It's In The Music

As I watched the “Celebration of Gospel” on BET, and between shouting (this is when you are filled with the holy spirit, overcome with joy, and just have to let it OUT), and laughing, I realized something….music is such a driving force of our emotional well-being. Think about it: When we are happy or sad, glad, or blue, we are attracted to music that will help us express where we are at that moment. I find this to be particularly relevant in Gospel, R&B, Rap, and Country Western. Yes, I said Country Western! (Don’t judge me! LOL).

As a child, I laughed in church at the “mothers” that would get so full that they would have to shout (see explanation above). Again, don’t judge me, because I wasn’t the only one LAUGHING! LOL. What I couldn’t figure out is why they were so excited. I mean the choir was good, (enough entertainment to keep my 7 year old self occupied), but I had no idea what the Pastor was saying, so I didn’t know what the hype was about. And then, when someone would say “It’s like FIYAH (fire) shut up in my bones”, I’d be like “OMG, that lady is on fire, somebody HELP”. Yeah, I just didn’t get it then, but NOW. If a Donald Lawrence, Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, Mary Mary, Hezekiah Walker jam comes on the radio, I just can’t help myself…I have to move, I have to praise Him, I have to get involved! I guess it’s that’s FIYAH that is sending me over the edge. On the flip side, if I’m battling with God and I just don’t get what he’s trying to say, the music will soothe my soul, and help me get back on the right path. If nothing else, it helps me tell God what I want to say, but don’t have the words for. Of course I trust and believe that God knows our hearts, and can hear us even when we can’t speak, but there is nothing like being able to confess to God what is on your mind……talk about freeing yourself! See, I’m about to shout right now at the very thought of it.

And then you have those moments when you are feelin like you were the 5th cast member of “Waiting To Exhale”, and you need hear somebody ask you why it hurts so bad, or when you need to ask that rhetorical question of yourself. You know those moments, when you are speechless at what he did, or when you can’t believe she chose HIM over YOU. That’s when you go through your iPod, and find every song that says “Why did I let you get to me?”. When Beyonce’ released “Irreplaceable”, you couldn’t go 3 mins without hearing “To the left/to the left”….LOL. Not because every woman was goin through, but we found an anthem…one that spoke to our souls….we found comfort in the music. And I’m sure most men have had their “Cause I love you” moments (Lenny Williams)…..when they are so far deep in love, that Lenny is the only person that can speak to them, and help them get through…..it’s that music….it’s there to soothe you and keep you afloat. Personally, when I listen to music, I also listen to myself…how I feel when the song comes on….am I happy, crunk, sad, disgusted, MAD, or pleasantly surprised??? It was that same music that made you realize you had your first crush, or that you were really in “luh” (almost love, but not quite) with your boo. I’m talking about the days when your boo would dub (record) songs off the radio, carefully editing out the commercials, just to show you how he/she felt! Remember how that music made you feel when you pushed “eject” on your tape player (yes, TAPES, I’m an 80s baby, so we rocked TAPES HARD), and put in side A, and listened to the words that your boo was either too scared to too shy to tell you in person. I still have some of those “tapes”…made a few myself….even made some CDs a time or two.

But what’s even BETTER is when your music tells a story. No disrespect to my R&B, Neo-Soul, Rap, or Gospel (because I truly adore you all), but nothing can top a story told in Country & Western. It’s something about those guitar strings that will have my heart strings all in a knot. And even if it’s more upbeat, they still tell a story from beginning to end! My personal faves are Bonnie Rait, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Clint Black….they all just speak to me. They tell me how glad they were to see her drive off, or how sad they were that she stayed….with the other dude, not them. They paint a picture, and for someone who is as imaginative as I am, it just feeds me.

But no matter the genre, it’s the music that speaks to me. Sometimes it can help me figure out what’s wrong, because sometimes, I don’t know. It will lead me in the path in which I should go, or even tell me it’s ok to be imperfect for this moment in time. It makes me remember that no, he should not be in my heart because he doesn’t deserve it….and I listen! But it’s that music…..the music that will have you floating on cloud 9 somewhere, for hours on end…..it’s that music that I love so much!

Dedicated to the music lovers everywhere.