The Sound Track of Your Life

Not to be self indulgent. That is not the point. Quite the contrary, in fact. But what songs (or song writers) grab you and speak to you as if they were written (or often write), specifically, just for you?

We all have them. Some of us have more than others, I'm sure, but I am swimming in the joy of each one of mine as I listen. I tend to follow certain artists closely: e.g., Johnny Cash, Martin Sexton, David Wilcox, U2, Wilco, M Ward, Leonard Cohen, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan.

I see in more than one of these musical talents a spiritual self-awakening that is part of their process of creating music. It is clear in the work of several of these writers that listening to your own creative work played out over a lifetime, re-interpreting your own songs and letting them speak to you, and indeed, the song-writing process itself ...can put you in touch with a higher power.

M Ward sings on his newest album release, Hold Time:

"he put his name in my verses and his name in the hook, before I knew what I was cookin' it was already cooked, he's got a line in the water, he's a fisher of men... he put his name in my chorus and the dark before the dawn, so that in my time of weakness I'd remember its his song, he's got a line in the water, he's a fisher of men..." ("Fisher of Men")

And Bono still hasn't found what he's looking for as he screams on U2's latest release, No Line on the Horizon:

Let me in the sound/ Let me in the sound/ Let me in the sound, sound/ Let me in the sound, sound/ Let me in the sound... ("Get On Your Boots")

And in the song, "Breathe":

We are people borne of sound/ The songs are in our eyes/ Gonna wear them like a crown/ Walk out, into the sunburst street/ Sing your heart out, sing my heart out/ I've found grace inside a sound/ I've found grace , its all that I've found/ And I can breathe now...

I could go on, but I'll stop right there and just say that the creative process, living a life that is open to music seems beneficial to spiritual health. David Wilcox says that music is more than just sound,

"Who needs sound? We need music, and music is much bigger than that. We don't need sound; we need music, and music is timing with a capital-T. Music is hearing a song that sounds like your song, 'cause its just what you've been dreaming of, or thinking of, or praying for, and suddenly its speaking right to you..." (from the album, Live Songs and Stories)

Think about the songs that grab you deep inside. Make a list, and then think about why they grab you. What phrases and chords grip your heart? Try to "get inside the sound", and then listen for whatever/whomever may actually be meeting you there.

But don't get in a hurry. It may take a little while... and it may involve some writing and singing of your own!

...And remember, the sound track of your life is yours alone, but sharing it with others is the whole point of even laying down the tracks.