I’ve got the music in me…

The other day I had to leave school in the middle of the morning to run to the store to buy supplies for a project with my students (see this post about cider pressing). I was  preoccupied as I was leaving because I had left my phone at home that morning, and my youngest had gone off to school having a hint of a cough where they sound sort of like a seal barking, and I was concerned about not wasting too much time off campus and…you get the picture. I got into the car, and as I turned it on, a song that I had never heard started to play on WXPN. The first few notes grabbed me, and I turned up the volume to hear what was next. A piano joined the guitar and I took a deep breath, felt my chest swell and I suddenly saw how brilliantly beautifully blue the sky was, I cracked the window to let in some of the crisp fall air and I became aware of the variety and multitude of hues still clinging to the trees in the very urban neighborhood where I both live and work. The words to this song are beautiful and catchy and sad, and I found myself, for lack of any better explanation, full of feeling, at the end of this song. I was touched by the lyrics and imagery, I was grateful for this song’s ability to sway me into being mindful and present, and I was pleasantly overwhelmed by the rush of emotion and life.

I love that about music…it really can be very powerful. It can mellow you out, help you study, put you to sleep, enhance your mood, make you sing, bring tears to your eyes, inspire you to you dance around your kitchen, make you think.

For the record, the song that I heard was Relatively Easy, by Jason Isbell, and I think I’ve  listened to it at least a few dozen times since I heard it last week. I also think I’m going to need to learn to play it on the guitar. Give a listen and check out the lyrics. What do you think?

He’s coming to Philly at the end of January. Who’s going?

Relatively Easy

Are you having a long day

Everyone you meet rubs you the wrong way

Dirty city streets smell like an ashtray

Morning bells are ringing in your ears

Is your brother on a church kick

Seems like just a different kind of dopesick

Better off to teach a dog a card trick

Than try to have a point and make it clear

You should know, compared to people on a global scale,

Our kind has had it relatively easy

And here with you there’s always something to look forward to

My angry heart beats relatively easy

I lost a good friend,

At Christmastime when folks go off the deep end

His woman took the kids and he took Klonopin

Enough to kill a man of twice his size

Not for me to understand

Remember him when he was still a proud man

A vandal’s smile, a baseball in his right hand

Nothing but the blue sky in his eyes

Still, compared to those a stones-throw away from you,

Our lives have both been relatively easy

Take a year and make a break there ain’t that much at stake

The answers could be relatively easy

Watch that lucky man walk to work again

He may not have a friend left in the world

See him walking home again to sleep alone

I step into a shop to buy a postcard for a girl

I broke the law, boys,

Shooting out the windows of my loft, boys

When they picked me up, I made a big noise

Everything to blame except my mind

I should say, I keep your picture with me every day

The evenings now are relatively easy

And here with you there’s always something to look forward to

My lonely heart beats relatively easy