Sunday, April 1, 2012

Musical Inspiration and my soulmate

I love music almost as much as I love to write and that is really saying something.  The T.V. in my house is rarely on when I am home alone, but my ipod never gets a break.  I tend to lean towards the music that fits my mood, and I have learned to use that to my advantage in my writing.  If I know that I am writing a love scene or a heartbreaking scene, then I set my playlist to match my scenes in order to keep my mood even with my writing.  However, music has also equally influenced my “real” life, as opposed to the imaginary one that I normally live in, and I believe that music can lift you up when you are down or allow you to wallow in your misery if that is what you need at the time.  Songs hold our memories.  How often do you turn on the radio and suddenly find yourself thinking about a person or a time that you’d forgotten?  Just like Trisha Yearwood says, “The Song Remembers when” and if I had to pick one song today that remembers for me, it would have to be:
 Usher  “You Got it Bad”
This song was very popular back when my husband and I were dating.  We would be out on the town when this song would come on the radio, and then we’d turn the sound up, and sing this song to each other at the top of our lungs.  We meant every word, but we would still laugh about it afterwards.  We decided against playing this song at our wedding, in order to keep from offending some of the older quests, but in my heart this song will always be my wedding march, because I know every time that I hear it, that it was the song I was hearing in my head as I was marrying my soulmate. 
Do you have a song that remembers for you? 


Charity Parkerson ~ author of the Sinner Series


5 comments:

Shadow said...

Music definitely helps set the mood. I tend to listen to it, especially if im upset or mad. It helps make me happy. Off the top of my head, i cant think of any song thats special, but when i listen to a certain one, it does bring back memories. :) Thanks for sharing!
shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com

Jude Johnson said...

Hi Charity,

It's nice to read about someone else for whom music is an essential ingredient to life. I compile soundtracks to my novels as I write, to keep me in the time period and emotion of the scene.

Music has always been an intense connector for me, so each one triggers a memory: "Hey Jude" was a personal anthem for me to survive grade school; Billy Joel's "Summer Highland Falls" resonated with my friends in college; "Stay With Me" by Phil Collins was/is the song my husband and I felt as a theme. And my son and I crank the volume with a number of Usher songs. :-)

Nice to know I'm not as totally weird as I'd thought!

~Jude
http://jude-johnson.com

Michele said...

Most of the 1980's music for me.
It was during that period of time that my life totally changed.
Graduated high school, started dating, got my first jobs, did what I wanted when I wanted, until I met my future husband and got married. So much transition and there are songs from the 1980s that represent every step I took.
Prince
The Police
Lover Boy
Aha
Pat Benetar
The Culture Club
Eurythmics.
Amazing music for amazing times and I feel SO blessed to have those as fond memories.

Catherine Lee said...

I have songs that remember for me:

"Anything for You" by Gloria Estefan and "Every Breath You Take" by The Police are 2 songs that really take me back to specific places in my life in the 80s.

Charity Parkerson said...

Everybody has such great taste in music! I'm glad to know that I am not alone in my obsession with it. :-) Thank you all for sharing