Old Time Tune Appreciation
Today my friend asked me "what do you think is the best song of all time". He asked me over social media. It wasn't face to face. We weren't in an important conversation, a moment of sincerity. But he caught me out of my element. I was on the spot to come up with an answer. It was like "I want to say Baha Men's "Who Let The Dogs Out?" but I'm not sure what consequence that will have on the plight of human kind if I release such a monstrosity." So I said it anyway. And then I referred, instead, to the entire Tenacious D album that features "Lee" and "Tribute" because of course, when you're thinking of a great song, people think "Tribute" ironically.
And, ironically, Tribute and Tenacious D oftentimes float back into my life. That album is a whirlwind of memories waiting to spill out onto that berber carpet like a glass of cheap red wine. I mentioned to my friend that I would listen to it with my brother in the car when I was around 8 years old, but more often than not we'd put the CD into the stereo at home and lie down on the floor beside it with our hands resting behind our heads and our legs tapping in the air in time with the beats and the funny lyrics.
Though Tenacious D is not Willie Nelson or something really, generically great and profound, it was that memory that made me realise how much I missed the process of just listening to music. To being completely in the element. With no distraction - no "study" with music in the background. Though the hum of music whilst doing other things (the whole "whistle while you work" type scenario that we consume the empty space in our minds with), my favourite memories and connections with music have been when it was entirely the music, the vibrations through my body and the uncontrollable tapping of toes in the air. It's been lying beside the stereo with my brother or mum or both and just simply listening that have been the most memorable moments. When your attention is on nothing else - oh imagine the opportunity to be undistracted by the tumultuous vomit of thoughts and of worries of the world and simply soak up the notes and the melodies of others.
It's time to rest beside the speakers and let the warm winter sun ease through the glass windows, across the berber carpet and splinter over your face as you smile, with your eyes closed and your ears open.
