Music Pushes My Buttons

Nothing pushes my buttons like music. It's so powerful that it blows my mind, even though I was literally listening to music before I was born. My earliest memory is standing in front of a record player, listening to music and watching the record spin. It's no big surprise that I went on to play music. I'm not a real musician, but I hang out with them. 

 Even so it still amazes me how much music can affect me. I can hear certain chord progressions, and tears will flow. They're not boo-hoo tears, and it's not like it's a sad song, it's the sheer beauty of it. I'm not a crier by nature. In fact I wish I could cry more. I've cried about things before, sometimes tears of sadness and sometimes tears of joy, but music is different.

 I'll never forget attending a Christmas concert one year. They had our local symphony, which ain't too shabby, augmented by first-chair players from several others. They combined three choirs into one 150-piece choir. It was massive. When they all came in it was this ass-blasting wall of sound, and it hit me like a ton o' bricks. It was like "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Bravo.

 Tears started streaming down my face, and it was so intense that I started to blubber a little. I tried to stifle it but it came out sounding somewhat like a seal. I couldn't help it. There was the sweetest little old lady sitting next to me. I'd spoken with her before the concert started, and we had a nice chat. She turned to me and said "Sonny, are you okay?" "Oh, yes ma'am" I said. "I'm fine. It's just so beautiful...I can't help it." "Yes, it is beautiful" she said. We spoke again after. That was at least 15 years ago, and I'm guessing she's singing with the angels now. Hopefully we'll chat again. 

 Music is powerful, and in some cases it's a nostalgia thing...a "soundtrack of our lives" deal, but for me usually it's the music itself, and it can be a song I've never heard, or one I've heard a million times. There are some tunes that get me every time. Since it happens so much I've learned to keep it to a little sniffle, but still it gets me, and my eyes well-up every time.

 How it works exactly is still a mystery, but it doesn't bother me a bit. In fact it's a badge of honor. Frank Zappa once stated it simply and obviously, but perfectly- "Music is the best." I hear you Frank.