The Music of Your Life
Hi Readers,
A very nostalgic inspiration for this post, something that has been brewing over the past 2-3 weeks. Also very self indulgent for which I apologise for in advance, but I also hope that it will prompt you to do something similar. But you don't have to go and write about it and put it online for everyone to see!! You could though, just leave a song title in the comments that relates to you!!! Hopefully you'll understand what I mean if you stay on to read the entire post.
Recently I have started my rehab program after my shoulder reco. This involves physio sessions, gym sessions and hydro sessions in the pool. I have them twice a week and they leave me totally knackered and sore afterwards, but then again, it's always sore so I can't blame the rehab can I??
In the gym we are guided by the loveliest physios, and likewise in the pool. There is always music pumping and I've been noticing other people in the group bopping along or quietly singing along with the various tunes. The physios are not that much older than our own sons who are late 20's-early 30's so one would expect music that might not relate so much to patients who are twice their age, and even older!
How wrong was I!!!
For the first few sessions I was pleasantly surprised with the playlist, so last week I mentioned it to one of them and asked who chose the music. He said it was pretty much who logged in first, but both the physios who lead my session play the stuff that I just love, both modern and 'older'!! And when I go into the pool for my hydro sessions the same thing applies. I have quietly mentioned this to other people in the group, and just by doing this the whole group has changed from doing their own rehab silently and on their own, to actively engaging with each other, commenting on the various songs playing and really getting to know each other.
Just the power of music engaging us and connecting us.
This then got me thinking. Some of these songs I hadn't heard for ages, and might not ever thought about them until I heard them again. So many of these random songs immediately took me back to a stage in my life when they had significance for me. Whether that be to remind me of where I was living, something that occurred at that time, happy, sad or tragic memories, who I was with etc.
Those who know me would know that I pretty much have music playing most of the time, either from my phone or on the tv. So if you ever come to visit you have to suffer through my playlists!! I still feel sorry for my colleagues at school who often could hear my music playing in my classroom before school. Some of my choices would never have passed the pub test in their rooms, where they were usually working quietly!! The songs that I have on repeat generally relate to phases in my life, and if anyone can make sense of my choices then you are doing well. I'm sure that some on my list cause others to raise their eyebrows at times!!
I'm going to share a rather varied selection of the songs that really define me, calm me, soothe me, motivate me, connect me with friends and help me to cope at times. Yep, some are questionable, some are daggy, some will surprise you, but they all take me to a time that resonates with me.
I hope that already you might be thinking about some particular songs that have the same impact on you and you might be humming along with them in your head without really knowing it!!
Jen and I would travel very often, spending long hours in the car which we just always enjoyed. One of our favourite things to do was to alternate the song choices rather than it always being "driver's choice" . It didn't matter if you hated the other person's choice, you just had to suffer through it. Often you'd find us making choices that we knew the other would like as we'd talk about how this song related to us and why we chose it.
For example, I generally tend to enjoy fast paced rock music, but Jen would often select "The First Time Ever I saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack as she thought that at times I just needed to calm down and not be in a rush all the time. We would play it a lot when we first got together and just listen to it quietly without needing to say anything.
How much did I love it when that song popped up on my DJ Playlist on Spotify a few days ago, it was just like it was meant to be!!! It's playing now ❤️
So here are some links to a few of my faves that you might want to check out, or most likely just bypass altogether. They are in no particular order, but I hope that they might help you to know just that little bit more of what makes me tick.
This first one, "The Promised Land" by Bruce Springsteen has been a longtime favourite as it is about searching for hope and aspiration in one's life, something that is very important to me. Every day I also hope that our own 3 boys see hope for their own futures. It's about optimism, something that I always try to display. I can never get sick of it, especially when the saxophone solo begins. Always makes me tingle, often brings a lump to my throat too I'm not ashamed to say!!
Another Springsteen song that resonates is "Born To Run" as one of my sisters always texts me when she hears it as whenever I had it playing when they were visiting, she and Jen would loudly sing in unison one particular line that they just loved! Especially if they were having a quiet drink!! I'll protect her privacy but let's just say it involves a motorbike!
When Jen was sick in hospital in 2021-22 she brought this song to my attention and we'd play it quietly in her room and just reflect on the words. We were both Billy Bragg fans, and this song soon became our song for each other and how we'd always be there for each other. After each visit we'd often say to each other "I'm Your Shield".
We cherished it so much so that it was the final song at her funeral, and the first one I play when I visit her each week at the cemetery.
This next one is special as it was what Jen played to me in the car when she decided that she wanted to go out with me permanently after a few weeks of both of us farting about trying to decide if we were to be an item or not. It became super special as we used it at our wedding, and also at her funeral. As you can imagine, it's also on the playlist I listen to at the cemetery.
While on John Denver, this was also used at our wedding as well as her funeral. Just a song that we both loved, and would always get a run in our Car Karaoke. Sometimes we'd just listen to it silently, other times we'd bang it out together!!
This next one is a good song, but not one that I would normally have gone back to by choice as I like so many of John Mellencamp's songs a lot more. When we were preparing Jen's funeral, a very close friend showed me a text that Jen had sent her ages earlier, even before she was sick. It said that whenever she died that she wanted this song played at her funeral as it meant so much to her. We honoured her wishes and it was just appropriate, and now I just love it so much.
I came across this next song earlier this year when I was stuck at home still trying to get over the leg surgery I'd had a few months previously. I must have been feeling sorry for myself and somehow I came across this song, "Don't Let The Old Man In".
Straight away it was the slap in the face I needed. I wasn't sick so what was I bloody worrying about!!! I've always been accustomed to being very active, so not being able to do that was really messing with my head at the time.
It's funny how different people might interpret the same song and this one immediately was telling me that I could choose to sit and flounder at home or get off my arse and make things happen. By "letting the old man in" I would be giving in to mediocrity and just letting life pass me by.
It was also ironic that it was around this time that I lost a good friend who told me before he died to not leave things undone, or die wondering. The next day I went and bought a caravan that I'd been umming and aahing about. It's just a bugger at the moment that I can't use it due to my bung shoulder, but I'll get there!! I'm determined to keep "the old man" at bay for the time being!!!
This next one is super daggy, straight from the 80's!!
A few months ago it came on out of nowhere and immediately it brought back a specific memory. I'd never have thought to look out for this song, it had completely left my mind.
But when it came on I was straight away taken back to a moment that sticks in my mind.
It was in 1986, our first year of teaching and the first holiday break for the year. I was teaching in Wodonga, Jen in Edenhope. For those unfamiliar with Victoria, that's about a 7 hour trip, which became shorter the following year when I moved to Ballarat.
We were both itching to see each other so we met halfway and left one of our cars at my hometown of Colbinabbin. We then took off for a few days in Melbourne, just hanging out and enjoying being together.
We were checking out of a motel one morning and I clearly remember thinking "Can life get any better than this?" I just couldn't have been any happier than I was at that time. and as I got back in the car this song was playing, in particular the bridge part of the song.
So when this song came on a few months ago, you guessed it, I felt that same feeling of total happiness as it reminded me of that morning. I can't even remember where we went that day, all I remember was how happy I felt as I got back into the car while this song was playing.
Yes, it looks daggy now, but it still resonates with me.
Then there are the songs that are bangers in their own right, and down the track there comes a cover version that makes you question which version is better. While on that, does one have to necessarily be better? Can't they both be equally good?
I always liked the original version of "Take On Me" by A-ha back in the 80's. It had stuck in my mind after going into a shop in Acland St in St Kilda (Where I spent a year working in a bank coincidentally) and it was just blasting and I'm like "How good is this?!!" It was also the same trip where I heard the Time Bandits song, so music was clearly having an effect on me then as it does now.
A few years ago I was walking up a steep hill in Tasmania and this version of "Take On Me" came on and I've just loved it since. Probably better than the original too!
If you want another great version, check out The Dreggs singing it. Did you ever think a banjo would sound good with this song???
And just to show that I'm not a complete dinosaur stuck in the past, I do have a song from this year that I connected with immediately, as I feel that there are parts of it that helped me to understand myself a lot more, and put into words the things that I was feeling about myself that I didn't know how to articulate. Funny how a song written by someone else can find the words that you are searching for about yourself!!
And finally, and this is taking you all back to a time before you were probably born.
The Beach Boys.
Some see them as daggy, but they are renowned as incredible songwriters and to reall sit and hear their harmonies on some songs is not time wasted in my book.
I've always loved "I Can Hear Music", probably because it sums up my feelings towards music too. A few years ago I came across this version by Kathy Troccoli in conjunction with the Beach Boys. How brave to cover a song by the original performers of it!! What grabs mein this version, apart from her amazing voice, is the backup woork from the members of the Beach Boys, they harmonise so beautifully.
Just another song that I can kick back and relate to.
And so you should, just as I probably would if I was to examine your selections. No-one is more right or wrong as it's entirely personal.
What I've tried to do today is just prompt some thinking about what songs define you and parts of your life? I could have gone on and listed loads of other songs, probably my entire 'Favourites' playlist on Spotify!!!
I must admit that some of my own 'bangers' might be anywhere from the 60's up until this year. I just like songs for different reasons, reasons that only I need to worry about.
But what a joy it has been writing this post with my favourites playing quietly beside me. Okay, it's probably louder than I need as I love it blasting through the house!!!
And a heads up to an old boarding school friend, Marty who sent me a message recently how he too has music playing on YouTube, proudly flying the flag for the songs of his life!!
I think we might have a few songs in common Marty!!
Well Readers, I really hope that you have some music that defines you and parts of your life and that when you reflect on them they will take you back to those times. It has certainly worked for me today!! As I said earlier, drop a song title in the comments section below. That's all. Leave it for others to ponder. I'd love to see what is out there.
Until my next post,
Cheers 😁
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