The power of Raffi, err, music

My kids make me proud. They’re strong, young people. They’re kind and loving too. They call or text my wife and me every few days just to check-in or say “hey.” They send me a card on my birthday. Yea, yea, but they each have a long way to go to make things right with me,

When they were babies, I used to love getting comfortable in the rocking chair in their nursery and turning on some Children’s Music or lullabies and singing them to sleep. It was my favorite time of the day. It was great to block out the rat-race of work and financial stresses and just have some “Daddy and Me” time.

Over time, though, the little urchins each turned against me. They would fight sleep by reaching up with their little fingers and touching my lips, letting me know that they wanted me to stop singing. I’m not talking about my daughter or even both of my sons, I’m talking about all three of the little ingrates when they reached the 8 or 9-month mark. Now I’m no Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder or Harry Styles, but we’re talking kid’s songs. I’m a fine enough singer. Each of them, though, were trying to tell me, “Hey dad, let’s let Raffi take this one.”

Damn munchkins. All these years later, I’m still annoyed, but I guess I can’t blame them.

Telling a story

I love the power of words jumping off a page or even a screen. They can bring bring happiness or sadness, joy or outright tears. It’s an amazing thing, but I’ve always been fascinated by the power of music and song and the places that it can take its listeners.

I need at least a few hundred words to touch a reader. With a few strums of a guitar, a deep chord on the piano, ping of a tambourine or a singer hitting a high note, music has the ability to buckle you into your seat and send you on a rocket ship around the world.

For example, I hear children’s singer Raffi sing “Baby beluga in the deep blue sea, swim so wild and you swim so free” and I’m automatically taken to a magical world. 

It’s not’s just children’s music either. When the Beatles come up on my Spotify playlist and Paul McCartney sings that he wants to hold your hand, the song with an upbeat melody and repeating chorus lightens your load, changes your attitude, and has you swinging on clouds and singing the song the rest of the day.

Oh yes, I wish I had that power.

Image by Pexels.

Music takes you places

I flip to another song, and I hear a mariachi band and Johnny Cash’s gravelly voice singing about getting burned. “I fell into a burning ring of fire, I went down, down, down and the flames went higher, And it burns, burns, burns, The ring of fire, the ring of fire.”

I’m there, I’m right there with the Man in Black. I feel the heat of love on the back of my neck. I reach for my wife, to grab her hand, and let her know that I’m thinking of her, and she’s not even in the car with me.

Yikes, I wish my writing had that kind of power. It hits me that my writing needs its own back-up mariachi band! At least a couple trumpet players to make sure a reader doesn’t decide to trail off after reading a graph or two of my work.

Image by Pexels.

Music serves as an escape

Yes, music has power all its own. When you’re sad, it’s the medicine that can brighten your mood. When you’re anxious, it can calm your nerves. When you need a wake up call, it can get you revved up. I think of the British punk rock band The Clash singing the apocalyptic song, London Calling, detailing the ways the world is — to steal one of my father’s frequent phases —”going to hell in a handbasket.”

“London calling to the faraway towns
Now war is declared and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls
London calling, now don’t look to us
Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust
London calling, see we ain’t got no swing
Except for the ring of the truncheon thing”

A coming Ice Age, starvation, and war sound downright miserable, but the song’s driving beat gets your heart pounding and awake to the world’s struggles. Yes, yes, music takes us places we never expected. So, while I’m disappointed my kids never wanted me to sing, I guess I sort of get it.

They wanted to join in the harmony themselves. You go guys, rock on!

…….

This is the first in a five blog series this week on the ways music touches our lives. My musical tastes tend to be on the mellower side, some rock, country, a little blues and folk, and classical. My kids prefer rap and alternative music. No matter your tastes, we all have our musical preferences that touch our senses.

Let me know what you like to listen to and what you think of the series.