Making Time For Music

 

Most little kids like music, but I was that freak of nature who was obsessed with it from the time I was four or five years old. That love sustained itself for decades. 

I never really thought about it, but now I wonder if my love of music sprang from my innate need for order. I hate jazz, because it has no discernible structure. I'm told this isn't true, but my ears hear what they hear. 

Songs obviously are structured, and it's natural for kids to look for something to hang onto---repetition, probably, but kids don't realize how much a song teaches them. It's not as if I sat down with a pad and pencil and dissected songs, but their individual elements became clearer the more I listened and the more I listened to various musical genres. I like order; I hate chaos. Some thrive on chaos (jazz lovers?); not me. It causes me to shut down emotionally. 

I will note that never once did I entertain the thought of writing my own songs. Never. I did make up melodies in my head when I was little, but that was just a goofy thing that occurred naturally. I'd attach some repetitive lyrics to them and then forget about the whole thing. But when I did take the plunge into songwriting in my forties, I well understood how a song "should go". I'd sopped up all that knowledge like it was bread dipped in gravy. And I kept listening to music, maybe more for inspiration than anything else, but that love of music remained, right up until the moment I stopped listening to it.

Much of that is environmental. Whereas I once owned a high-end stereo system with the requisite expensive speakers, listening to music that way now is impossible. We don't live in an apartment, but we have shared walls. When we first bought our townhome, I downgraded to just a CD player and amp, but listening to music so subdued wasn't the experience I needed. So I graduated to (good) headphones. Then as time went on, the CD player went the way of my stereo system, and I was left with little, tinny computer speakers. It seemed like unnecessary work to keep slipping CD's in and out of the drive, and thus I began ripping them, using Windows Media Player. But I own, conservatively, 500 CD's, which made that project a giant pain in the ass and too time consuming.

Next came Spotify. Quickly, I learned that I needed to purchase a subscription, because I cannot tolerate commercials. (This is also why we no longer have cable.) Spotify is excellent. Creating my own playlists was not only fun (there's that sense of order again), but playlists allowed me to stream whatever type of music I was in the mood for. I was still stuck with my computer speakers, but if I jacked the volume up, just not too much, my listening experience was adequate. Another advantage of Spotify was that I could reclaim many of the albums I only own on vinyl. As you can imagine, these LP's are pretty ancient, and it was lovely to be able to hear them again. No, Spotify doesn't have everything. Certain artists don't allow the platform to stream their music, and sometimes worse, the only versions of certain songs that are available are re-recordings. I want the originals the way I remember them, dammit!

So, why have I stopped listening to music, despite the bad audio setup? Well, I got involved in fiction writing, and I can't do both things at once, like some people can. It's like watching TV and reading at the same time. One of the two is going to feel neglected. 

But there's more to it than that. I've taken breaks between writing, and I still didn't click on Spotify and sit back and listen. Is it all just "been there, heard that"? I've tried halfheartedly to get into new music, but it's bad. Objectively bad. People who like it simply have had no exposure to good music. So, for me, it's old(er) music or nothing.

Sometimes in a movie or a TV show (Mad Men is a great example), I'll hear a song I always loved and think, gee, I should queue that up on Spotify. It's certainly embedded in one of my many playlists, and if not, it's readily searchable. But I don't do it.

Listening to music was always a focused activity. If I was listening to music, I wasn't scrolling social media and I wasn't making out my grocery list. I was listening; actively participating in the experience. Now I feel like I need to be constantly "doing", and I can't allow myself to just float atop the musical waves.

That needs to change. It won't be easy. I have very little uninterrupted time to myself, between my cat (yes, really ~ who's convinced herself she's on the verge of starving) and just regular household routines and other time-wasters ~ I mean really important tasks. 

Regardless, I am going to set aside maybe just a half hour a day to actively listen to music. Music offers wonderful health benefits, by the way, particularly attitudinal benefits. Lord knows my outlook can use improvement right now. I need a new focus. Just now, I opened my Spotify app and added a couple of new songs to my "liked" list. I think it's time to find more to add. No, I'm not like the free book hoarders who are intent on building collections that they never read. I'm also going to listen. 

I find myself actually looking forward to it.   

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MY FIRST 30-MINUTE SESSION

I decided to start with 10 songs, 30 minutes of listening. I chose my list of "liked" songs and set it for shuffle. A song is better as a surprise than as one that's anticipated.

I loved it! I donned my earbuds and set the Spotify volume at max (not my speakers, because I don't want to go crazy here.) I don't think 30 minutes is quite enough. I also found that by blocking out external noise, I discovered things about some of the songs that I probably already knew, but forgot.

(I don't know why, but it's almost impossible to find decent performance videos of most of these, which is my preference, but given the choice, sound quality always takes precedence.) 

 

My first ten:

Zorba the Greek - Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass

 

I've always been a Tijuana Brass geek, and this one is fun and would be great to get me up and moving, although at 4:00 a.m., that would be inappropriate. I had (have?) this album. I'm not sure what I still have anymore, but it could be around somewhere. Most people seem to prefer "Whipped Cream" because of the songs risque cover, but this is really the better of the two.

 

 

Walkin' Slow (And Thinking 'Bout Her) - Vince Gill, feat. Paul Franklin 

 

One reason I really love the album, "Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys" is that Vince and Paul didn't do a rehash of Price's best known songs. In fact, many of the tracks on the album are ones I'd never heard before, and I know a lot about Ray Price's music. What really jumps out on this track and others is the wild, almost unbelievable steel guitar virtuosity of Paul Franklin. Steel guitar really takes center stage on this song, and I absolutely love that.

 

 

 
You Always Come Back To Hurting Me - Johnny Rodriguez

 

1970's country music cannot be recounted without mentioning Johnny Rodriguez. I wrote about his career here. This track is classic country all the way, and Rodriguez's voice is always warm and soothing. 

 

 

Look What You've Done To Me - Boz Scaggs

 

If I remember correctly, this song was featured in Urban Cowboy. I know the soundtrack of that movie was popular (I bought it), but it was the non-country tracks that were really the best. I can't think of one Boz Scaggs recording I don't like, and a few that I love. Maybe, like Johnny Rodriguez, I'm a fan of smooth voices. 

 

 

 

The Same Two Lips - Vince Gill, featuring Paul Franklin

 

This is another deep Ray Price track. I don't know it well, only from the plays of this album, but what struck me immediately was that if I was onstage at a honky tonk, this song would be in my repertoire. It's the perfect four-four shuffle, and would be a blast to sing. I'd do a great job on it.

 

 

  

Fast As You - Dwight Yoakam

 

Well, shoot, I've always loved this song. I still remember when Dwight performed it on The David Letterman Show and Letterman teased him about the "Aww, Suki" line; mock-accusing him of plagiarizing "Sussudio". 

 

I always knew Dwight was monotone-talking during the instrumental part, but I never paid any attention 'til now to what he was saying. (Spoiler Alert: It's just the lyrics, but with a bit of danger.)

 

 

 

Your Time's Comin' - Faron Young

 

Not the best known Faron Young single, but I like it not only for Young's voice, but because it tells a story, as only Kris Kristofferson can. A story without a happy ending. 

 

 

 

Come On Joe - George Strait

 

Okay, as I was listening to this, I started crying. I am NOT a crier. I don't know what came over me. Yes, this could be my favorite George Strait track (it was an album cut only), but my favorite is really hard to narrow down. Maybe the tears fell because it was so early in the morning and that's my most emotional time?  

 

 

 

Okie From Muskogee - Merle Haggard

 

On the other hand, this one made me laugh. People got so pissed off about this song when it came out---it was a joke, people! Haggard did smoke marijuana, and he did a lot of other stuff, too. The song was written on the tour bus as a goof with Merle's band. Just calm down! 

 

This is from the live Philadelphia album, which is one of my treasured LP's.

 

 

 

She'd Rather Be With Me - The Turtles 

 

I'm a sucker for sixties pop, and this is really poppy. I also wrote about The Turtles and how they were unfairly overlooked during that period. Lead singer Howard Kaylan wrote some of their hits, and they were really good songs. Everybody remembers "Happy Together", but I much prefer this one. 

 

 

 

Aside from my brief bout of tears, this exercise really lightened my mood. FYI, even a sad song can improve one's outlook if done right. I'm more of a melody person than a lyrics person, even though my forte is lyrics. Give me a nice melody any day and the words don't even matter.

 

1 easy listening

2 pop

7 country

 

Sounds about right, but it was all the luck of the draw. Tomorrow could be completely different. Can't wait to find out.

 

I'm considering turning this into a short series. For me, there's no downside, since these are all "liked" songs, and I might be able to introduce readers to something they've never heard, but should have.