I Sit and Wonder: The Verve, my music and other musings

Someone just sent me an e-mail with a link to an NPR site, http://www.npr.org/blogs/monitormix/2008/08/juvenilia.html, that asks the eternal questions…"whether one's relationship to music keeps one in a delayed or perennial state of adolescence?"

And, "So, does music keep us young? And is that a good thing?"

Music has always been a source of happiness and at time has been the only friend in my lonely outcast teenage years of angst. As the years have passed I feel that I've actually grown up with music. There are songs that I listened to when I was younger that make me cringe when I think about the music that I used to spin.

Music gives me peace, clarity and strength through out my days and nights as an underemployed/working artist. There are those days when you come home from yr day job and you switch on the song that just makes yr day. Music gives me that extra lift, to quote Spinal Tap, when I need that need that extra push over the cliff, those songs lifts me with happiness.

I just got back from picking up the new Verve album Forth. This is something that is a rarity these days with downloading, burning and sharing, to me, making the trek of purchasing music is a lost art. When I was in high school, my brother and I would go record store crawling from vinyl shop to vinyl shop searching for new albums to purchase and discover. Thankfully I've never grew out of this ritual. There's nothing like walking into a place, picking up the record that you've been waiting for and purchasing it whilst you support the artist that you adore.

I'm no stranger to discovering music online but when it comes to artists I respect, I'd rather wait and buy the CD than download their music for free. Listening to music has always been about a connection. I've always connected with the songs that I've listened to. Throughout the years this link has grown stronger than ever. You see lovers, friends and places come and go but music is one of the only constants in my life.

I do believe there is a balance; the relationship to music can be a unhealthy thing. I think of that scene from Imagine: John Lennon when that homeless guy that was lingering in front of his mansion finally meets his idol. The guy actually thinks that Lennon wrote the songs for him. John has to set the record straight on who truly inspired his music.

I myself, form a bond to the music, the lyrics and the voice of the music that I love. I know that songs like "Lucky Man" aren't written for me in mind but I connect to the message. It's a beautiful thing when you read a book, watch a film or hear a song that you can relate to in yr own life. It makes you feel less alone and actually understood. It's as if there's a music God looking over you and serenading with lyrical thoughts to ease our worried minds.

Listening to an album like Forth for the first time is like opening the pages of the book you've been waiting for the longest time. With each chapter, the anticipation in this mystery becomes a reality. Music has matured me. It's a reflection of the person that I was and the man I am today. The songs we listen become a part of you, and for me they join a legion of others in the ever evolving soundtrack that is my life.

I think Richard Ashcroft said it best on Forth's "Judas" as he sings, "I think the trip has just begun."

Pardon me while I get back to the journey that is my music.