The Soundtrack of My Life

At one recent point in my life I owned five different stereo systems; one for the band room, one for my office, one for my bedroom, one for the living room, and one for my computer. Yes, I know, it’s pathetic, and it doesn’t even count the AWESOME system in my car. What can I say? Music is important to me.

Not just to me though. Music is a seriously important part of my family. We made family mix tapes growing up, and knew that when mom put on the classical music in the living room, you better not run, yell, or mess anything up.

When I was in college, I was introduced to the philosophies of vegetarianism by a roommate of mine. Her desire to be a vegetarian came from her knowledge of karma, which has become quite the buzz word these days. She believed that every animal had karma, a set of values, emotions, and desires, and when you took that animal into your body you also absorbed its karma. Although not necessarily a philosophy I agree with or believe in, it made sense.

A few weeks later, I was helping a friend mourn the recent loss of some boy. Although the details seem somewhat blurred 10+ years later, there was a moment in there that I will not forget. They had broken up several weeks before, but she was having a hard time getting over it and moving on. We got in the car and put on our CD of break-up songs. “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone” (Bill Withers) was her favorite, followed by, “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” (the version by Barry Manilow). A funny thing happened that night. I drove around with her for awhile, and then had a realization. “This is totally stupid!” I said to her with no sensitivity. “Why are we listening to songs about regret and pain, thinking about what ‘Could’ve Been’ (Tiffany)? The guy was nothing less than a total jerk.” He had cheated on her, and treated her quite poorly. Yet, here we were, mourning the loss of a really bad relationship.

That is when I discovered that music had karma, defined by Webster as “the force generated by a person’s actions”. When we listen to music we absorb the force or emotion that the writer or performer desired and acted upon. Whether it’s joy, happiness, gratitude, security, love, anger, frustration, hate, arousal, sadness, depression, envy, rivalry, jealousy, compassion, anxiety, mourning, delight, longing, malice, or any number of others. In this case I wish I would have had "Thank You" by Sister Hazel to play. 'You were the one, who taught me what I don't need, I thank you, I thank you for that.' Much more appropriate.

I was impressed recently with an exchange I had with my sister-in-law where she said she had quit listening to some music that I enjoyed for years. It’s GREAT musically, the singer is extremely talented and the band has a way with chords and harmony. However, the entire album she was referring to, was about sex. It made me stop and think exactly what I was allowing into my conscious and subconscious.

It was then that I started my quest for new music with great karma. My first find was the song “Say” by John Mayer**. Sometimes there is just nothing better than a well-executed pop song played loudly in your car with the sun roof open. But the most important part to me is the lyrics and message of the song. ‘Say what you need to say’ is something I don’t think any of us do enough of. My favorite verse:
Walking like a one man army
Fighting with the shadows in your head
Living out the same old moment
Knowing you’d be better off instead
If you could only
Say what you need to say

Try it out….. (http://www.myspace.com/johnmayer you can listen to the whole thing for free!) I bet you’ll feel better and slightly more hopeful. That’s how I feel, every time I listen to it.


**Note: We could debate all day that karma comes from the actual intentions and actions of the composer over their lifetime, therefore HIGHLY restricting the potential musically library. I have chosen, right or wrong, to strictly limit my search of good karma to the lyrics and music of the song in question.