song and sang along, tapping my foot to the beat. A million times before, I'd heard the song and in my mind it represented the struggles of someone I love. In that moment though, the song represented my own struggles and served as reassurance that after darkness always comes the light. I love when that happens.

The rest of my Friday was great, as was my Saturday. Now that Sunday is here, I need to clean my disgusting house. To motivate myself, I created a little playlist to get the job done and it starts with "Soul Singing" by The Black Crowes. (Even if you don't like the song itself, watch the video and witness the way Chris Robinson dances like a cross between a VH1 Diva and a hippie on the best trip of his life. The power of music at its finest.)

 

My request for comments: What inspires you?