Music Saved My Life
I was a strange child, I admit. I used to talk to myself. I had a bunch of imaginary friends. I could play by myself for hours. I was a latch key kid at an age that in these days would be considered much too young. Everyday for almost 2 hours I had the whole apartment to myself. Well, me and my special friends. Sometimes we were cops and robbers. Other days we were cowboys and indians. Still other days we were Starsky and Hutch or the cops from Chips. Regardless of the characters, the one constant was the 70′s soundtrack that documented my solo adventures. Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Kool and the Gang, The Commodores, Minne Rippleton, all were musical cohorts in my personal movies.
The music….ahh the music. It spoke to me, for me. Said things I didn’t have the courage or maturity to say. Gave me a glimpse into a grown up world full of freedom and fun, so I thought at least until I myself grew up. Then music became a mirror. A silent ever forgiving judge that condemned and healed all in the same note. A constant confidant that knew my greatest deed, my darkest pain, my deepest shame, my most private construction. In college after walking home in the rain after breaking up with a woman I thought could be my wife one day, I needed an intervention. As I dried off from the shower I took to get the rain water off, I put on some Sade. Then Tower of Power, Barry White, James Brown, A Tribe Called Quest, Bobby McFerrin, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Prince, Mary J Blige. I cried….like a baby. I laughed…like a crazy man. I did not sleep. I played music all night and missed class the next day cause I was so tired from my musical healing session.
Then it hit me. Through it all, it has been there for me. It has taught me, revealed me, hid me, healed me, hurt me, loved me, never hated me. It has always been there to validate me. It has been the co-signer of every major event in this saga called my life. The broken hearts and the hearts I’ve broken. The ups and downs, the money, and the NSF’s. The highest of highs and lowest of lows. It’s as if God knew that this strange child needed some extra help. Music has been my only friend at times. I hope to share with others all that I have received from the healing notes.
