Glorious Raucous

  Lately I have been able to take in and think back on the moments of true joy I experience.  As I ride my bike or jog with music blaring in my ears, a song will start and take me back to a moment of either discomfort or incredible happiness.  The ones that remind me of a time of discomfort get skipped over until a song starts up and triggers a memory that makes air taste sweeter starts and I enjoy the ride of memories.  One of my favorite songs to hear start up is "I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons.  When that song came out and I heard it, I really liked the lyrics so I downloaded it onto my computer.  I was working at Big R and felt like I never got enough time with my kids so when I actually did have time, I would turn on my itunes and have a dance party with them.  One night "I Will Wait" came on and I got up and danced with my children all around the front room with them.  I would dance and they would follow after filling the room with the sound of their joyous laughter.

  We would run in circles or I would scoop one of them up and dance like wild while they clung excitedly around my neck.  That is something that my children need.  Me to just sweep them up in my arms and dance like wild.  The sound of their loud laughter and words a cacophony that fills the room like perfume so sweet you can almost taste it on the tip of your tongue.  When the remake of the song "Ice Cream" by Walk Off the Earth (original version is by John Mayer) comes on, I feel that falling in love sensation of when L and I first started dating.  That butterflies sensation and inability to conceal the pure excitement that you go through when you meet The One and every text from them sends you into a state of uncontrollable smiling and giggling.  Sometimes a song will have no real meaningful attachment until it comes on during a jog or bike or car ride and it just seems to punch you in the face with meaning out of nowhere.

  I have a tendency to love hard music when I run because the intensity and words are therapeutic and drive me every step and I process things I am struggling with.  Three songs I absolutely LOVE to have on are "Can You Feel My Heart" by Bring Me the Horizon, "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons, and "Sweater Weather" by The Neighbourhood.  When these songs come on, I have an emotional sensation come over me like a wave.  I feel like this music, those words, that message, the intensity are speaking for me what I cannot speak for myself, and I tend to be pretty good at getting my point across usually if that says anything about how awesome I think these songs are.  No matter what though, there are things that go on in every mind of every human that cannot be spoken and for those of us with music running through us like a stream of magic that keeps color in the world, it can be like someone else peered into you and knew how to say what you couldn't with their music.  I love those songs.

  The album Meteora by Linkin Park was like a living and breathing companion to me during a darker time in my life and it gave me chills anytime I turned it on.  I cannot speak for others, but it is my guess that everyone has those songs that do that for them too.  They come on and they just click for you and you know that that music was made with some kind of higher level inspiration to be that good.  I am extraordinarily picky about music and it takes me a LONG time to find songs I find worth my money or time to listen to.  Florence and the Machine is one of those artists that almost never lets me down.  Her song "Blinding" is an incredible display of the layers upon layers of everything you can do right making music in my opinion.

  Music is a portal.  It possesses the ability to heal, communicate, verbalize, and express and it has unimaginable power.  I am a musician to my core so I probably feel this a little more passionately than others, but I think I am still on the right track for a vast amount of my fellow music lovers.  We all have different blends and constructions to our souls and so different types of music reach into us and somehow connect.  I grew up listening to my mom's favorite music by Journey, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, etc...  I have friends who love country music, church hymns, or hard rock.  I have a special place in my heart for orchestral music that is incorporated into pop culture music for obvious reasons as I was in orchestras for a long time.  They are all incredible and they all reach out to someone, somewhere.

  To conclude, I have to state the obvious and say that as a singer, I cannot ever get enough of a song that I can learn and sing along with to push my vocal limits or belt out my feelings.  I don't just hear music, I FEEL it deep down.  When a song comes around that I can really let loose vocally on, I do it and I love it.  My all time favorites to sing are "Walk Away" by Christina Aguilera, "Sleep Like a Child" by Joss Stone, "Just Friends" by Gavin Degraw, "Fix a Heart" by Demi Lovato, "Stay" by Rihanna ft. Mikkey Ekko, "Killing Me Softly" remake by The Fugees, and a handful of Beyonce songs.  I kinda go all out when I am alone and have them playing or am singing to my kids at night.  What speaks to you?  What kind of music do you hear that takes you away to a time of your greatest happiness?  What is your glorious raucous?