"Sometimes the world tries to knock it out of you. But I believe in music the way that some people believe in fairy tales" --August Rush
Okay, first, my plug for the movie: August Rush is an amazingly beautiful movie. I admit it: I'm a movie junkie. I love movies...all kinds of movies. I love the whole experience of watching movies, whether it be in the theatre or at our home theatre (although increasingly I go for the latter option...no crying babies, pauses for snack breaks whenever necessary, etc.). And I admit I'm not a very harsh critic. I don't need my movie to be profound, to be a contender for one of those art-sy awards from Cannes. I just like being entertained. I like suspending disbelief and being transported away through some one's imagination to another time, another place. Now, having said all that, I certainly appreciate it when a movie has a message or makes me feel or makes me think. August Rush certainly did all that. And I hesitate a little when I tell my friends how very much I loved this movie, because I wonder if they'll like it as much as I did...if they'll be flat-out blown away. And I realize that maybe part of the draw for me is that here is a movie with characters who feel the pull of the music running through their lives...and I relate to that.
Which brings me to my second point: my life has a soundtrack. By that I mean that always, underneath everything, has been the music. My parents love music. Would I if they didn't? I don't know. I guess it doesn't matter. I know I was exposed to all kinds of music growing up. I was taught music theory, took lessons on a couple of different instruments, developed a passion for singing. (Yes, I was even in several bands in my teens and early twenty's, though we would always manage to break up right before we would play anywhere.)
Over the years my taste in music has changed some. There are constants that will always comfort me. But I also go through phases...some of my past phases might even surprise people who know me now. (Best perhaps to save that for another time.) You know how a good composer can weave a theme through a soundtrack so that certain musical elements will evoke a mood or introduce a character? My inner composer does that. There are songs that can instantly transport me back through time and space to some particular point in my life. That's powerful.
Another interesting (read weird?) piece of trivia about me: I wake up every day with some song running through my head. Yep. Every day. It's different every day. Sometimes it's just a song that I've listened to recently. But sometimes it's more about a mood...I don't even know if it's a carry-over from a dream or if it's like a forecast for the day ahead. Sometimes it's a song I swear I haven't heard in years. Where does it come from? Your guess is as good as mine.
Does anybody else out there have a soundtrack? Wanna' share what's on it?
3 comments:
Ever since I got my iPod, I've been thinking about the idea of my life having its own soundtrack. There are certain songs that evoke certain memories for me. Patty Griffin's Impossible Dream CD takes me back to the burnished autumn of 2005 because I listened to the CD almost nonstop during NaNoWriMo. The hymn "What Wond'rous Love is This" always makes me think of Lythrum; it became my favorite hymn after I started attending services at church. U2's Joshua Tree CD takes me back to 1987 and the early years of my marriage to R. The list goes on...
I think it's way cool that you wake up with a song running through your head! :D
My soundtrack goes something like this:
Paradise City by Guns n' Roses - High School (actually anything off of the Appetite for Destruction CD works here)- I'm ashamed to admit that I love big hair bands.
Pepper by the Butthole Surfers (the name of the band is a turnoff but I love the song!) and Far Away by Candlebox (I got really into alternative)- Early USMC living in North Carolina for the first time.
Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde by Travis Tritt, Born to Fly by Sarah Evans, anything by the Cranberries - living in Quantico, VA
Long Ride Home by Patty Griffin (makes me think of Mel cause I got it from her!), Heaven by Los Lonely Boys - this is the point in my life where I got my iPod and got interested in music again. I love What Wond'rous Love is This also and it makes me think of Mel because it was our favorite to sing in church.
When I got to Huntsville I started watching Grey's Anatomy and listening to a lot of music from it's soundtrack - most notably Flying High by Jem. I also had a high stress time when I got here and was working as a warehouse supervisor, and the song Anxiety by the Black Eyed Peas was a favorite for me to decompress to on my way home.
Now I've started a new phase in my life with my baby girl, and the newest song on my soundtrack is "Kookaburra", the australian round song. It got sparked by a trivia question on Cash Cab, and I've been singing it to her ever since then. :) Teddy Bear's Picnic is another one that I'm fond of. Kind of a switch from my previous life!
Ahhhh,the power of music! It can really take us places, no? As you both mentioned iPods I will say that I'm completely addicted to my iTouch. ;D Thanks for sharing some of your tunes with me...we'll continue the dialogue when I'm not so tired.
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