Music--food for the soul

After all the introductions, I thought it was high time I actually wrote about something. Enough of this vagueness and nothingness. I kept thinking what should I start with? Generally, its very easy for me to write if I feel very strongly about any particular subject—be it the state of “customer service” in our country, or the so-called democracy, or people in their various masks. And then it hit me, all these are things I dislike. Why is it that we always express our negative feelings more vociferously than the good ones? Well, I won’t want to do that, at least not today. So, customer service can wait. Today I want to write about what makes me happy.

So, what does make me happy? Cozy nights under a warm blanket with a hot cup of coffee; watching the rains from my balcony on cold grey mornings; going on a long drive under clear blue skies—and someone to share all this with. Music. Someone rightly said, “Music gives soul to the universe
Wings to the mind
Flight to the imagination
And life to everything”.

There’s a tune for every occasion, for every feeling, for every mood. Some of the most beautiful songs are the ones which everyone can relate to. I bet all of us have felt at some point or another, “Oh my god! This song was meant for me”. Or “this is exactly how I feel today”.

Nothing better to put me in an upbeat mood than Cliff Richards on a Sunday morning—Bachelor Boy, Dancing Shoes, Summer Holiday, and it goes on. For those long lonely afternoons, there’s Eddie Vedder with Guaranteed, Society or Hard Sun. If you are in love, there are a countless songs you feel like listening to. Same is the story for the heart-broken souls. Music can give you joy, sometimes move you to tears, motivate you and tell you not to give up, make you dance and even make you sleep. Can you think of any other single thing in this world that can do so much for you?

My favourite group, The Beatles—you can always go to them for anything you need, they have a song for every feeling you can imagine. From the romantic Baby Its You, to the dreamy Strawberry Fields, from the sad Yesterday to the chirpy Octupus’s Garden, from the first feelings of love in If I Fell or I’ve Just Seen a Face to the heart-broken While My Guitar Gently Weeps—the list is endless. I can go on about them, maybe I should write a separate post for them.

Generations have been built on music. Revolutions have raged throughout the world based on music. Can anyone forget the Hippies with their slogan of flower power—love, peace, music? Bob Dylan’s songs became the anthems for civil rights and anti-war movements in the 1960s’ USA. Reggae artist Eddy Grant’s Gimme Hope Jo’anna became the most popular theme for anti-apartheid all over the world. Have we ever thought why we have a national anthem or song? Why not have a national poem, instead? Why is it that we sing “Happy Birthday”, and also have ‘bhajans’ or ‘keertans’ when someone dies?

Then there are memories. You always tend to associate a song with someone or some period or a specific day in your life. Whenever I listen to Cliff or Elvis, it always takes me back to my sunny childhood days when Sundays meant watching TV, no studying, Mom running behind us to go take a bath, and having something special for breakfast and lunch. Ghulam Ali, Jagjit Singh and Kishore Kumar remind me of Dad, every single time I hear them. The first song I learnt to perform was Raindrops on Roses from Sound of Music. Then there are the Bollywood songs which me and my sister were crazy about during our teen-years. Even though we are miles away now, we can still have an hour long chat over the phone interspersed with songs from those days. I still remember the song which my first crush had sung for me. And all the songs which ‘that someone special’ had dedicated to me, at different points in life.

Sometimes I wonder, will a road trip be as enjoyable if you don’t have a Country Roads or Life is a Highway, playing in the background? Won’t those lonely nights be sadder if you didn’t have Frank Sinatra croon to you? Imagine how boring housework will be if there’s no happy beat in the background. Or what about a romantic evening without music—wouldn’t it feel as if something’s missing?

I wake up every morning to music, a song plays on in my head all day, and the last thing I do before I sleep at night is….you guessed it right…music again. I have a theme song which talks about my deepest beliefs, and I have a ‘me’ song which describes me accurately. Am I mad about music? Or are there millions and millions of people in the world who do the same? My guess would be the latter. Are you one of them?