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Music in me
Good, half-past November to you!
Yeah, yeah, the sky is grey, precipitation is threatening to rain on our parade and there doesn’t seem to be enough leftover Hallowe’en treats to make it all better. It’s hard to believe this year is rapidly coming to an end. Personally, with a few exceptions, it hasn’t been the kind of year I’d want to repeat. But, you know what makes a crappy year or a dreary November so much easier to deal with? Music! Yup, music has the power to whisk us away perhaps to make us dance a little bit, to make us a laugh, to bring a smile to our face. Occasionally, music makes things feel all better. As William Congreve wrote in his 1697 play, The Mourning Bride, “Music has charms to soothe a savage breast”. This morning, thanks to a long time friend David MacKay, our household laughed a bit at the music played on The County’s favourite radio station, 99.3 FM. In the style of the late John Mather, we smiled and drank our morning cuppa Joe as the Steve Miller Band and The Diamonds moved us deep into Music and Miscellany. Neither of us could remember the first time we heard The Diamonds sing Little Darlin, but it was a very long time ago.
LOML and I are enjoyers of music. We love how certain pieces of music make us feel. Sometimes we hear a song from the ‘60s or ‘70s and we float back to a moment in time when we were much, much younger and maybe a bit more agile. This morning we sipped our coffee in silence with big ole smiles on our breakfast toasty faces. As many of you know, I write this column while watching CBS Sunday Morning but did you know that show always has a segment devoted to music. Often, while I’m writing, LOML drops what he’s doing (the laundry) and joins me in the front room to listen and watch the music segment. Sometimes the featured artist is someone from a long ago time, sometimes it’s an aged, living artist and then there’s the music of “right now”. Once in a while the featured artist is fresh and young and new on the scene. Because of our love of music, I believe he and I might have our very own theme song. His is fairly constant, he has a very favourite. My theme changes as I navigate through my chaotic life. It’s been said, music has emotional power over us. I believe it does. Whenever we hear the music of The Lovin’ Spoonful or The Turtles or Marvin Gaye or The Fifth Dimension or, most especially, Galt McDermott singing Flesh Failures we become lost in all of the emotions. Once in a while one or the other of us will stop what we’re up to and sing along—out of tune, mostly. Often we mess up the lyrics but we never waiver on how we feel about our favourites. Often we talk about “covers”, something I couldn’t abide but now look forward to hearing. Music is magic.
It’s half-past November. The sky is kinda grey. I’m old enough to know November has a theme song of its own because “all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey”. If you’re feeling a little down-in-the-dumps, you know, kinda S.A.D. the best I can offer is to crank up the tunes and “do a little dance”. Better still go for a walk and listen to the music in your head! Oh, and don’t be afraid to sing out loud as you make your way along the sidewalks and trails of the County. Yeah, yeah, passersby may give you “the look” but if you stop and sing to them, who knows, a flashmob could happen. Dress for the weather!
Thanks Dave!
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