If you are a regular reader here, you know that I like music.
Hell, I devoted a pretty long preamble as a love letter to mashups a few months ago, so you probably got the message then.
Therefore it should come as no surprise that, like many of you, we watched the annual celebration of popular commercial musical arts, aka the Grammys, last weekend.
Now that our kids are older (and a few are away from the nest), it has turned into a remote but interactive family viewing activity — with a spirited group chat being lit up throughout the telecast with snarky texts, emojis, memes, colorful jokes and random opinions on outfits, speeches and performances (I’m sure the “art of cultivating, managing and surviving a good family group chat” is probably fodder for a future intro at some point….if you know, you know….).
While not perfect by any means, the Grammys is usually an interesting watch — knowing that they have an eclectic, wide ranging music loving audience tuning in, they do a good job of trying to cross pollinate musical eras and introduce new artists to new people.
That happened with the first big performance of the night — singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman collaborating with new country artist Luke Combs on a modern version of her 1988 breakout hit “Fast Car.” If you missed it, check it out here:
Then, later in the evening, 80 year old Joni Mitchell performed (for the first time on the Grammys) a modern rendition of her 1969 “Both Sides Now” with a number of contemporary artists, including Brandi Carlisle.
If you know the song, it was an interesting way to present it — words wistfully composed by someone when they were in their 20s about their perspectives on life but vocalized by a much older, more tired and weary version of themself.
I found myself sitting on my couch mesmerized by both performances…and feeling inexplicably emotional in the process...
I remember hearing both of those songs when I was younger. My parents played that Joni Mitchell song when I was a kid in the early 70s (there is also a Judy Collins version of it too). I didn’t know the words or understand the meaning of the song at the time, but I recall that the distinct high pitch of her voice combined with the rambling turns of verse was soothing to me as I sat in our family room coloring or playing with toys on a rainy weekend afternoon. Not a happy song or a dancing song or a lullaby — but one I could just hum to while I did my thing and while Mom and Dad did there’s and all was right with the world.
To hear the song again, almost a half century later, as much older adult (with kids of my own closer in age to the person who wrote the song) told by the same person with the same conviction but now with a weaker, weathered, more gravelly voice made it take on a new meaning to me. I was looking at the song from a completely different side now — which was exactly the point.
And the Tracy Chapman song originally came out when I was in high school — it was during the spring just as I was getting ready to apply to college. I remember the video getting constant airplay on MTV — it was edgy, independent and soulful.
At the time, it seemed hopeful and upbeat — it was a song about driving fast in a car and proclaiming “I had a feeling that I belonged” and “I had a feeling I could be someone.”
What teenager couldn’t relate to feeling like that? Especially if you were in a car with other carefree teenagers driving fast with the windows down and the song blaring from the speakers. Who didn’t sing along?
Fast forward 36 years later. I probably hadn’t really listened to the song in decades. Too busy working, raising kids, worrying about getting from one place to another — it was a song you might occasionally hear in the background in a Starbucks or while flipping through the radio but probably skip for a faster or more contemporary song.
And then there she was on the screen — same fresh face and still cool and edgy, but now with gray locks of hair, playing the simple distinct opening melody on her acoustic guitar.
I sat on the couch and listened to the song again….it was hopeful, but more like “Tell me about the rabbits, George” from “Of Mice and Men” hopeful….I guess teenage me, who did not have to worry about starting from zero, getting out of a shelter and a future as a checkout girl, missed that the first time around…
But older me listening for the first time, I lived enough life to finally appreciate what she was really saying — and how eloquently she said it. And I was also reminded of those days driving in the car, speed so fast it felt like I was drunk, wondering what my life had in store for me…having a feeling I could be someone.
Do you remember those days?
So, yes, the f^cking Grammys got me emotional….more than once. And I don’t think I was the only person over the age of 40 that felt this way either.
It’s a reminder that music has the power to take us back in time and show us, quite vividly, how we were feeling at any given moment. We might forget what we were wearing or who we were with or what month or day of the week it may have been, but we NEVER forget how we felt.
While we might not always be adept at articulating them, people can always recall their feelings. When we are young, feelings can be so new and intense they get seared into our brains. As we get older we sort of take them more for granted or pay less attention to them.
But it amazes me just how many of our feelings come accompanied by a soundtrack. When we haven’t connected with those feelings for a while but hear a particular song when we are in just the right mindset, that’s when the power of recall can hit us like a ton of bricks….and we find ourselves becoming an emotional mess on our couch as an 80 year old woman sings a song we hadn’t thought about in a really long time….
In other news….
SUPER BOWL LVIII PREDICTION:
SF 49ers: 38 KC Chiefs: 24
Travis Kelce has a big day and his girlfriend performs as “special guest” at halftime, but 49ers are just too much to handle. Honestly, as a lifelong football fan, this might go down as one of the least interesting Super Bowls I have seen. I think most people don’t really care about either team and are so over of all the Taylor Swift hype by now…
Enjoy!
XOXO
Dave
And now a few things to make you smarter…
With the recent shift to remote work and the precipitous increases in the cost of living in many areas of the United States, it seems like more Americans are on the move than ever before. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, an estimated 7,398,337 Americans moved to a different state in 2019 alone. This infographic and table examines 170 years of U.S. Census data to visualize the history of where Americans are born and where they choose to end up living.
‘Never create a new regret’
Facing death, these people found a clarity about how to live.
As temperatures across the world are rising at an alarmingly high rate, Sweden is taking aggressive steps to move its beloved national pastime indoors.
“Poly-employment”—or what we used to call “working more than one job”—is dramatically increasing, according to a new study by workforce management and scheduling platform Deputy. What they discovered shouldn’t surprise anyone — “to counter the escalating cost of living, a growing percentage of workers are engaging in multiple job roles, leading to the emergence of poly-employment as a notable trend.”
A survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers finds that fully 16 percent of Americans say the fact that Taylor Swift has been showing up at Kansas City Chiefs games -- and will almost certainly be at the Super Bowl -- has influenced them to spend money on football.