Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Sep 17, 2007

Thinking Out Loud: The soundtrack to my life

Music
Photo by jrossol under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

For whatever reason, last week many of the blogs I read seemed to be posting music videos. Several of them had tunes that immediately brought me vividly back to the past–moments shared with friends, periods of my life. Memories were brought back in glorious technicolor, along with the wistful regret of things lost to the past, things that will never be again.

I love music, and will give almost anything a shot at least once. I used to find the time to just lie down on the bed or sofa, turn up the music, and let it soak in. I don’t make the time to do that any more even though, here, I could crank it up really loud–there are almost no neighbors left to disturb.

Music would make a long road trip bearable. Tuning in the radio to different stations as we crossed Europe until we finally heard Radio Ljubljana–that was part of childhood summers. When I moved to the USA, I shipped nine boxes of stuff here of which three were my music system (it subsequently broke).

That was one of the first purchases I made after my divorce and I remember discovering my inner steel (some would say inner bitch) as the sales associates, well aware that I was their customer, repeatedly addressed their comments to my soon to be ex husband, an audioophile who was still friendly enough with me to help me get the best system for my money.

I don’t think there is a time when I can’t remember music being part of my life, from the receipt of my first ever record (The Wombles Greatest Hits) to playing Autobahn by Kraftwerk repeatedly on Christmas Day–even my Grandma enjoyed it.

Sometimes when I write fiction I sit there thinking which tunes could be the soundtrack to the movie, or I hear music and think, “That would fit that piece of writing.” Running around a castle with a friend, a musical was born (but was never completed). While writing is my skill, I have been round enough musicians to know that their creative energy is eminently compatible with mine and that sometimes real sparks can fly.

Hearing those videos, I can hear the tunes in my head as though they were playing on the stereo. I played Enya to keep me going as I rewrote my fantasy novel. Even the most sluggish day can be transformed by the swell of a theme, a mood lifted, or a depression acknowledged. Memories are surging up as I write, a great tidal wave of memories, and now I have this sudden urge to dig out the collection of CDs, tucked in the bring-with box, and find out what I’m in the mood to listen to today.