I see people post song lyrics (without credit) in their blogs and other on-line portals and I always tried to figure out what was going on in their head. Some people are posting them as a kind of trivia game, asking others to name the quote… Others just really like the thought behind the lyric and post it as an expression of how they are feeling. The ones who used to bother me were the ones that listed out the entire song and never post the reason behind it. When asked, they say this song changed their life, or worse, that this song saved their life… What is going on in their head?
I love music, always have. But the power of music to save lives was always dubious to me. Every time I hear people claim a song saved their life I lump them in with those kids who kill themselves and the parents blame a band/song. The person was already unhinged, it didn’t take much to put them over the edge one way or the other. If that song saved your life, so could a rainbow or butterfly occurring at the right moment. If you killed yourself because of a song, you were already at that point, another red light in traffic could have put you over the edge…
I take inspiration from lyrics and I have actually changed some of my thoughts and ideas when I heard certain lyrics. Music has the ability to shape lives but until this afternoon, I never understood just how critical the right song at the right time can be.
A long continuous run on a bumpy road and an accumulation of ugly days on my head had just about proved to be too much. I went for a drive and while deliberating aloud to the empty car, I reached the point of decision and was listing hard to port… And then the randomness of the iPod gave me a song I hadn’t really heard in years. It’s in my playlist and I occasionally listen to it, but I rarely hear it… The lyrics are just what I needed to hear at that moment in time. I gave it some thought and changed my mind. I calmed down, resolved to make a few changes, returned home and began typing this up. I’ll live to deliberate another day. One day the scales will tip in the other direction but for now, something as superficial as a song was enough to weigh in and make me stick around.
And for the record, those of you who don’t understand the necessity of me purging the dark ink onto the paper as it were; when I decide it is time to check out, you won’t see a dramatic exit script. I would just simply take care of business. Two or three people will be sad for a few days, eventually the website would go away wiping out all my words, all memory of my existence would wash away with the tide. No angsty poems begging for intervention, no poorly written goodbye monologues, I’d just go. So as long as I’m writing, I’m alive. Every angry post eases the pain, every ridiculous scream is nothing but an attempt to make it through one more day…
Leave a Reply