Misery & Transcendence..

I woke at about 4 am this morning and after a while it was clear I wasn’t going back to sleep, so I plugged in my mp3 player and lay in the dark, half dozing, half drifting on a tide of music. Without any other distractions I heard so much more detail and richness in these familiar tunes than usual. I tend not to really listen to the words (I either can’t understand or can’t hear them), they just add a flavour to the sound. There are around 1300 songs on this little player and they range widely from 1950’s standards by Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, through 1960’s folk, Dylan, Van Morrison, Cuban music, blues, hard rock, country and plain pop.

I set the thing to play a random selection and if a song is the wrong mood, then I skip it. So for about 2 hours or more I am lying there positively soaring on a wave of incredible sounds and talent. Two thoughts came to me:-

• It is astonishing that in an industry with so many artists that each one is able to make such incredibly unique sounds. They seem to express something as unique as their DNA. In this very overcrowded space all these amazing and unique talents blaze like stars. I have several songs that have been covered by different artists and genres and can be thrilled by each of them. Think of the difference in the treatment of “Somewhere over the rainbow” when sung by Judy Garland, Willie Nelson and Eva Cassidy…
• I was listening to one track by the Notting Hillbillies (one of Mark Knopfler’s bands) called “Feel like going home” and whilst the lyrics were rather bleak and despairing, somehow there was something totally transcendent in the actual sound. It made me think of some news I heard yesterday of someone whose friend killed themselves. We talked about how positive things can come from such misery and the feeling engendered by this song absolutely captured that for me. I would urge you to listen to it, (even in the knowledge that this kind of experience doesn’t transport very well!).

Most of us, can at times, feel a bit overwhelmed, weary and, from this space, wonder if we can ever make a difference and this music tells me just how special and unique all of us are, even in the depths of despond. So, today I offer you this ray of musical sunshine to light your path…

“Love is the life of our heart. According to it, we desire, rejoice, hope and despair, fear, take heart, hate, avoid things, feel sad, grow angry, and exult.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 08:30 and is filed under General, Values & Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.