Leave a Legacy

[geminigirl]

In the attics of my life, full of cloudy dreams unreal.
Full of tastes no tongue can know, and lights no eyes can see.
When there was no ear to hear, you sang to me.

I have spent my life seeking all that’s still unsung.
Bent my ear to hear the tune, and closed my eyes to see.
When there was no strings to play, you played to me.

In the book of love’s own dream, where all the print is blood.
Where all the pages are my days, and all the lights grow old.
When I had no wings to fly, you flew to me, you flew to me.

In the secret space of dreams, where I dreaming lay amazed.
When the secrets all are told, and the petals all unfold.
When there was no dream of mine, you dreamed of me.

-The Grateful Dead


I'm spending a little money on music tonight, and have been surfing Itunes, pulling out some favorite songs, some less often listened to songs, and maximizing my music budget...believe me, if it were up to me, I'd spent many more dollars on music than I do. As I'm doing this, I'm realizing the biggest legacy of those who've drifted in and out of my life is the music they left me. I'm listening to a band called "Cordelia's Dad" and thinking of a professor who I had a brief fling with right after I finished grad school, and Richard Thompson's 1952 Vincent Black Lightning which reminds me of puzzld1. I'm weeping to Warren Zevon's "Keep Me in Your Heart" and smiling as I listen to Great Big Sea's "Lukey's Boat" when I remember how much fun I had with rivka, curiousangel, geekchick and nminusone at the concert. I'm laughing while I listen to the Pet Shop Boys and remember many late nights in college dancing to bad techno.

It's amazing, though not surprising how music takes me to so many places in my own life. I remember playing the particular Bob Mould song (See a Little Light, in case you're interested) that's on now on repeat when I decided to end a particular relationship. I can listen to Tracy Chapman and return to the first time I heard her, when I was thirteen, or the summer of 1996 when I was nearly paralyzed with depression. I can listen to Kate Bush and Elvis Costello and think about too many hours spent in the theatre department in college building sets, or the Cowboy Junkies and transport myself back to tactisle's living room in Jersey City, or "Mexican Radio" and I'll remember driving around southern California with aynjel, or Concrete Blonde's "Bloodletting" and think about nights wandering through the streets of DC, sometimes in less than stellar neighborhoods, singing with friends, sometimes a bit buzzed.

Burn me a CD if you like. Share your music, your memories, your stories with me. Play me a favorite song that you think I need to hear.

It's all about the music. It makes the journey great.