Music for Thought
It’s life at the moment. Thoughts, dreams, desires. Wishes, hopes and loves. It’s a melody, a sound, an expression. That’s why we love music. Music makes us remember, and sometimes it helps us to forget. It’s an anchor and an escape.
We all have our favorite songs. Songs that struck a chord in our hearts years ago, or songs that are striking that chord now. Music affects us, whether we realize it or not. It’s everywhere, and it has power.
Wonderful combinations of words and melodies have the ability to transport us through time and space, to pull our brains out of today and take them on a brief vacation from the mundane. Many times the results of those combinations is fleeting. We simply have to rewind to that particular moment and hear it again, and again. Sometimes those passages are longer and we can enjoy them to their fullest, then let them go.
We have an incredible variety of music to choose from, what’s with the top 40? Some of my favorite songs have never seen the top 100! A song doesn’t have to be in the top 40 to be good. In fact, I’ve had some of the lamest songs stuck in my head because they were on the radio every fifteen minutes. It’s called saturation. Airplay can influence the sales of a record, and sales are the main criteria in selecting top 40 songs.
I’ve had lame songs stuck in my head because of overplay, and I’ve had great songs stuck in my head after only hearing them once. They had something special. Maybe a great hook, or just a neat sound that I enjoyed. Maybe they had a message, or a story, or were funny. These are good things. We learn from messages and stories and laugh at funny songs. Too often I’m hearing foul and sexually explicit lyrics, and promotion of crime and violence as well. The worst part is that these songs are appealing mostly to the younger generation. These songs are selling to “impressionable” youth. Let’s hope there are an equal or greater number of kids hearing and appreciating decent music.
A songwriter, musician, performer, anyone with any influence on the world should take some responsibility. Often they don’t, it’s all about expression and we should be able to express what we want. I agree, as long as it’s decent stuff. Is it so hard to comprehend right from wrong, good from bad? As a performer and songwriter I have a responsibility. My songs can have an effect, so I plan on making that a positive effect. My conscience works overtime, there is no way I would write a song that would have an adverse affect. It’s not easy because everyone has their own interpretation, so to an extent the responsibility of the influence is limited. We can only do so much. In the end, people will do what they were intending to do all along. If a writer can help someone with their words, that person was looking for help. If someone is looking for trouble they’ll find it, but I’m certainly not going to point it out. I’d rather try to steer them away.
