This post is inspired by The Tide by The Spill Canvas. It came on my pandora station today and I was immediately taken back to my college dorms, where I heard this song for the first time... Where I fell in love. With a boy? no. With music. with The Spill Canvas. With the idea that a song can change your life.
So hit the play button and read on with a soothing soundtrack of an acoustic guitar and the voice of Nick Thomas.
I've said it before, and will probably say it again (after this time too), that music can really say the words we can't muster up the courage to speak out loud. It can feel the emotions racing through our veins and explain where those feelings come from in the first place.
I am not a believer in many things. As a matter of fact, I roam this world with very little belief in myself, let alone other people, a higher power, human nature, or even my car to get me from point A to point B. What I can honestly say is that I believe in music. Call it my religion, with every song as a different story to tell, sermon to follow or secret to reveal. All the feelings that encompass my tangled heart are expressed in the lyrics and melodies from other people that have felt the same way, or understand the fact that not every tortured soul can be explained in our own voice.
With that being said, this piece is to inspire you to find the song, the artist, or the album that had an impact on your life. You know, the type of song or artist that no matter how many years later, or how many times you’ve heard it, you remember the day—where you were, the smell in the air, the reason you heard the song in the first place.
There’s really nothing like a song or a band that can make you reminisce so vividly of a time and place that profoundly impacted your life. A time when you were free of worry or strife, when the music was more important than homework or bills—a time when you were happy!
I couldn’t possibly narrow my list into one specific song or artist, as I have had the kind of life that is soundtracked by so many different emotions. Like Blink 182’s Adam’s Song, is both one of the saddest and happiest tracks to this day based on the loss of a friend and a lasting memory of my dad (read the whole story). Or Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ is far from a karaoke ballad blaring from the stereo. It takes me to a Saturday afternoon in my late Uncle Michael’s room, dancin’ around with my ratty mess of hair and bare feet on a 70’s style shag carpet. I could go on-and-on about the stellar vocals of Stevie Nicks singing metaphorical bliss and shaping much of who I am today and Fix You by Coldplay justly being labeled the saddest song of my life [Josie from Blink 182 probably being the happiest], but I won't... Plus how could I pick just one when I have four tattoo's that are enriched with lyrics or inspiration of four different songs and three different artists, jam packed with meaning and life lessons, on my skin forever. I can't.
Either way, the greatness of this notion to find that perfect song lies within the ability to go on forever about the sounds of savior, as I like to describe music. The fact that I can sit here and write pages upon pages of countless memories backed by guitar solos, headbanging, and vocalists I can only dream to be like, proves the ability for music to shape a life…For the better!
So what's your story?
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