As usual, I am a little late to the party in discovering a new app or website or other digital medium that brings me to the next level of electronic literacy. I'm too busy/lazy to use the ones I have.
Ah, but I recently decided to venture out for a trial run of Spotify. It is a digital music streaming service based in Sweden that boasts an inventory which makes iTunes seem like an 8th grader's playlist. The difference, of course, is that you can actually purchase mp3s from iTunes, whereas Spotify is a monthly subscription service. After just a few hours, I signed up for the monthly service, and I have been smitten ever since.
You see, music is...well, how do I put this...it's the next best thing to breathing. It is therapy, it is anguish, it is happiness on steroids.
I have a 48-year-old tapestry of my life, woven by of hundreds (thousands?) of hours of soundtrack and comprised of the wildest and widest variety of compositions imaginable. Every single piece has a memory attached to it - maybe several memories - that are as clear as any photograph. Yet better than a photograph, a song evokes the feelings of the memory.
Tupelo Honey (Van Morrison) - sitting in the backseat of the family car and pulling onto A1A on the way to Daytona Beach; I am wedging myself up in the space between my parents with my elbows over the front seat, badgering "arewethereyet, arewethereyet, AREWETHEREYET??!" One of many incidents where the threat of "don't make me stop this car" nearly came to fruition.
House at Pooh Corner (original Loggins and Messina version only) - being a kid and looking for something cheerful and innocent while my family shredded itself.
Seasons of Wither - listening to early Aerosmith through headphones with the volume as high as I could stand it. I requested this song at one of our 8th grade dances and awkwardly asked a boy to dance with me; the beat doesn't lend itself to dancing and my ears still burn remembering how long that damn song is.
Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (Klaatu) - before I discovered Genesis, Rush, Yes and Queen, Klaatu introduced me to the longplay fantasy, where you can get totally lost in a filigreed story told by strings and horns and something called a Moog. Another headphone memory laying on my back on the floor of my room.
September (Earth, Wind and Fire) - a more pleasant high school dance memory with a boy who really liked me but was too nice.
Hold the Line (Toto) and Crazy Love (Poco) - two entirely ironic songs that played on the radio the night I unsuccessfully tried to lose my virginity after sneaking out to meet a much older boy. Cried like a baby all the way home, with these songs on the radio and my paramour driving the car, completely disgusted that I wimped out at the last second.
Honestly, this is a little bit hard to write, so I'm taking a break. But I like the idea of blogging my music memories, so perhaps I'll pick up again next time. Can't wait to tell you about Pachelbel's Canon in D on April 18, 1998. My soundtrack really does have an overabundance of pure joy.
Anyway, go try Spotify.
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