The Sound Sends

This past weekend I heard a familiar voice. It subtly sounded over the speakers of Boomer Jacks and instantly carried me back to my much younger days. It took me to my best friend's room, where we would rummage through C.D.s to find that perfect song. Once the delicate polycarbonate disk started spinning in the boom box, our voices united with the sound waves as we severed ourselves from reality. Imagination took over our thoughts as music videos were made, dances were choreographed, and hairbrushes served as microphones. The small, square room became a vast, lit-up stage and the illusion of an audience was locked inside the lens of a camcorder until our finished product could make its debut on our parents' TV screens. At a time when girl bands were our idols and boy bands were our crushes, music resonated with us in a completely different way than it does today. Back then, I didn't search for the deeper meaning in a song. I didn't think about the story the artist wanted to convey. The melody didn't pull at the strings of my heart and chills didn't creep through my arms and legs at the intensity of drawn-out note. My only thought about music was who it made you to the world- famous, colorful, glittery, and rich. Singing wasn't an art spurred on by the beauty of life; it was a talent used for power and recognition. Time and maturity have since changed my mind, but the songs themselves from back in those days still stick in an innocent way. The Spice Girls will always make me think of wild fashion. Ace of Base will always remind me of dancing around in the kitchen wearing my sister's costume from her dance recital. All Saints will forever take me back to the days when I wished I were older. B*Witched will always cause daydreams of floating castles and flying with umbrellas... (which today makes me question whether or not I was stoned at the age of ten...) Regardless of how absurd the memory is, the amazing thing is that it's there. And I can't get over the complexity of the human mind... how a forgotten song can suddenly come rushing back, word for word, rhyme and tune.

For Music Mondays,
Kate