MUSIC: The Language We All Understand

For as long as I can remember MUSIC has played a major part in the story of my life. 

From my earliest memories of Lee singing softly to comfort herself, "Sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray", musical beats and lyrical words have occupied a special place in my heart.

And to this day, MUSIC continues to reside deep inside of me in a very, very special place. How else can I explain the constant melodies playing in my head, and the avalanche of lyrics that come to mind when I engage in everyday conversations.

I'm the go-to girl in my family when it comes to MUSIC. Wanna know who sings a certain song? Need the lyrics? I usually have them, stored in my mental musical library.

I don't have a favorite genre or favorite band, or even a favorite song. To choose only one would be impossible for me. There are way too many. 

My love of rhythm and blues comes from my mother, who listened to a lot of  MUSIC when we were growing up, but who was never as passionate about it as I am. She mostly played her MUSIC at parties or to clean house on Saturdays.

I love country tunes because when I lived in Hawaii and attended school there, I was exposed to Gordon Lightfoot, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Crystal Gayle, and many other popular country artists of 70's and early 80's. I also discovered the Beatles while in Hawaii, and have loved them ever since.

I love rock and roll because when I was younger I used to scan the radio for all kinds of different MUSIC, and found a lot of local rock and soft rock stations. I would just skip from station to station looking for any song I knew the words to, or had heard before.
 
I found the songs I liked were playing all over the dial. And, it was also in the 80's when cable television stations like MTV and VH1 were popular and brand new to the teens in my generation.

I love jazz and the blues. I like classical and even some opera. I love gospel, and I have 'Auntie Opal' to thank for my appreciation for some of the gospel classics like "Day by Day", "I'm a Soldier in The Army of The Lord", and "In the Garden".


These songs ring out in my head from time to time, like an overflowing well, and memories of Auntie Opal, and her kindness, and strictness, run deep.

And, of course, I love hip hop, the official MUSIC of my generation. 

 

Let's just say I love MUSIC, Any kind of  MUSIC, just as long as its groovin!

 The O'Jays ~ I Love Music

Soul Train Performance

When I was born, circa 1970, MUSIC was much different than it is today. Back then we listened to 8-track tapes and vinyl records.

In the 70's, artists like Earth Wind and Fire, Frankie Beverly and Maze, and Stevie Wonder, made "good music" because they enjoyed the feeling they got from performing and sharing their creations with others.

Earth, Wind & Fire ~ Sing a Song

Live in Concert ~ 1981

God-given talent like that cannot be contained, and it brings the artist tremendous joy to create such musical masterpieces and to be able to share them with others.

Stevie Wonder ~ Sir Duke 

"Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand."
~ Stevie Wonder

 

It was during this time that I started to phase out my use of 8-track tapes and moved toward the "cassette tape". The cassette was more compact and you could record on both sides. I loved it.

The late 70's and early 80's saw the death of disco and the birth of hip hop. I fell in love with the rhymes of Kurtis Blow, the Sugar Hill Gang, and Grand Master Flash and The Furious Five.

 Kurtis Blow ~ The Breaks

Soul Train Performance

My step-father always had the latest records at the house, so I was lucky enough to have access to a turn table and no less than one hundred albums at my disposal.

I would sit down and listen to an album over and over again until I had remembered all the lyrics. I loved it when the album would include the lyrics, either on the record sleeve or, if lucky enough, the album would fold open and the lyrics would be right there, in living color. 

During this time I also acquired the taste for Teena Marie, Rick James, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, The Dramatics, etc.

Soul Train became my weekly fix for seeing my favorite songs being performed. I remember  when I was younger, and not liking when an artist would perform a song live. They would sing the song slightly different from how it had been released on the album, and to me it just didn't sound right.

It would take me years to get over this. I guess I would have preferred them to just get up there and lip sync to the album, so I could sing along.

Now, I can appreciate a live performance, something I found after attending concerts and live band sessions. The live performance, although slightly different from the album, was and is, always better.

The 90's would bring the end of the vinyl album and the cassette for me, being replaced with a new desire for the compact disc. No more broken needles on the turn table and no more rewinding or fast forwarding tapes. Now we could just "skip" to the track we wanted to hear.

The decade would also deliver what I call market saturation and exploitation of "good music". Overnight it seemed everybody and they grand-momma (yeah I said it) was "putting out" their CD. Come on now. Seriously?

Part of what fuels this is that we have artists who are not really all that talented, but they are marketable, or they have a certain connection in the industry, paying for the success of their career (one way or another), or whatever the case may be. The point is, they don't have natural talent, and yet, they are selling records and being played in high rotation on local radio stations.

So now the average Joe is thinking if Such and Such can make a record, he ought to be able to make one, too.

Listening enjoyment aside, MUSIC also helps me to overcome anger or frustration. I  simply put on a song and change my mood. Its no surprise that MUSIC is often being used in therapy for patients with brain trauma and other health afflictions. It helps patients to lower their blood pressure, and is even being used to assist stroke patients with regaining their speech.

The Healing Power of Music

MUSIC  is used to honor loved ones, to express love, anger, sadness, and hope. It is used to commemorate historical and significant events.

MUSIC  has been around for centuries and historians seem unclear as to its true origin. This makes perfect sense to me. God's nature, the birds singing, the oceans roaring, the wind humming, they all have been harmonizing together since the beginning of time, and that alone is the beginning, period.

MUSIC breaks down language and continental barriers. Consider Michael Jackson, whose talent is appreciated throughout this world, on every continent, and whose MUSIC was and is translated and released in several different languages.

"I am always writing a potpourri of music. I want to give the world escapism through the wonder of great music and to reach the masses" ~ Michael Jackson

The force of energy called  MUSIC, is a mighty force indeed. My love for this art form is just an outward expression of my inner self. If I have trouble communicating how I feel, I can usually find a song that can say exactly what I want to say and to this day there are songs that can make me laugh, or make me cry, or take me back to a time and place when things were different, and they help me to appreciate my present and keep me hopeful for the future.

Today I wish you MUSIC. I hope you have or will find the MUSIC of your heart, the "sounds" that soothes your soul and find peace among the melodies.