"Black Gives Way To Blue" - AIC
Music is what feelings sound like...
Most assuredly so. Who among us hasn't been going about the business of everyday living when a song's lyrics suddenly stop you dead in your tracks?BAM! Blindsided by a ballad! Pulverized by poetry!
Those words... They strike a chord somewhere deep within the core our being. Someone else "gets" us; someone else understands what we're feeling. And there's a certain comfort found in not bleeding alone, and assists coagulating our emotional wounds. "O true music apothecary! Thy drugs are quick! Thus with a song, I die!" Or so this is how I imagine my modern day B. Shakespeare would have penned it.
I can think of a heaping handful of songs that have touched me on such a soul level over the years. And there's a back story for each. It doesn't matter how long it's been since I last heard any of them; to hear one now is to be transported instantly back to that certain place and time in my life: a rewind to the past. I can recall the emotions I felt; I can feel, smell, and touch that moment in my mind and remember again, if only just for the moment.
So there was this guy I'd known casually from the music scene for a few years: the quiet, brooding melancholy guitarist. Yeah, I could tell by the way he wore those skinny jeans that his taste in music was far cooler than mine. But we'd strike up small talk when ever our paths crossed, and exchange deliciously witty emails from time to time when our paths didn't. One New Year's Day, his long-time girlfriend unceremoniously dumped him, and a few weeks later, he'd asked me out. And I went. Again. And again. Funny how two totally opposite people could turn out to have so much in common and so much fun! Alas, discovering our mutual love of the band Alice In Chains ultimately led to our demise. It sparked our first kiss as he eagerly borrowed my copy of their latest CD that I'd offered at the close of Date Number Four (on the eve of his birthday) one rainy Spring night.
He called me the next evening as I was getting ready for our big night out for his birthday gig and celebration. He said couldn't see me tonight-- or any more, for that matter-- as he was so deeply affected by a certain song on that CD, and had come to the sad realization that he wasn't over his ex-girlfriend yet. He was terribly sorry, and just not ready to be seeing anyone at this point.
Damn. Liquified by lyrics! Ravaged by riffs! Curse you, Alice In Chains!
So much for Date Number Five. What do you even say to that? I mean, "Well, alright then. Hope you have a happy birthday celebration tonight!" somehow seems a bit awk-weird. I'm pretty sure I responded with some sort of unintelligible syllables, and pretty sure I hung up on him.
Well.
It's all good though. The truth is, I had originally picked up that CD because it reminded me of an old boyfriend I couldn't get off my mind. He was a brooding guitarist, too.
Yeah... I definitely coulda used more cowbell.
