on music and my past

For as long as I can remember, music has been something that has had the ability to take me from any place and instantly transfer me to another time and place entirely.  Yes, there are songs that so viscerally impact my psyche that I have to physically stop what I am doing to regroup, remind myself of my ACTUAL location, and proceed with the given task at hand.

Said songs include...
“Sailing” by Christopher Cross...yes...it was on Glee last week...that is really what made me start thinking about this.  I know, most people don’t know who sang this little gem.  However, most of my friends could tell you the answer in an instant.  Well, my closest friends...because I think for many of them, they have the same instant reaction.  Instantly I am 12, 16, 21 and 27 all at the same time.  I am 12 awkwardly dancing with a boy inside the cage in very little lighting.  I am 16 in a circle with 15 CILTs and Trainees.  I am 21 smiling at my (now) 11 year old campers awkwardly dancing with a boy in slightly more lighting.  I am 27 trying to remember how we coil those wires appropriately to pack up this dance.  It is really a dynamic phenomenon. 

“MmmBop” by Hanson...okay...now before you start judging my taste in music...(or continue judging?) I feel it is important to reiterate that I am a PROUD child of the 80s and grew up straddling the late 80s and early 90s.  Hanson peaked in America in my early high school years and this song came to be an anthem of sorts at camp.  We had our own dance!  The summer of 1997 in particular it was played ALL.THE.TIME!  For me, whenever I hear those nonsensical lyrics belted by pre-pubescent brothers (early JoBros if you will) who are all, for the record, now married! I am taken to the Camp Seafarer office.  I am sitting at a desk with the window open...taking the most important test (to me) of my young life.    With those 2 hours and MmmBop Day on the pier, my knowledge of the 7 signs of a mammal, 3 types of Basketball defenses, proper care for a horse saddle and the parts of a bow and arrow, tennis racquet, canoe and oar all meld together to form the memory of my General’s Written Exam.  Sitting in a circle with the Land UAs and Camp Director Team just a few hours later--one of my proudest moments...still...to this day.  Thank you Hanson.

“We Danced Anyway” by Deana Carter...I am 19 or so.  I am driving, windows down, BELTING.  With my best friends.  We maybe are driving to dinner...maybe it is June, or October or February.  No matter when it was...once I was NC...this song is what brought two feuding teens together...in my head, this song is me and CA and our friendship and the history that brought us to that time in our lives.

“Closer to Fine” by Indigo Girls...when I was in high school I wanted to buy and Indigo Girls CD and my mom asked me if I was gay.  So, yes...that is an odd association...but whenever I hear this song, I am standing in a temple, in Kansas, in Nebraska, in Missouri...who knows.  Guitars are playing and we are singing.  It is blissful ignorance.  It is NFTY before it became a job.  It is why I am who I am.  It is the feeling I want to create for the kids I work with now.

“Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman...I am maybe 7 or 8...maybe a little older...but not much.  My dad is driving his (not so) fast car...Ford Hatchback...in that goldish/champagne color with a SWEET Cassette player.  I think I rewound this cassette SO MANY TIMES it might have stopped playing (or my dad hid the tape).  It didn’t matter where we were driving...10 minutes, hour, longer...this song was playing when I was in the car with my dad.  I would go ANYWHERE with him.  I still would...I miss that time...a lot.

“Faith” by George Michael...I am in Norfolk, Virginia surrounded by NFTY-MAR dancing and bouncing on inflatables.  My mom is at Spring Kallah 2008 and it is weird.  I was in the hospital a week earlier with a septic gallbladder and I didn’t know how I was going to GET to Spring Kallah...but I knew I was not going to miss this event...3 2-year board members were graduating...(and countless others) and elections I was happy to not have a vote in were on the agenda...I remember lots of details...it was not that long ago, but I will NEVER forget being surrounded by boys on the dance floor and Miriam having to rescue me.  This song also makes me think of my dad...and a great group of girls that I am certain have no idea how much they taught me.

“We’re All in This Together” from High School Musical...yes...I know...goodness gracious...you must all really not believe me...from this list...my taste in music is not just questionable...it is really horribly, RANCID.  This has nothing to do with sitting and watching TV...I honestly watched HSM because my high schoolers could not stop talking about it...and well, I saw HSM3 in the THEATER with the BEST group of girls a girl could ask for...after a great (GREAT!) night in NoVa...BUT...this song brings me instantly to the Beit Am at Kutz during Mechina, and Boards, and, well, all summer at Camp...thank you Andrew...you just put a smile on my face--just thinking about it!

“Purple Rain” by Prince or The Artist or The Artist Formerly Known As Prince or the symbol...whatever.  I was really little.  I am dancing on my dads feet.  I love my dad.  Enough said.

That is just a small sample.  I am an auditory person.  Sounds and songs trigger for me.  So, what does that matter...why do you care and why am I all of a sudden writing about it today?

three words

ZAC
BROWN
BAND

yeah, chicken fried...yadda yadda yadda...I kinda hate that song now...but it was catchy for a week and it did make me buy the whole album and it did introduce me to one of the most talented musical groups I have heard in years.  Not because they have the best voices I have ever heard...not because I always love the super-twangy folky country they slip into...not because Jimmy Buffett has also fallen in love with these guys (and he has...he doesn’t sing with others the way he has adopted these gents...but that is a perk!)  These guys are INCREDIBLE story tellers through their music.  If you have only listen to Chicken Fried...PLEASE give these guys another listen.

Highway 20 Ride, Toes, Whatever It Is, Where the Boat Leaves From...my heart is fluttering.  I hope Parker appreciates the sentiments I am feeling right now.  Clear skies, cool early summer evening, cruising around the county, heading over to the beach, an evening in New Bern...it doesn’t matter...this CD was the soundtrack of the summer of 2008.

Now, the guys have released their sophomore, er, Junior? er Senior? CD (if you count the live recordings that were released last year AND live from Bonaroo.)  I finally bucked up and bought the deluxe edition on iTunes...and I cannot complain...not one bit...The words these guys find to string together their thoughts and their feelings and the collective understanding of (my) life right now...I just can’t handle it. 

I think though, it is tied to the feeling of freedom I associate with the raspy refrains I think of when I hear ZBB.  I want to take a REALLY LONG ROAD TRIP RIGHT NOW...so I can just listen on repeat...over and over and over again.  I want these songs to fill my head and I want the time to invest in me.  I want to rejuvenate and refresh.  I want to be...with the windows down...unrestricted...untied...able to just think and be and do and go and grow and process and learn and teach and not have to justify all the damn time.  I need an intellectual outlet too...badly...

Now following that little rant...here is a sampling of the goodness that is ZBB’s album, YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE...and if THAT inherently isn’t a clue that these guys are right up my alley...well...then, Hi...my name is Lindsey...we need to spend more time getting to know one another....

From “As She’s Walking Away”

Now I'm falling in love as she's walking away
And my heart won't tell my mind
To tell my mouth what it should say
I may have lost this battle
Live to fight another day
Now I'm fallin in love as she's walkin away

From “Martin”
Stronger than steel and wood.
Seen me through the bad and good.
And when I'm hanging by a string,
Every little thing
Is understood
Between Martin and me.

From “Let It Go”
You keep your heart above your head and you eyes wide open
So this world can't find a way to leave you cold
And know you're not the only ship out on the ocean
Save your strength for things that you can change
Forgive the ones you can't
You gotta let 'em go

Looking back now on my life I can't say I regret it
And all the places that I ended up not the way Ma woulda had it
But you only get once chance at life to leave your mark upon it
And when a pony he comes riding by you better set your sweet ass on it

From “Make This Day”
We’re gonna make this day (make this day)
a little better than the last (better than the last)
Its amazing how slow a day like this can pass
Find a way to wash away (way to wash away)
any regrets you have
don’t let this moment pass
live inside this day.

I think that is all the philosophizing I am going to do today...

I am irritated still.

I want more.

for now though.

LM