One of the few songs that helps put a smile on my face is “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” from the musical “Oklahoma”. Our class performed this musical when I was in high school and I loved the lyrics. I remember that the performance by our high school talent was awesome. If I open the curtains in the morning and the sun is shining and the sky is blue, the words “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” pop into my head.
When I’m feeling afraid and all alone I find myself singing “You’ll never walk alone”. “When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high and don’t be afraid of the dark. At the end of the storm, there’s a golden sky and the sweet silver song of the lark…”
When I was a teenager and feeling frustrated and in despair, I would escape to my room, pick up my guitar and play, “Today.” Here are some of the lyrics. “Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine, I’ll taste your strawberries, I’ll drink your sweet wine. A million tomorrows shall all pass away ‘Ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today.”
There are very few songs that I can honestly say make me happy. There are songs that motivate me. There are songs that calm me down. And I often favor sad songs especially if they are sung by John Denver. I love his harmony and find that it relaxes me and encourages me to sing along.
I like songs that have lyrics that I can understand. If I’m alone in the car, I enjoy singing to the radio or to a favorite CD, usually at the top of my voice.
When I was a little girl, my dad used to play Mitch Miller records and would take turns dancing with us. That was fun. Dad wasn’t often in the dancing mood and when he was, we took advantage of it.
Another of my happiest memories was playing and singing music at Girl Scout Camp. We sang around the campfire. We also sang songs that had multiple parts. We would divide into groups and sing harmony. We didn’t sound half bad.
When I was in Junior High School, we used to have “hootenannies.” I understand that not everybody knows what this is. Today, we would call it a school assembly. All of the students would gather in the gym. There were three of us that would stand at center court and play our guitars while the students, seated in the bleachers, would all sing along. I think my musical genre must be folk music. Most of the songs would tell a story and we all seemed to know the words. I remember singing “Puff the Magic Dragon”. We had no idea until later years that it had a double meaning.
My sister says she works better when she has music belting out. She likes to clean the house with the music blaring. I find that it makes me nervous and can slow me down. I remember in High School, we were decorating for the Prom and we had records playing on full blast. Several of us got agitated and asked to turn down the music. It helped. We put on quieter music and got our work done much faster.
I think music is a personal thing. I can hear a song and it takes me right back to the first time I heard it. Even though I’m not a big Tony Bennett fan, when I hear “I left my Heart in San Francisco”, it takes me back to the Cable Cars and San Francisco Bay. There is not ONE song that makes me happy. I admit that I love music of many shapes and sizes. Rather than pinpointing one song, MUSIC makes me happy.
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