Music...the language of the soul

They say that music can change your mood in an instant, that it can heal wounds and take you to a better place psychologically. I’ve also heard it can transport you to where you’ve been or where you want to go for that matter. Music is not prejudiced. It transcends all ages and language barriers. It can bring people together, when nothing else can.

A good buddy of mine, Deryl Dodd, once said that “music is the language of the soul”. I don’t think truer words were ever said about the subject. It lifts you up, it puts a smile on your face and in your heart. Music gets you through the hard times, it makes you think of someone you knew or would like to know. It can help mend a broken heart and help you remember that time when your heart was broken. It makes you think of lost love and those that have changed you forever, those that have made you happy and those that have made you sad.

Yes, all of that is true. Music is magical and it is an absolute in my life. I’m an amateur songwriter and wordsmith. What I mean is that I write whatever comes to me, whether it’s lyrics, poetry or prose. I feel the burning need to put those feelings into words like a smoker needs another drag off of a cigarette. Well, that might be a stretch to say needing music is a habit, but it is something that I would never, ever be able to live without.

I love all kinds of music too, from rock to pop, to classic country and classical. Honestly, there’s a place in me that sometimes needs to hear a little bit of Frank Sinatra belt out “New York, New York” or Michael Buble’ croon “I’m Feeling Good” or Vanilla Ice rap out “Ice, Ice Baby”. I gave up trying to understand my muse many years ago. Regardless what the genre’ might be, music is a part of my life that will never go away and will always remain important.

I have a list of songs in my head that I want to have played at my funeral wake, so I might reach out, grab hold of it one last time and take it with me on the second leg of my journey. But I hear the music the angels make in Heaven can’t be rivaled by any musician or entertainer here on earth. I can’t wait to find out.

There are some songs that from the instant they begin, they grab hold of me and won’t let go until the last note is eked out to the end. One of those songs is “Drift Away”, sang by the incredible Dobie Gray. That song just so happens to be my all-time favorite rock ballad. Another is the “Star Spangled Banner”. If you want to see a callous old codger reduced to a blubbering pile of goo, just put on our national anthem and the sprinklers are on, it’s over, I’m done. That song stabs me square in the heart with an overdose of pure patriotism.

Within the last year I came across a piece of music that does just that…it transports me to another place. It’s an instrumental and there are no lyrics in the entire selection. I think if someone had sang the lyrics, that it somehow might have lessened the melodic trance the beauty of the tune puts me in. It’s a magical, dreamy melody and it makes my spirit soar and I could play it over and over and over again and never tire of its magic. As a matter of fact, I’m listening to it for the fifth time as I write this blog. It’s such a good selection that I reserved a spot for it right here on The Impulsive Texan’s web page. Look for it and paste it on your blog. I promise, folks will like it.

So on this beautiful Texas spring day, I want you to go with me on a musical journey through West Texas with a song that was created by Doug Smith, a supremely talented music maker. The video, “Wyman Meinzer’s West Texas” is a true work of art, by two brilliant artists. Doug Smith created the music and Wyman Meinzer, the images. Wyman is Texas born and raised and grew up on an expansive ranch in West Texas, where he got the inspiration for the fantastic images in this video. And these are images that will make those not from Texas, understand one of the reasons why those that are from Texas hold this place so close to our hearts and souls. Check out Wyman at www.wymanmeinzer.com. If you love visual imagery and photography, you won’t be disappointed.

Click on the link below, open your ears and your eyes and let yourself go completely and see where this wonderful and important piece of visual and auditory art takes you. Happy Friday, Texas…

http://www.wymanmeinzer.com/

The Impulsive Texan

"I may not get much done, but I sure am slow"...