Several very early mornings ago, around 3 a.m. our little guy was waking up again, and I was trying to get him to stay in bed. The musical group Enya was playing quietly on his cd player, and I could hear the soothing music as I talked to him quietly.
The music took me back over 15 years ago, when I had a migraine headache in college, and could hear Enya playing quietly in my dorm room as I lay with the lights off, trying to make it through another major headache.*
This early morning though, it struck me how different music plays in the background of our experiences. I began to think of other songs that stick out in my mind with different memories. Some goofy, some sappy, but bear with me.
Background music is there all of the time, it strikes me as which ones stand out and which ones really don’t. I encourage you to take a few minutes to think about some of your background music. Just some of it – otherwise we could be here all day. What songs are the most significant or stand out the most in your background music?
Here’s some of mine:
1.) “All I Wanna Do” by Sheryl Crowe. This song takes me instantly to my 1989 Nissan Pulsar, cruising the streets of West Lafayette/Lafayette with my good friends Stacey & Erin. I can still hear it playing as we park the car at the Tippecanoe Mall, and head inside for another adventure.
2.) All Enya music. All Enya music takes me back to those migraine headaches. I had a lot of them back then.
3.) “Stay” by Lisa Loeb. This was my very favorite song in 1994, and still today. Don’t know why, but I just love Lisa Loeb, and this song was really the launching point of her career. It takes me to long car rides in that same Nissan Pulsar, to the hills of Tennessee and back again.
4.) “Boardwalk” by the Drifters. In high school I drove an old Renault Encore before the Nissan Pulsar. The thing wouldn’t run over 50 miles an hour if it rained, and it had a cassette player – I’m beginning to show my age. I had this tape of oldies music and this song was on there. In my memory that’s the only song that was ever on it, although I’m sure that wasn’t true. I can see myself driving through Oxford, IN headed towards my high school with this song on.
5.) “When You Say Nothing at All” originally performed by Keith Whitley – but my only background music can hear the Lorrie Morgan version. Here’s the sappy one – lots of evenings hanging out with my husband. “I Swear” was another I can always hear when I think of dating my husband.
I won’t get into more right here right now – although there is tons of background music on my “best of” collection:)
*As for those migraines – I hardly have them now. My dr. read about a treatment in a medical journal and decided to try it. I take a heart medication – Altace, and CoEnzyme Q10 every night. I exercise a ton, and drink very limited caffeine. I’m not sure which of these did the trick, but I’m afraid to quit any of them for fear those headaches might come back. If you suffer from migraines, I suggest you try these efforts!
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Depending on the song, when I hear Enya, I either picture laying down on my bed in our sunflower dorm room, too, or lying in the maternity ward in the hospital, because I listened to Enya while giving birth to Gracie!
Any other significant background music you recall in your life? Just curious what everyone’s songs are.
Any soft native American music soothes me, like Carlos Nakai’s flute, or the angelic voice of Joanne Shenandoah. God bless them!
If Christy and I had a song that was “our” song, it was “When You Say Nothing at All.” Whenever I hear it, I can see myself standing with Christy outside the lobby at Sutton Hall, talking to her about those lyrics. It was definitely one of many special moments in our journey together.
There’s so many other songs that are part of the soundtrack of my life. I’m not even sure where to begin…