Long Lost Mixtape - Mini: How I Wanted It to Feel.

Another mini episode. 

At least in my mind, Music is divided into 1. Words conveying a meaning and 2. Music carrying a message. To show this watch the clip below:

Now watch it again without sound. 

Less intense, right? Without the intense horror film score, the clip loses feeling and thus meaning. Sound signals emotion. Now, in the context of a song, words replace literal images with those we create from our own minds. This is one of the strengths of music. We are far better at creating those images in our own imaginations and memories than the artists themselves. This is one of the reasons books are so often superior to their film counterparts. And while it is easy for us to pair an emotion with a melody and an image with a lyric, it is far more difficult to do the reverse. This is why we refer to musicians as artists. Their job is to do just that: match a melody to an already existing feeling and words to an image.

This leads to one of the most gratifying phenomenon's in my life: Finding a song through which an artist has perfectly captured a feeling and paired it with the same precise image I had already created in my own mind. We've all been there to some degree. We've heard a song that felt specifically written for us. This has only happened a handful of times in my life, but here is the latest.

The song is "California Stars" By Wilco & Billy Bragg.

The lyric is "So I'd give this world just to dream a dream with you on our bed of California stars."

Not too long ago, I moved to a big city to work in an office with long, intense hours. It was a major lifestyle shift. An intense and rewarding experience. But at times it has been almost unbearable. I first heard this song sitting at my desk in the wee hours of a Wednesday having worked since the previous morning. I found myself alone in the dark, furious and frustrated at mistakes I had made. Then I remembered a colleague on my floor recommended this song to me. I turned it on and immediately had to hold back tears. The song flashed through my brain and pulled out dusty images and feelings that had been hidden behind the stress of work. I was in a gentler, warmer place. A warm ocean sunset in California, resting on soft sand. Just breathing. It was a beautiful moment. It was everything I had been yearning for. And I am grateful for that moment and for this song which continual takes me back.

Now I encourage you: Go find your own. Find a song that you feel was written with you in mind.

Thanks for reading. Good luck out there.