Carry On Koby

Kiki Dee (and her band) sang and played, “I’ve Got The Music In Me”.

That lyric springs to mind when I consider what music means to me. I think music is the most beautiful language and I sometimes feel that I can express myself more clearly in the language of music than in English.

My daughter, when she was about 10 years old, asked me why I thought “The Artist” was such a good film, how it could be a good film with no words, just music. I told her that no words were needed, that the music was more expressive than any ‘music-less’ words could be and that if words had been introduced (I know there was a word at the end), the film would have been worse for it.

George Michael (supposedly) once said, “I still believe that music is one of the greatest gifts that G-d gave to man”  –  I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment.

Music is my essence, it’s my therapy (as is running!), it’s my escape, it’s my ‘drug’, it’s my past, the sound track to my youth, it’s nostalgia, it’s my present and I sincerely hope that it’s my future….music pierces my heart, it enters my soul, it massages my tear ducts…music isn’t just something IN my life, it is a PART OF my life.

What is my music?

Words like ‘diverse’ and ‘cross section’ come to mind.

I’ll mention a few, just a few, names:

Frank Sinatra (and Nelson Riddle), Elvis Presley, Mel Torme, Marvin Gaye, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Pavarotti, Luther Vandross, ELO, Teddy Pendergrass, The Rolling Stones, Bill Evans, Buddy Holly, Queen, The Four Tops, Vaughan Williams, Gene Harris, Elton John (and, of course, Bernie Taupin), the Gershwins, Led Zeppelin, Bacharach and David, Shostakovich, Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles, James Ingram, Oscar Peterson, The Platters, Erroll Garner, Karen Carpenter, John Williams (guitarist but John Towner Williams is quite talented as well!), Cole Porter, Holst, Julie London, Barry Manilow, Chet Baker, Michael McDonald, Joe Pass, Earth Wind and Fire, Johnny Mercer, Barbra Streisand, Roy Orbison, The Bee Gees, John Coltrane, Matt Monroe, Khachaturian, Barry White, Tony Bennett, Fred Astaire, Andy Williams, Rachmaninov, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Maria Callas, Mozart, Joaquin Rodrigo, Buddy Rich….the list goes on and on and on and on….

One of the wonderful things about music is that you keep discovering music you haven’t heard before, tripping over new songs, new musicians, even new genres, and if you live to be 120, that will still be true…but it’s also frustrating because you know that you won’t hear all the great stuff out there before you die. Still, I’ll do my best to listen to as much as I can.