remember the days in high school, maybe even before when you would put together mixed tapes, collages of music that summed up a relationship, a disappointment, an accomplishment? what is that connection? why is it sometimes so easy to search your playlists and stacks of CDs or back then, cassette tapes? its like looking into a mirror, an ‘aha’ moment where you realize someone else out there knew exactly what you were thinking.
anyone still do this? i do. itunes has become my favorite tool to mix and match music to my liking. music to drive to, for the gym, girlie fun music, depressing music, anything to go with whatever my mood swings towards.
and with every new album, with every new band i add to the lexicon in my head, i make another connection. i hear a song and go, wow, that sums it up. some songs touch your very core with their simplicity. others, after listening to just once disappear into oblivion.
as of late, i picked up music i always said i’d never listen to, simply because of a misconstrued view of them. or bad advice. i’ve decided this is a blind way of approaching music and have vowed to listen to everything…at least once. one of the songs from said artists had this great line:
…You and I have memories longer than that road that stretches out ahead…
its interesting. there’s nothing really special about this sentence. a line like this can be attached to any memory. and yet, only one comes to mind. some songs can do this for you. its then that the artist or songwriter has succeeded because when a song that’s vague enough, it can be applicable to thousands of lives and even more memories so that it leaves the listener, like myself, stunned.
so what is it about these connections that become that much more stronger when mixed up in a random [or perfectly constructed] order on one of these ordinary mixed tapes [now CDs]. and why don’t we grow bored with the selection? why is it that you can listen to it on spin cycle for weeks and then put it away just to rediscover the joy that little mix brings when you listen to it once again while your ipod is on shuffle at the gym?
i say this, music is what makes our life interesting, adds color and comforts us when we get caught up, trip and fall. cliche, maybe, but what better than a soundtrack to fill our ears while picking ourselves up?
