So, before I get into any specific piece of work, let’s kick off with music in general which, like all the arts, has no practical purpose.
- We do not use music for mating purposes, (well rarely, if you discount the belting out of Mustang Sally after 8 pints of lager which, let’s face it, rarely attracts a lifelong soul mate anyway).
- We do not need to sing to signal that there is food in yonder bush, (we could but we don’t need to).
- We do not need to burst into song to warn that the enemy is at our gate, (we have already seen them coming on the internet).
Ok, the bugle-playing-private was an important guy in the army at one time (and maybe still is) and marching bands stirred up the troops, but we don’t need music for Procreation, Survival or Safety. The world could go on without music. But how flat a world would that be?
Yet, in these challenging days, music seems to be something people turn to, with inspirational results:
- People in Italy singing their National Anthem out of windows to each other in an act of solidarity and hope.
- In Ireland daughters singing to their mothers through closed windows to show their love on Mothers’ Day.
- Online people posting songs in an effort to spread some joy and brightness.
- And what about the guy singing at the windows of a retirement home to give the residents something to smile about?
Music unites us and seems to dwell within us at some deep primal level, despite not being actually necessary. It touches our emotions and lets us express ourselves more freely than is common is this “developed” society of ours.
Music can be part of our salvation because it takes us beyond the practical and maybe into the realm of the “soul”, whenever that lies.
The arts seem to be one of the things that separates humans from the animal world. We have a desire to create things which are not practical, but which provide beauty and a huge range of emotions. We do art simply to do art.
Another thing music can give us is “moments”:
- Moments that stay etched in your brain forever. The music and the time become inseparable. Hear the song again and you are back there, back in that sweaty disco of a bygone age.
- Couples have “their song”, the one that played the night they first shared a Big Mac/Brown Ale/Embarrassing Dance etc.
- Hearing that person sing that song at a concert. Turning a normal moment into something special. A Moment.
- Music is, beyond doubt, a time machine.
I happily admit that Music Moves Me. Ever since I can remember I have loved music and have always found that it gave me joy during the good times and consolation at times of sorrow or stress.
So, at this time of high anxiety for everyone, I am going to share some of my favourite musical memories, just to cheer myself up, if nothing else.
And if we are going to be all deep and meaningful let’s kick off with a Wings album from 1973.
