crying

Wether you're a music nerd, just a casual listener, or somebody who doesn't really do music, it still has an effect on your life. Wether it's something small like a passage of a song reminding you of your 8th grade class trip, or something big like seeing your boyfriends band play and deciding that he's a keeper, there's an effect. I'm a music nut. Things people say to me will remind me of a song, which will trigger a memory, which will remind me to pick up something at the grocery store. A tiny sliver of a song will bring back something I did that I'd completely forgotten about. A smell will bring back a song. That song will bring back a memory. It's a trigger. Cause and effect. "This" meets "That" and causes "The Other Thing".

But sometimes there's no memory attached to a song. Sometimes there's just emotion. And circumstance. When I hear "The Blower's Daughter" by Damien Rice, I usually cry. I sang it to my wife at our wedding, I sang it to both kids when they were born, and it was the first song my wife and I both actually liked. That song has strong memories for me and it's emotional.

But if I listen to "Cold Water" by Damien Rice, I still cry. Not because of any memory, but because it's just a sad song. But here's the thing. Sometimes, any song given the right circumstances will cause a reaction. "Cold Water" makes me cry because it's a sad song. But I've been in situations where I'm in my car listening to Clutch and the rantings of Neil Fallon will make me cry. Most recently it was "10,000 Witnesses" from their album "Robot Hive/Exodus". It's not a sad record. It's a bit weird, but nothing to cry over. But the combination of Fallon's vocals, the bands music, and the loudness of it all causes a reaction. And it makes me wonder, "Is this an emotional reaction, or a physical reaction?". Am I crying because of the song, or am I crying because my body is overwhelmed by the stimuli?

Sheryl Crow put out a few decent records that appeal to soccer moms and AM radio, but the follow up to Tuesday Night Music Club, the self titled album, obviously called "Sheryl Crow" was absolutely fantastic. It's an album I come back to every two to three months. She's got a song on that album called "Redemption Day". It's a good tune. Probably about the middle of the pack on that album as far as the quality of the song. But one day I found myself listening to a Johnny Cash version of that song. I was at the grocery store in the middle of an aisle choking back tears listening to Johnny's voice work it's way through those words. Sheryl's version is obviously good. She wrote it. But when Johnny took it, it became something more. This songs still makes me beg the question "is it the song, or the circumstance?". Is this emotional or physical? I haven't listened to the Sheryl Crow version at the grocery store yet, so I'm still not sure.