Music Heals the Soul

Have you ever heard an "oldie" on the radio and without consciously doing so, found your thoughts drifting back to a moment in time....some of the memories are sweet to your soul, some make you laugh out loud, and others can still make you cringe at the thought of what you were doing then or what was happening at the moment...I grew up with three older siblings (one younger one, too) so I was introduced to the current sounds at a young age. My father was a music buff; he introduced us to the" Big Band" sound of Mitch Miller, Guy Lombardo and others. I didn't appreciate my Dad's "old" music then, not with the sound of Frankie Vali and the Four Seasons pounding the airways..."why don't you come out, with your red dress on, come out, where you look so fine, come out, moving nice and easy, Girl, you make me lose my mind" . Who could forget that amazing falsetto voice!

When I was in the fourth grade, I had a crush on a 6th grader named Jimmy. He had a blonde crew cut and blue eyes. I thought he was so cute. My best friend was named Cathy, and our 4th grade teacher was a wild and crazy woman who encouraged creativity and the arts. She actually allowed us to dance before school to records we played on an old 45 player. Jimmy would sometimes come and stand in the doorway and watch Kathy and me do our version of the cha-cha to" Breaking up is Hard to do...remember when, I held you tight."

At 14  I was head over heels for a older 16 year old boy name Dave. My Dad was very strict, but one Friday night he allowed me to go to a birthday party at a friends home where I knew Dave was attending to. I will never forget that feeling of slow dancing with him for the very first time.."If you want something to play with, go and find yourself a toy. Baby, my time is too expensive, and I'm not a little boy...Tell it like it is.." Aw , sweet young love!

A few years later, in high school, the music scene had changed dramatically. The British Invasion had erupted and we were rocking to the sound of the Fab Four and the Rolling Stones bad boys.  Stevie Nicks had emerged as the voice of Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles were taking us to Hotel California and Neil Young was singing about his Heart of Gold, "I wanna live, I wanna give, I've been a miner for a heart of gold..."

"Make Love, Not War" was the mantra of the era, along with the two finger peace sign. Those were the days when long hair meant you could trust that guy as he was obviously peace loving and most likely had some really good pot.  We really didn't understand anything about the Viet Nam war, but it gave us a reason to protest and exercise our rights, so we walked in the streets with black arm bands and  chanted, "hell no, we won't go"!"There's something happening here, what it is, ain't exactly clear."

Gone was the innocent sound of the Beach Boys," do you love me, do you, surfer girl?" The sound of the times was hard rock and protest songs, "Brother, brother, brother, there is far too many of you dying..We've got to find a way to bring some loving here today, Whats going on.." Marvin Gaye is still my all-time favorite singer. I loved his voice and his words.. Like Eddie says to Word-Man in Eddie & The Cruisers, "words & music go together". I guess like Forrest Gump's "peas and carrots."

Words and music. Always soothing to the soul, old memories, new memories, young love, old love, new love, heartbreak, dance party, first kiss, prom night, wedding day, anniversary, "with you I'm not shy, to show the way I feel."

Every occasion calls for words and music. I can be doing something as mundane as shopping for groceries and over the store system comes a song...a song that immediately brings to mind some event, some long-ago love, some moment in time that remains forever precious and stored in my heart as who I was, where I have been, and where I am going... it always brings a smile and the urge to sway a little or dance a little, or at the very least, sing along with the lyrics..words and music go together and are healing to the soul...so sing or play some music today! "I wanna rock with you, all night, I wanna dance with you, till the sunlight"