Life Needs A Soundtrack

In his hierarchy of needs, Maslow left out two very important considerations. Beyond safety, food, and shelter, most humans need music and stories to survive. It's nice when both come in one package.

I watch a good number of movies -- some for entertainment, some for inspiration. Music is a major character in most movies, used to punctuate the action or story line. It can be subliminal, in your face, or anyplace in between, but the music brings the two-dimensional visuals to three-dimensional life. Good movies need good soundtracks.

Just like our lives.

Music invokes memories of times, places, and people gone by. Many years ago, Mac McAnally wrote a song called "Tryin' To Make The Yellow Lights" which contained the following lines:

"Radio plays a never ending song,
And when it's good and when it's bad I sing along.
And the words, they don't mean nothing;
It's just a soundtrack for my life..."

Yeah; that's what I believe too!

In my life (another good life soundtrack song by John Lennon), I've written quite a few songs. Collectively, they make up the soundtrack of my life so far. At 56, I'm hoping I have a few more songs to write. My songs cover many bases. A Colorado native, a Tennessee sojourner, and a Virginia Settler, I was born in the 50s, a child of the 60s, a student of the early 70s, a husband of the late 70s, a father in the 80s, and author in the 90s, a doctor of education in the 00s, a grandfather of the early 10s, and who knows what I'll be tomorrow. If I'm lucky, I'll continue to be a songrwriter.

After all, life needs a soundtrack.

For a sampling, try the Bandizmo link below. Start with "Castles of Sand" and "Windshield Full of Nebraska."

http://www.bandizmo.com/user/player.php?page=songs&member=2819&nr=5

http://www.bandizmo.com/user/player.php?page=songs&member=2819&nr=9

I do beg to differ with Mr. McAnally. The words do mean something.  I met Mac when I was producing concerts at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in the early 1980s. He's an amazing songwriter / story-teller.

Nearly 30 years later, my youngest daughter just started working with an entertainment committee at a university in Maryland. Some songs were meant to be remade.