Date:

May 22nd, 2003

22 May 2003, by Anna Schwind

Several times a year, I stumble upon a song that I find I have to listen to over and over again, obsessively. These are songs that really move me in some way, whether by beat or by lyrics or by both or by something else that I can’t even begin to explain. Sometime in March, when I received a mix CD from Esthela, the song was Paulina Rubio’s “Y Yo Sigo Aqui”. I had to listen to it back to back to back and every time I heard it, it made me so happy. Usually, even if I love a song, I have no urge to hear it over and over, because I feel like I’m going to saturate myself and wear the song out. I ration my listenings carefully. Some songs overcome my reluctance for repetition though, and this was one of them.

Right now, the song that I crave hearing once an hour or more is Blue Man Group‘s “Up To The Roof” which features Tracy Bonham singing. This song is so moving and powerful that it has me screaming along the lyrics every time I play it in my car. I can’t even fully explain how strongly I feel about it. It gives me goose bumps and heart pounding and an irrepressible desire to dance but that’s like the smallest part of it. It speaks to me. It moves me.

To me, this is the essential power of music: to communicate on a level so visceral that the finer points of it become unimportant. And the other fantastic thing about this unquantifiable reaction to a song is that every person will have different songs that they react to in this way. The feeling may be universal, but the path to the feeling is as varied as the human throng itself. Sure, there can be similarities, and I’m probably not the only person who thinks this song is the best song ever right now but for as many people who feel moved by it there are probably others who just feel like it’s alright, or it’s good but not really grabbing them or overwhelming them in the way it is doing to me. Long live the music that moves us, whatever it might be for each of us!

Some of the lyrics, I hope they inspire you to check this
intense tune out :
Tried to live the life you sold me, no matter what the cost. Tried to walk the way you told me but each time I got lost. The stairs didn’t lead me anywhere. I’m taking the fire escape up to the roof. Don’t care if it’s not the way you find the truth.