"The Hills are Alive. . . .

. . . .with the sound of music."  I can almost picture myself on the top of the Swiss Alps singing at the top of my lungs as I run down the mountainside.  I am not a member of the Von Trapp family however, I am from the lesser known family, the Von Crapps.  Then, as I go into my first spin, the strap of my lederhosen falls down and trips me. Now thanks to gravity and my oversized body, I begin the process of stumbling downhill trying so hard not to fall on my face.  Of course, I lose that battle quickly, because. . . well. . . fat people don't do well in these situations, and I end up face down in a rather warm and moist cow patty that a Swiss cow decided to leave there!               .  . . . . . . . . . . AND  . . . . . . . . . . CUT!!!!!!

Okay, I'm back now.  I tend to drift off into fantasy land every now and then.  Well where were we?   Oh right!  I was getting ready to "puke" again.  Thanks for those that have voted and by the look of it, I'm doing okay with this thing so I guess I will keep going. 

Let's see, I've talked a little on getting old, a lot on the cats, some potty humor in poetry form, and my opinion on movies.  So what could be next?   Oh. . . I know. . . let's talk about one of my favorite things. . . . MUSIC!!!!

Music has always had a huge influence on my life.  I think it started back in my room as a child and I heard Abba's "Dancing Queen" and it actually made me dance.  I'll give you all a moment to insert your jokes right now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Done?  Good!  I think each and everyone of us can look back at a time and pick out the music of the time and have good memories.  It's kind of like our own little personal soundtrack that defined good moments and some bad moments.  Some of us, it was country music, some rock, some gospel, some polka, some classical, but it was SOME kind of music that we can look back at and have ourselves a good ol' memory.  Now let me state right here and now, I'm NOT a country fan.  In fact, I'm still in therapy for an obsession that I had back in the early 70's with Kenny Rogers and the First Edition.   I will swear that "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" and "Somethings Burning" are NOT country songs, so I think my reputation is still intact.  Nani Nani Boo Boo!!!
Here, see for yourself:

 Wow!!!!!   I just watched that and I don't think Mom and Dad knew I was listening to a song about drugs.  Lol.  So now I'm sure it wasn't country, all is now right in the world. 

For me, music takes me back.  I can remember sitting in the basement of my house in the 70's and listening to the album,(for you youngens, it was a large, round, black plastic disk a little bigger than a dinner plate, that you played on a record player) Saturday Night Fever by the Bee Gees.  I would just play it over and over and over until someone would make me stop.  What could I do though?  I had Disco Fever!!!

Then in 1980, my neighborhood friend had me listen to "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne and I was absolutely blown away.  It sounded so different than anything I had ever heard before and I was hooked.  I don't know what it was about it, but I took that "Heavy Metal" sound with me from that moment on and even now, 30 years later, I have Ozzy's new song, "Life Won't Wait for You" as my ringtone.  I'm trying to take some of the lyrics to heart as it applies to what I really want to do with myself, because life doesn't wait for anyone.

Now if I would have to pinpoint a musical era that I am part of, it would be the 80's.  To me, I can listen to song after song from that era and it brings back so many memories.  Where I was when I heard it, what I was doing, and who I was with.  I think we all have those types of songs.  The ones that transport us back to a moment and we smile.  The 80's produced, in my opinion, some of the best songs EVER to fall in love to.  They also produced some of the best "break-up" songs that would just rub salt in that wound that you called your heart during that time.  In the 80's, we would declare "our song".  The song that defined who you were as a couple.  I can remember Bryan Adams, "Heaven" and Peter Cetera's, "Glory of Love" being a huge part of that time for me.

Then you had two groups that were the Kings of Love and the Kings of Break-ups all at the same time.  Chicago and Air Supply!!!!   Chicago's, "You're the Inspiration" was a great love song, but once you broke up, you couldn't get away from the song, "Hard Habit to Break".   With songs like, "All out of Love", "Here I am", and "Without you", Air Supply could turn any strong jock into a blubbering idiot after being dumped by a girl.  How do I know?  *sniff*  I'm not telling.  *sniff*   If you ever were dumped back in that time, you will know what I mean when I say that you COULDN'T get away from those songs after being dumped!!!  It didn't matter if you were in your car, in a store, sitting at home, you would hear one of those songs.  There is a scene from the 80's movie, "Better Off Dead" where John Cusack's character just got dumped.  He's driving around and EVERY radio station he tunes to is playing some sappy break-up song.  He ends up ripping the radio out of the car and throwing it out the window.  Classic scene that rang OH SO TRUE!!!  Oh the joys of love in the 80's.

I got to thinking about this topic and I thought, "Hey, this is my blog.  So I am free to talk about myself all I want."  So since I decided to talk about music, I'm going to share two of the most influential songs that have come across in my life.  Don't get me wrong, there are so many more that I would say made an impression, but I will only bore you with two main ones.  One bad memory and one sad memory that really turned into a great one. 

I tend to have certain "Go To" artists during times of my life.  If I'm feeling down, I will usually head over to Peter Gabriel land and have a good long visit.  There is something about his music that reaches deep within me and "talks" to me.  I know that sounds weird if you have never experienced it, but trust me, it exists in my crazy world.  I think the best way I could describe my relationship with his music is to say that I can actually feel the emotion that is taking place in the song.   Just recently, on the final episode of Scrubs, they played "Book of Love" by him and I will admit it, I teared up from all the emotion that was in that moment. I just have this "thing" with his music that is really hard to explain.  I hope you have your own, because it truly is a special relationship.  (Wow does that make me sound like a psycho)   ANYWAYS.  Back to the moment.

I was in college and due to some circumstances in my life, I found myself at the bottom.  Now when I say bottom, I mean I was at that point in my life that I was questioning life and why should I bother being in it anymore.  Now do I think that I was going to commit suicide?  I would have to say no, but I also won't say the thought didn't cross my mind.  I'm sure each and everyone of us has that moment where we say, "Why Bother" . . . .  Well this was my moment and I just wanted the pain to end.  Now I have a strong faith in God and I know that He was the one that got me through this, but I believe He threw this Peter Gabriel song at me when I needed it most.   The name of the song is, "Don't Give Up".  Now while the song really is talking about a man's despair about the economy, it still spoke volumes to me when Kate Bush sang the part,

"Don't give up.
'Cos you have friends. 
Don't give up.
You're not beaten yet.
Don't give up
I know you can make it good"

Then later in the song the truth was driven home.

"Don't give up
you still have us
Don't give up
we don't need much of anything
Don't give up
'cause somewhere there's a place
where we belong"

"Rest your head
you worry too much
it's going to be alright
when times get rough
you can fall back on us
don't give up
please don't give up"

Here's the song. 

Those lyrics hit me like a sledgehammer, not the later Peter Gabriel song, but it was as if I was punched in the brain.  Just a simple couple of phrases set to a haunting melody turned my attitude around.  I realized at that moment that I needed to NOT GIVE UP.  I still get chills with that song because it was such a huge moment in my life.  On a side note, Peter Gabriel helped me once again with the song "I Grieve" when I put my English Bulldog Kong to sleep.   I still can get choked up when I hear that song.

Now the second life changing song goes to my favorite band, the Dave Matthews Band.  This song was one that was another slap in my face as to just what was I doing at the time.  This took place in September of 2004.   I had just gotten out of a horrible relationship that pretty much left me gutted and pretty much lost.  I was just kind of bouncing around in relationships that were not getting me anywhere.  I had been invited to attend a memorial by a childhood friend for their brother Jeff that had died from cancer a year before.  I was always good friends with the family but I had lost touch with all of them over the years.  I will save the details for a later date as to all that happened to bring me to where we are today, but I will focus on the one moment that this song knocked me over.  I will say for now that Jeff's sister, Linda is now my best friend, my world, and my wife.  That's another story for another day.

Without going into all the details, I will say that the few days I stayed with the family at the house they rented really put things into perspective for me.  After a few years of feeling lost, I finally felt like I belonged somewhere. Her family was so great.  Now Linda was there and trust me when I say, NOTHING HAPPENED between us.  We were always great friends in school and even though we hadn't seen each other in roughly 18 years, it was like we never had lost a beat as far as our friendship went when we saw each other that weekend.  Well when the day came that I had to leave to drive the 8 hours home, I found myself not wanting to leave.  Everything just felt so right there.  I ended up walking on the beach for like three hours with Linda and just talking.  It finally got to the point that I had to leave, so I said my goodbyes and got in the car.  I pulled out on the road leaving the place and the very first line I heard from the radio was, "Where are you going?"  by the Dave Matthews Band.  Who would have known where this one was going to take me? 

Talk about a no truer question at that moment for me! "WHERE WAS I GOING?"  I can so clearly remember the tears that came up at that moment.  It was like God once again said, "Pay attention My son!!!"  Once again that sledgehammer had found its home. A seed was planted at the moment that would grow over the next two years that would bring me to what I have today with my wife Linda.  Some day I will tell the whole tale, but I have already taken up too much of your time with this one.

I will just leave it at this.  Music can lift you up, tear you down, bring you joy, bring you sadness, make you smile, make you cry, it can do so many things.  I love music and cherish it because of all these things and I hope you have YOUR SONGS too.

Smile!!!!