The Song Remembers When

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

-Aldous Huxley

In the song “Springsteen”, Eric Church croons “Funny how a melody sounds like a memory”.  These words are so very true.  It’s crazy how much a song can conjure up memories.  Memories that you thought you had long forgotten come to the forefront of your mind and it’s like you’re right there again.  It’s almost as though a song is as strong a reminder as a smell can be.  

A song can knock you on your ass or it can make your day.  It can make you laugh at the memory attached or cry with the pain that has suddenly shot through your heart.

I don’t know if anybody else does this, but sometimes when I really don’t know what to do in a situation, I’ll ask God to tell me in a song on the radio.  This doesn’t work every time, but a lot of times it does.  I recommend you try it sometime and just see what happens.  It’s crazy!

Earlier today I was listening to music on my iPhone, and the song “All I Have to Give” by the Backstreet Boys came on.  Suddenly I was 14 again, SCREAMING in the living room of our house on Quail Run Rd because AJ was dancing.  Erica (then 12) is dancing beside me and swooning over Brian.  Those are the things that I look back at and smile.  Those days of honestly believing we were in love with a Backstreet Boy (at least I did) and learning every single dance move to their songs and knowing every lyric down to the pauses they had for a breath.  The days of us going to every single BSB concert there was in Louisville & Lexington because our mom was a huge fan as well.  It’s unlikely that I would’ve just thought up these memories without hearing this song on my iPhone, and I’m so glad that I did.

Then there are the songs that bring back a tear jerking memory.  One for me has been “I Believe” by Brooks & Dunn because it came out shortly after Adrienne Rhudy died (the family friend we named my little sister Adrienne after).  One of the lyrics is “You can’t tell me that it all ends in a slow ride in a hearse.” Her funeral procession is one of the first ones I ever remember being in, so when that song comes on, I’m in the backseat of Mamaw’s car, and I can see Philip & Derrick in Adrienne’s Jaguar that she had requested Philip drive in her procession in the front of the line. 

I’ve been making it a point to make sure that I enjoy the “here & now” a lot more because my brain will be in fast forward thinking about what I’m doing next, and then I long for the days of the past that I was trying to speed through.  If only the twins were 2 again, if only Erica & I lived on the farm again, etc etc etc.  So sit back, relax, and let the songs remind you.  Or even better, stop and smell the roses because … here comes the bad pun … Eeeeeeeeeeeevery rose has its thorn…

(Bret Michaels back when he was hot)

Peezy Out