I have never been a music person. I enjoy listening to songs but I cannot have them in the background while I do other work because then I’m not listening to the lyrics and that I feel is the height of disrespect to an artist. Just listening makes me restless so I can sometimes go days without music.
If my former college roommate is to be believed, my song choices are old people’s choices. She was aghast when I told her one of the songs I was listening to was from ‘83! The only reason I discover new music [and by that I in no way mean songs released in 2022 but new to me which end up being at least 7-8 years old] is thanks to YouTube’s algorithm or a song I heard and liked in a movie or show.
One of my most prized possessions, back in the day, was a Sony Walkman – a bright white model that I used so much it finally broke on me. I had got the iPod as well as a gift but it didn’t have the same weight as a walkman did. I had a few cassettes: Enrique, JLO, Backstreet Boys and those ‘Best of’ cassettes they released every year. That’s how I discovered different artists, reading the lyrics in the cassette covers so I could sing along.
I was going through my song list in preparation of writing this post and trying to trace back the history of how I came across a particular song – or why after so many years it’s still a part of my most heard music. It was quite interesting to see that a few of them were gifts – shared by people because they loved it and wanted to share that love.
Like the Simon & Garfunkel song Sound of Silence. That’s a gift from dad. One of his favourite singers, I was fascinated by the name Garfunkel when I was little. Over the years, my relationship with the song has evolved like my understanding of the lyrics have evolved.
Mom used to love singing Do-Re-Mi to me when I was about 3 or 4 years old. She even taught the song to me because she loved it that much and I refused to learn the alphabet since it was boring. I knew the song even before I saw Sound of Music.
Carnival of Rust was a gift from my friends. Poets of the Fall were doing an impromptu tour of India at the Hard Rock Cafe if I’m remembering correctly. And everyone was listening to this song on repeat. After that I discovered many songs from them. But Carnival of Rust hits differently – maybe because it is a shared song.
The entire genre of classic rock was introduced by a friend Shashwat. It feels weird to type his full name because for us, he is Shasha. I was in school and I listened to only pop then and he took it upon himself to educate me on real music. He introduced me to many, many names but my favourite will remain Nothing Else Matters. Every time I hear the guitar solo at the 5 minute mark, I think of him. It was he who directed my attention to the importance of guitar solos and drum beats in rock music.
And finally, here’s a song – as a gift from me to you. Two Men in Love by the Irrepressibles. I absolutely adore the lyrics of the song and how it changes its pace and pitch.
Do you have a song in your list that was a gift from someone? I’d love to hear the story!
Connecting this post to #BlogchatterA2Z. To read other posts, check Theme Reveal 2022: Without Prearrangement.
PS: If you like how I write and would like to read more, I have 2 ebooks on Kindle – both free if you’re on Kindle Unlimited. You can read more about the ebooks here.
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