So the other morning I got up, threw on some clothes, brushed my teeth, put on deodorant, looked in the mirror and said, “You know what the difference between me and you is? I make this look goooood,” and then I jumped into my car and headed for work. As I drove I scrolled through my MP3 player looking for the right song to start my day. I ended up choosing the song Hurt by Nine Inch Nails.
“I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel. I focus on the pain, the only thing that’s real.”
After about 15 seconds I wondered what the hell was wrong with me. Who in their right mind begins their day with this song? A day that starts with “Hurt” ends with you chained to the floor in a Slovakian Hostel. So I quickly changed it to Baba O’Riley by The Who. Ecstatic synth, then comes the booming piano chords! Then the drums! And then
“Out here in the fields! I fight for my meals!”
Yes! When you start a day with Baba O’Riley, you embark on a life-changing journey where you make two best friends, fall in love, find a hidden treasure and learn some poignant lesson that echoes through the rest of eternity.
It’s important to start your day with the right song. Now if you head to work feeling miserable every morning, there is either something wrong with your job or something wrong with you. Probably the best thing to do would be to figure that out and fix it, but this is a lot of work. So as an alternative, start your day with really great music, and keep listening to really great music all day long. It won’t actually fix anything, but it will temporarily trick your emotions into feeling happy and hopeful. Then, by the time you realize that you’re actually miserable, it’s time for bed.
And repeat.
But music is actually very powerful. One time I felt depressed for like two months and I couldn’t figure out why. Then I realized I had been listening to nothing but The Counting Crows and Damien Rice. I immediately went home, put some Gin Blossoms in the CD player, and I was cured.
“Tell me do you think it’d be alright, if I could just crash here tonight!”
The problem is that we’re so overexposed to music (and crappppppy music), that we forget how powerful it actually is, how it’s been around for thousands of years, how it hypnotizes people and even certain animals. I’m so convinced of this that….well, let me give you the following scenario:
Pretend you’re standing in an open field in African wilderness. Suddenly a lion is running at you full speed. You pray to God and God grants your prayer by giving you one item of your choosing to save you. What do you pick? A rifle? A jet pack? A lion suit? “Hey lion, it’s just me, another lion.”
Not me. I pick a CD player blasting “Peace Train” by Cat Stevens. Because nothing bad can EVER happen when Peace Train is playing. I guarantee the lion starts rolling around in the grass, playfully batting at butterflies with its gigantic paws.
“Now I’ve been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come! And I believe it could be, something good has begun.”
That’s all I got.
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You should know that Baba O’Riley is my ALL TIME favorite song! I prefer to call it by it’s more appropriate name – Teenage Wasteland. It’s my fire up song! Always improves my mood. Ask Brad how I behave when I play this song in the car. It can be dangerous and frightening to passengers! I agree with your points about the power of music, even if you hate Nickelback. You and I are soulmates (other than your unfair hatred of the previously mentioned amazing rock band)!