Cannonball By Lea Michelle

Okay, Shaun, here you go:

Cory Monteith’s death resonated in popular culture. As one of the stars of the popular show Glee! his character endeared himself to audiences as a jock who liked to sing. His co-star Lea Michelle was also his girlfriend and when he died we were all shocked. As hard as it was to imagine loosing a co-start the tragedy of loosing a boyfriend as well was heartbreaking.

Pop music is sometimes frivolous and it's sometimes profound. Taylor Swift has made her mark using her music to work through the emotions and struggles of her own life. It’s fun game to listen a song and try to figure out which boyfriend she’s singing about. While this is entertaining, does this make her songs better? Not necessarily.

The Coen brothers claim that their film Fargo was based on real events, which they later revealed to be a false statement. Does that film feel different when you assume it reflects real events? Yes. When we harness the story in reality our suspension of disbelief changes as we allow ourselves to believe more of what we see to be plausible then a film we are told is fiction.

Pop singers are actors. We don’t expect that what they are singing about is actually something they have experienced. There is a suspension of belief that  was at one time actually crazy in love. When we are told that a song is based on a true story, we listen to it deeper and try to decipher what the lyrics are really saying not so much metaphorically but more literally.

When I heard that “Cannonball” was about Monteith’s death, I expected a heartfelt tribute, instead a got something very different. In this way, connecting the song to a real life tragedy threw me off course.

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From the first word of the song, you know this isn’t your ordinary song about death.  Is it “breakdown,” as in she’s having a mental breakdown or is it “break down,” an action and get out of the walls she has built up around herself.

If I wasn’t told ahead of time, I would have thought that this song was actually about a break-up, not the death of a loved one. It is exactly these different ways that you could interpret this song that makes it interesting.

The mourning of Cory’s death has put her in darkness, and she needs to find a way into the light.  She lights the “fuse” and like a cannonball she flies. A cannonball doesn't fly, rather it’s propelled for the purpose of demolishing. While this analogy may seem strange, it fits what Michelle is trying to say. She can't simply fly away from the darkness of her loss, she needs to be propelled by something more powerful than death. In this way she can move on with her life and let go of her fear.

While we are seeing a trend of artists mining their own lives for inspiration for songs and sharing these intentions with their fans, the story behind the music really doesn't speak to the what is truly meaningful in music. 

All songs are amalgamations of emotions that come from true life.  Some songs speak more directly to actual events than others but all songs express feelings that come from the human experience.  Artists can provide context for us which appeals to many people and makes songs feel more authentic.  However, if the story doesn't reflect events in our own lives and the song doesn't resonate with our experiences, the connection to an actual event becomes meaningless. 

Great music doesn't have to be about actual events to be intensely personal and artistically profound.  Truly great music needs to authentically reflect emotions from our lives.  This makes the song feel as much about the story behind the music as the story of our own lives. 

Skipping by Eddie Vedder

I don’t know what it means to be a parent.

As a teacher I’m responsible for my “kids,” but at the end of the day, they go home to their parents and I go home to my wife and my dog.

I’ve talked to parents, read books about parents and I’m currently watching Parenthood on Netflix. Parenthood is something that is on my mind not only because of my profession but because it’s something that God-willing will be part of my future.

I first heard Eddie Vedder’s “Skipping,” in a funeral. Throughout the service stories of an 18-year old boy filled the church. A couple pews in front of me I could see between a mother’s grief as she listened to people talk about her son.



When I read in the program that an Eddie Vedder song would be played during the service, I was surprised. My exposure to Eddie Vedder was pretty limited and my main impression of him came from Pearl Jam’s controversial hit, “Jeremy.” But as the voice of a young girl squeaked out between a calming guitar line and Vedder’s distinctive baritone started, I realized I was listening to something very special.

Vedder wrote “Skipping,” for his daughter as part of the charity album, Every Mother Counts, dedicated to addressing the issue of maternal mortality during pregnancy. This song was one of the mother’s and the son’s favorites. As the song played, each lyrics seemed to be written about their relationship.

The simple act of holding hands, which we take for granted, was a central way that this mother and son communicated their love. Like the service, this song is full of thanksgiving and cherishing the moments that bring true meaning into life.

“Forever we’ll talk and forever we’ll drown in each other skipping around,” could not have meant more in that moment as we all sat there contemplating how forever could exist in the memories we hold in our hearts.

The most powerful story that was told during the service was about how the son would feel after surgery.  This boy had to go through many difficult medical procedures in his life and he would wake up confused after the operations, not understanding what had happened or where he was. Then his mom would reach through the jungle of tubes and wires to hold his hand. He would know immediately that it was his mom and he would calm down. As Vedder sings, “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men,” could not keep this mom from holding her son’s hand.

This service and "Skipping," gave me a glimpse of the love between a mother and a child.  More than that it made me realize how much I don't understand about the human heart.  There's so much I have yet to experience in life and while that fact is intimidating, it's kind of exciting.

There's a lot of amazing things on this planet but I'm not sure I'll ever witness something quite as powerful and beautiful as the love I saw during that service of a parent for a child. 

One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men

To mourn the death of my goldfish Winston Tang, my brother and I posted songs about death on his facebook page.  Buffy’s contribution to this remembrance was “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Care & Boyz II Men.



SRY, I HAS NEVR TOLD U,
ALL I WANTD 2 SAY
AN NAO IZ 2 LATE 2 HOLD U
CAUSE UVE FLOWN AWAY SO FAR AWAY

You know how there are songs that if you don’t know means that you literally lived under a rock during a certain time period? “One Sweet Day” is one of those songs. Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men joined forces at the peak of their popularity to record this unforgettable song of mourning in 1995. “One Sweet Day” topped the charts for a record 16-weeks making it the longest running number 1 song ever. It sold over two million units making it one of the most successful pop songs of the year and the decade.

Carey, Boyz II Men and Walter Afanasieff wrote this song about people in their lives they had lost to AIDs. Instead of creating a depressing song focusing on the sorrow of death, Carey and Boyz II Men made a joyous expression about looking forward to that “One Sweet Day” when they would be reunited with the ones that they loved.

The production of this song is slick and clean. It has that 1990s sheen that so much pop music had back then. Sometimes this comes off as cheesy and dated but something about this song makes it work. Mariah does a beautiful job of adapting her voice to this song stripping away any level of sensuality to a more personal and soulful performance.

Three of the Boyz II Men take solos. The one that always gets to me is Wanya. Usually I prefer Nathan’s, who opens this song, but there’s something about Wanya’s bridge. I’m not a big fan of huge gospel glissandos between phrases but Wanya makes it work. He never looses sight of the main melody and the way he ends the phrase is a perfect transition into Carey’s voice.

Yeah, I used this song as a joke.  This probably was due to the overexposure I experienced listening to this song in the 90s.  Coming back to this song years later, after loosing people in my life, I am grateful for this song.  The best music doesn’t always rise to the top in the music industry but “One Sweet Day” is an example of a song that did. The song is well-crafted, the singing is strong and the meaning behind the song is beautiful.  

Although, the sun will never shine the same,
I'll always look to a brighter day.    

To Miss Winehouse

"When the headline 'Amy Winehouse found dead at 27' came barging into our Saturday afternoon, the word 'dead' felt like a long-promised punch to the gut. It may not have surprised anyone, but it still hurt like hell."



Chris Richard of the Washington Post to started his tribute to the late Amy Winehouse who was found dead last weekend with this quote.  While jokes reverberated around the internet calling her death the "least surprising news ever," people like myself who loved her music and respected her art are left not with dark humor but rather a sadness.  Any schadenfreude that anyone may feel from this is the worst kind of reaction and a reflection of a darkness and insensitivity that is sub-human.  

Why am I sad that Amy Winehouse is dead?  I mean it's not like she was a life-saving surgeon.  Sometimes we overact when celebrities die, just because someone is famous doesn't mean their life means anything more than any other person who dies outside of the limelight.  Of course I'm more sad thinking about the loss of my grandfather, but there is something meaningful in a different way about the loss of Winehouse.

Music can be an expression of the whole range of human emotions.  While I respect the art of creating music that explores the darker emotions of anger and hate, I don't the enjoy music that does expresses these emotions.  There is so much darkness in this world.  The last week has seen unimaginable tragedy in Norway, so I don't want hear a song about killing and Satan.  What we need in this world, what I need is music that brings us joy.  We need music that reminds us how great it feels to be alive.  In her short career Amy Winehouse dedicated her life to creating music that did just that.



I still remember the first time I her "Rehab," and her cover of "It's My Party."  I was giddy.  It simply felt righteous.  Her work with Mark Ronson grabbed popular music by the collar and said "hey, you remember how good music felt the in the 1960s with live instruments, great arrangements, imaginative song-writing and soulful vocals felt?"  Every so often an artist comes around and shake us out of forward-thinking music trends and remind us that is it in the glories of the past, reveling in music of a cultural ancestors that we find truly meaningful art.

Winehouse isn't alone.  Cee-Lo is playing off of 1970s soul, Lady Gaga is reflecting the greatest of the 1980s and Glee has created a whole musical movement based on embracing the past.  It is this respect, this admiration, and this dedication to old music that has created the greatest music in our culture.

Amy Winehouse's music made me feel amazing.  I can't help but move when I hear her songs and I can't help but smile when I hear her sing.  It doesn't seem fair how good she was, it's unreal.  Yes, her voice is a warbaly mess at times but like Janis Joplin, it's not about the vocal technique, it's about the soul.  There was a direct line from her heart to her voice and what you heard in her singing was human expression at its purest.



Thanks Amy for sharing your music and your soul with the world.  I hope you find the same joy wherever you are that you're music brought into my life.

Round 3: Don McLean Vs. Madonna

Some people argue that "American Pie," released by Don McLean is one of the greatest rock songs ever recorded.  Inspired by the tragic death of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper, Mclean created this epic song is thick with musical symbolism.  



Versus:

Praised by McLean himself as "a gift from a goddess," and "mystical and sensual," Madonna's version of this song released in 2000 become a worldwide hit.  Cutting out some, of the versus and transforming the background to a modern swirl of electronic wonder, Madonna's cover was a major departure from the original.



The Winner:

I have to confess that I don't love "American Pie."  While I find the symbolism interesting, it's more like playing a game of trivia trying to name the references.  All of the lines simply don't really add up to have a deep layer of emotional meaning.  Yes, this is great sing along song and the nostalgia is inspired but something about it seems pretentious.

Probably the biggest disconnect with McLean's version is that he singing about an event that few people have a deep emotional connection to.  What Madonna is singing about instead is our the love of "American Pie" the song and how it is part of the American musical tapestry.  In this way Madonna's version is more meaningful and relevant.   

I'm not saying the McLean's version is bad, it's just that through Madonna's version I feel more immediately what it means to be American. 

Next Week: Billy Idol Vs. Tommy James & The Shondells

John Lennon's Laugh

John Lennon would have turned 70 years old last weekend if he hadn't been assassinated in 1980.  There's no logic or sense in why someone who devoted his life to spreading peace, love and hope would been taken away from us in such a violent way.

Elton is right, the blues never fade away.



"And I miss John Lennon's laugh"

The Luckiest by Ben Folds Five

Last Monday, Diana and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. As we've been entering our third year in marriage I can’t help but feel lucky that I have found Diana and have her in my life.



“The Luckiest” by Ben Folds Five is about this wonder of luck. Though this song initially songs like adult contemporary schmaltz, the profoundly intimate, revealing and honest lyrics elevate this song to a much higher level.

This song doesn’t feature great poetry or literary devices. Instead the words are stilted and stammering. However. this is exactly the reasons this song is so powerful. There is nothing harder than describing one’s feelings and the meandering thoughts perfectly reflect how we actually feel about love.

This song isn't about idealized love as Ben Folds sings in the first verse about not knowing where he was the day before he met his love.  All he know is that I get to see her every day and I feel lucky for that.  Ben Folds goes on to wonder if he was born at a different time and saw his love as a child, it’s an interesting thought. Would he make the same connection? It’s a question without an answer as he realizes that knowing one pair of eyes is what’s truly important.

The final verse is about a wife passing away a couple days after her husband. Folds acknowledges that this may be a strange way to express his love but he knows how that wife feels because he feels that way to and so do I.

What does it really mean to be lucky?

"Luck" is something that happens out of chance. More than that being “lucky” means that you did nothing to influences the outcome and because of this you did nothing to deserve this "gift."

Why do I get to find someone like Diana when there are so many lonely people out there who have work much harder than I to find that special someone? There’s no logic in that.

All I can do is make this “luck,” this “gift” mean something. I may not have done anything before meeting Diana to deserve her as a partner in my life but I’m going to take care of her and be the best man I can be for her.  This way when I die and I can tell whatever force put Diana in my life about the amazing life we shared together and he will be proud to have given me this gift.

 "I know that I am the luckiest."

Young Forever by Jay-Z featuring Mr. Hudson

As the night defines the day, death defines life. It’s the limitations, the finite nature of experience brings meaning to our world. While we wish that moments in our lives would never end, we know in the back of our minds that the knowledge, the understanding that things will not last forever is what makes us cherish the time that we have.

If a song never ended how carefully would you listen to it? If a football game never ended, how would you know who won? If we stayed forever young, what would be the point of life?

Jay-Z’s fifth single “Young Forever,” from his album, The Blueprint 3 question the idea of immortality.

 

This song features the English pop artist Mr. Hudson who has worked as a producer for artist like Kayne West while having a successful solo career of his own.



Many rap songs find their footing in popular culture based more on the hook as opposed to the rapping itself. Many of my favorite rap songs while having quality rapping initially only appealed to me because of the vocal chorus like my personal favorite rap song of all time (not necessarily one that I would argue is the best) “Ghetto Superstar” featuring the melody from the Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers hit “Islands In The Streams” (written by the Bee Gees!!)

 



It only took three seconds of the opening vocals by Mr. Hudson to catch my attention and convince me to get “Young Forever.” This choice was made easier by the fact that Jay-Z is one of the greatest rappers of all time who never fails to provide interesting and technically fascinating raps.

The opening vocals are a combination of youthful naivety and doubt. Mr. Hudson sings about wanting to have a great experience last longer stating that he would rather die young or live forever never growing old. In the next line he sings that he wants to be forever young but then asks himself “do you really want to live forever?”

Jay-Z provides his own perspective on life comforting us in the first verse that great memories will they never end because they never leave our memory and “all we have to do is hit rewind.” He encourages us to live in the moment and that being young is a state of mind. This is why at the end of it “when the director yells ‘cut’” Jay-Z says he’ll be fine.  Maybe it's in memories that we find comfort or in living in the moment as Jay-Z describes in the next verse “fear not when, fear not why, fear not much while we’re alive” when thinking about the nature of death.

The one assertion Jay-Z discusses that I question is that he will live forever as his names is passed down in storied.  I think about my grandfather who recently died and how many people a generation from now will remember him? A couple dozen, maybe more, maybe less. Does this make his life any less meaningful? I don’t think so but what I do know is that him being young forever or having immortality wouldn’t guarantee his life meaning either.

The idea of immortality and wanting to be forever young is a reflection of our own insecurities we have about the way that we spend our time in our lives.  Are we doing something meaningful with this blessing of life?  If your answer is no, you probably wish you could have some more time but if you feel like you do then you're living a life without regret, a life proud to have lived with no fear of death.

I'm not there yet, but one of these days I hope to be. 

The '59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem

There’s a difference between what we want to believe and what we actually believe. As much as I would like to believe in the afterlife, in my heart I wonder.

Throughout the history of music artists have explored the nature of death trying to find comfort, solace and understanding of the greatest mystery of the human experience. Many songs about death have provided answers about the afterlife like “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men.



While other songs like “The Rising” by Bruce Springsteen explore the journey into the afterlife.



What’s unique about “The ’59 Sound” by The Gaslight Anthem it doesn’t provide answers. It's about our questions, hopes and fears about the journey to the afterlife.



I discovered The Gaslight Anthem in a recent issue of Rolling Stone that featured the bad as one of their “40 Reasons To Get Excited About Music.” Rolling Stone called lead singer Brian Fallon “The Next Jersey Rock Hero.” There are many comparisons between Bruce Springsteen and The Gaslight Anthem made in a complimentary way. Taking the passion, the storytelling and the depth of human emotion that Springsteen expresses in his music and adding a modern punk mentality has created a musical landscape that is both beautifully referential while surprisingly fresh.

The first verse starts pondering what music they will play when they “float into the ether.” There is a beautiful literary allusion to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, “I hope we don’t hear Marley’s chains before July” hoping that the Marley (the ghost of Christmas Past) won’t visit them at the end and tell them they have something to regret about life. This allusion is carried through to the last line of the verse stating that “the chains I’ve been hearing now for most of my life.”

The chorus is a series of questions asking someone who is yet to be identified what they heard when they died. Was it something comforting: “the ’59 sound”? Was it Marley coming to haunt them: “the rattling chains?” Was it something religious and revelatory: “the old gospel choir”? Or was it something comforting and personal: “your favorite song”? Even though this song tells a sad story, there is a celebratory tone in the chorus as the questions doesn’t so much focus on the negative possibilities of death but the positive ones.

In the second verse the “you” from the chorus is identified. It’s someone who the protagonist cares about who has died in a car crash. The narrator apologizes for not being the “spirit left your body.” Even though this is sad point, there are things that the singers holds onto in the assertion that he still knows “the song and the words and the name and the reasons."

The Gaslight Anthem proposes that maybe it’s not in the answers that we find meaning but rather in the questions. This process of wondering defines who we are in life and maybe it defines our journey into death. I have still have a lot of questions and maybe I’ll never stop wondering and “The ’59 Sound” shows us that this is something not to be feared but to celebrate.

One Headlight by The Wallflowers

Being the child of a rock legend can’t be an easy, especially if you try to follow you dad into the music business. I mean it’s not like your dad is known within the industry as being successful, these kids havs parents that not only changed music but changed the world.

Julian Lennon, the song of John Lennon, had a rough go at it. His biggest album Valotte featured some pop hits but most people simply could not get over how much he sounded like his father.



Lisa Marie Presley has had more success creating her own musical voice outside drawing upon her musical heritage.



Embracing her heritage she recorded a duet with her dad for this version of “In The Ghetto” and though she hasn’t had the success of her dad, Elvis, she has developed a strong following.

When Jakob Dylan and his band The Wallflowers released there break out album Breaking Down The Horse, things lined up in a way that never did for many other famous children of rock stars. This 1996 release sold quadruple platinum and featured top selling singles including “One Headlight” which has become their signature song.



Listening to “One Headlight,” Bob Dylan’s influence in instantly apparent. The way Jakob slides around the melodies and sing-speaks is reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s early work like “The Times They Are A Changin’.” The lyrics while they aren’t as packed as thickly with imagery and double meaning are still powerful and poetic. Lines like “I seen the sun coming up at the funeral at dawn, the long broken arm of human law” create immediate emotions impressions in the mind.

Other lines like “I turn the engine, but the engine doesn't turn. Well it smells of cheap wine & cigarettes, this place is always such a mess, sometimes I think I'd like to watch it burn” swirl around themselves and are utilized as much for how the words sound as their lyrical meaning.

When “One Headlight” came out I was in high school and I still remember how much this song transfixed me. It was eerie, lonely and strangely triumphant. The chorus rises to a powerful peak breaking out of the gloom.

Jakob has gone on to create more fascinating music with The Wallflowers and a great solo album, Seeing Things.



I can’t imagine what it would be like to walk around and known that everybody knows who my father is. It’s hard to say whether someone like Julian Lennon ever really got a fair go at it. You can’t chose what situation you are born into but Jakob Dylan has made it work. Not running away from his father’s enormous shadow but embracing who he is musically defining what it means to be a Dylan for his new generation.

The Wake

. . . The wake is today from 3pm to 9pm. Okay, well I guess I could go. I want to run some errands, but I guess I could do that later, but I would really like to. . . whatever. Ok so I can be home from school around 3ish, take Buffy for a quick walk, be out at the wake around 4, spend 1/2 an hour there and be home by 5:30ish to give Buffy dinner and salvage some resemblance of an evening. . .

As much as we hate to admit it to ourselves, Tolstoy in his book The Death Of Ivan Ilyich was right. When death occurs our minds often travel to how these events inconvenience our own lives.

So after a stressful day at work I got home. I took Buffy for a quick walk, changed and the headed out. Then I entered the beautiful world of Chicago traffic. The 1/2 hour travel time on mapquest.com quickly passed as I sat in traffic.

I needed to go south on I-94, and then go west on I-90 and for those of you who do not know the Chicago freeway system, there is a point when these two freeways almost touch. However, these freeways do not connect, so you have to exit and take local roads which results in the most indirect path between these two interstates. It is one of the ridiculous flaws in civic design ever and I’m notusing superlatives to be humorous, I dead serious.

During the resulting hour and fifteen minutes it took to get to the wake I went through a variety of emotions. Frustration that this was taking so long to get there, anger at Chicago’s bass awkward freeway systems and sadness. My friend’s dad had died and in these situations you can’t help but think about your own parents mortality. I almost started to cry when “Easy Silence” came on thinking of losing people in my life that I love.



As much as I’m ashamed to admit it, I considered turning around and going home and then I remembered when my mom’s father died. There were only two grandchildren who didn’t make the trek to Taiwan for the funeral and one of them was me. At the time, the idea of taking a last minute flight to Taiwan and spending more time in the air than on the ground seemed illogical and not worth it. Thinking back, spending a whole day on a plane would have been a small price to pay for the opportunity to say goodbye to my grandfather.

So I stuck with it and got to the funeral home. I was tired, stressed, and wondering if this whole trip was going to be worth it. As I walked into the room, I saw my friend with a couple mutual friends and as I walked up the began making jokes about how I “clean up well.” Then I saw my friend, smiling with her usual glow and gave her a hug.

We walked around the room, she introduced me to some of her family and we saw her father laid respectfully in an open casket. We talked about work, what we had been up to but mostly we just made jokes and laughed a little. I had nothing profound to say to her but it felt good being able make her a laugh a little and I guess sometimes that’s what it means to be there for someone and show support.

I left the funeral home at about the time I planned to be home (5:30 pm). The drive back had traffic that was just as bad the way there but it didn’t seem quite as annoying. Instead of listening to sad music and feeling like crying I rocked out to Faith by George Michael.



When I got home, Buffy came up and greeted me and when I picked her up and held her in my arms, I couldn’t help but smile. You never know what each day will bring to you, but what I do know is that nothing bad ever comes out of being there for a friend and no matter what the cost, it’s always worth it.

Space Oddity by David Bowie

“Why I grow up, I want to an astronaut.”

That was my line to the ever present “what do you want to be when you grow up?” questions during the first ten years of my life. I don’t know if it was Star Wars, Star Trek or just something else but space fascinated me when I was a kid. I have clear memories of playing my mom’s car pretending it was a space ship with my brother and loving the fantasy.

There was one problem. I almost always got air sick when I got on planes. I’ve since outgrown this but it was definitely an issue growing up and eventually I realized that this would be a problem as traveling to space is far more stressful on the body then a commercial airplane flight. So the dream diminished.

The in 1995, I saw Apollo 13 and for a moment I was drawn back into the fantasy of space travel, the heroics, the ingenuity and that dangerous frontier that continued the American tradition of exploration.



During the MTV Movie Awards that year, Apollo 13 was nominated for best picture and when they announced the nominees the music they played behind the image of Tom Hanks looking out into space was “Space Oddity.”

“Though I’ve crossed one hundred thousand miles, I’m feeling very scared and I think my spaceship knows which way to go.”

That was all of “Space Oddity” I heard. I searched through the internet and eventually figured out that it was David Bowie, went out and got a greatest hits collection and was simply memorized by what I heard.

Y’know that whole Madonna reinvention thing, yeah David Bowie did it first. Portraying different characters in his albums and shows, Bowie was as much a modern performance artist as a pop musician. Well, maybe pop musician isn’t quite the right fit, because this man experimented with music sounding not all that different then modern music artist of his time but something about “Space Oddity” connects in a meaningful accessible way.

In “Space Oddity,” Bowie tells the story through the exchanges heard on the communications between ground control and major Tom. The song combines the sounds of a acoustic guitar with ghost-like synthesizers that describe the sounds of the space shipping launching as well as the solitude and mystery of space.

The story starts with the lift-off and develops into a tragedy. For some reason Major Tom panics asks ground control to tell his wife that he loves her. Ground control sees that Major Tom’s “circuits are dead” and lose communication with Major Tom.

Like the situation in Apollo 13, “Space Oddity” captures the panic, the mystery and tragedy that is sometimes involved in space travel. Bowie’s voice can be both detached when he is ground control setting up the launch and also filled with passion and desperation when he is speaking as Major Tom.

“Space Oddity” uniquely tells a story in a way that few pop songs attempt. As weird as it may have sounded at the time with its synthesized transitions and unique subject matter, it captures the wonder and mystery of space travel, which inspired generations.

Kids now don’t seem too interested in space travel. I once took a group of high school students to Kennedy Space Center and while I was fascinated by the tours, other people there who were in my parents generations were almost brought to tears. However, my students didn’t really care.

The world is different now, our country has different priorities. But every once in a while it’s nice to think of the idea of space travel. No so much the reality of it but that feeling I had when I was a kid, the wonder and the adventure. And nothing brings that back like the amazing journey David Bowie takes us on with Major Tom’s unforgettable adventure.

Candle In The Wind by Elton John

In 1997, the world watched Elton John say goodbye to one of his best friends, Diana, Princess of Wales.



When it was announced that John would perform at her funeral, some questioned how appropriate it would be for a pop singer to perform in Westminster Abbey. But Princess Diana wasn’t exactly the most conventional member of the royal family. Elton had spent his life breaking down bearings and proving people wrong. But this time it wasn’t about that, it was about paying tribute and helping the world deal with the loss of Princess Diana.

Elton John released a studio version of this tribute and it became the best-selling single, selling more than eleven million copies in the United State alone and sold millions more around the world.

“Candle In The Wind” originally appeared on Elton’s 1973 album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” The originally lyrics of the song feature here were a tribute to Marilyn Monroe.



Are there culturally implications that the same song with modified lyrics were used to talk about a movie star as well as British royalty? Yes, but it’s not really relevant. I wasn’t a huge fan of the idea of the just changing the lyrics for Princess Diana but I imagine that maybe that was all Elton could muster in his grief. Also by utilizing “Candle In The Wind” a song that people already knew as a loving tribute, Elton was able to draw us in emotionally to the moment and with the lyrics and performance took us to an entirely different place.

I’ve watched a couple Marilyn Monroe film but they haven’t had a significant effect on my life and when I heard the news about Princess Diana, honestly I didn’t really care that much. The only reason I watched the funeral was to see Elton play and when I did, it all started to make sense. Not so much fairytale wedding, the divorce and all of the controversy but what Princess Diana meant to him and the world.

Most of all in that moment I understand why my wife’s parents named my wife after this people's princess.

I Got You Babe by Sonny & Cher

I never took Sonny and Cher seriously until Sonny Bono died.

Sonny and Cher came a long way from their campy and silly 1970s variety show. After the show was canceled and they divorced Cher went on to establish herself as a solo artist and actor. Even though Cher went through various tabloid controversy including marrying Greg Almond three days after her divorce with Sonny was finalized, Cher went on to have solo hits including “If I Could Turn Back Time” and won an academy award 1986 for best supporting actress. By the time Cher released her biggest hit “Believe” (which I discussed in this earlier post) Cher was respected as a pop diva and had developed an enormous cult following.

Sonny initially took the same route, continuing to produce music and act in film. He didn’t reach the same level of success that Cher did in these ventures. Then in 1988 Sonny Bono shocked the world successfully running for mayor of Palm Springs from 1988 to 1992 going on to serve in the House Of Representatives from 1994 to until his death in 1998.

When Bono died in a skiing accident, people looked to Cher and her eulogy at Sonny’s funeral is one of the most powerful and unforgettable expression of love you will ever witness.



Yes, Sonny and Cher got divorced and remarried, but Cher’s words showed that there was still love between them. Time, circumstance and the failure of their marriage couldn’t’ change what they had shared and what they meant to each other.

After hearing Cher’s words, ”I Got You Babe” transformed from a cheesy pop duet to a touching and heartfelt love song.



Rarely do duets feature two people who are actually in love. It’s hard to know whether its Bono’s production skills which he learned from being Phil Spector’s assistant or Sonny and Cher’s affection for each other that makes this songs glow with warmth the way it does. I like to think it’s the love.

[Spector is one of the greatest record producers who I discussed in this earlier post on “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”].

“I Got You Babe” faces the struggles of life with optimism and hope. The words discuss how problems in life are not as significant because they have each other. The exchange between Sonny and Cher are like wedding vows, however they are not so much promises of future actions but reflections on the great thing they do for each other.

Cher’s voice in amazing the middle of the song, “and when I’m sad. . . .” Coming out of the texture her voice pours out with a purity and strength. There's a hint of her later vocal strength that can be heard as she effortlessly grows soars through the melody.

In 1987, on the David Letterman show Sonny and Cher reunited to sing “I Got You Babe.” The way that Sonny and Cher looked at each other was magical.



All the pain between them, all of the controversy in their lives for a moment was gone and what you had left with was two people lost in song and each other.

“I Got You Babe” captures in song one of the greatest love stories in popular music. It may not have ended in the traditional way but it showed us all the power of love to overcome the challenges of life and the power of music to express love.

Jeremy by Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam - New Music - More Music Videos

Violence in schools sadly seems like a commonplace occurrence in our society. Not just in America but across the world stories of students acting out in unimaginable ways seems to emerge every couple months. While there are many more people in this world who are killed in horrific battles in war-torn countries, they don’t get to me in the same way. I don’t work in a war-torn environment. I work in a school and every time I hear of a school shooting, I feel physically sick.

“Jeremy” is a nightmare. It’s horrific and scary on a visceral level. Is it beautiful? That depends on your definitions of beauty. However, what is indisputable is that “Jeremy” expresses darkness in the human heart that is uncomfortable but very real.

“Jeremy” is an amalgamation of two true stories: Jeremy Wade Delle, a 15 year old who committed suicide in front of his English class and a shooting at a school that lead singer Eddie Vedder attended. The lyrics tell about a boy at home drawing disturbing images of death with parents who don’t seem to care.

The second verse is the narrator telling about how he used to pick on Jeremy and later realizes “we unleashed a lion." Between the verse the haunting line, “Jeremy spoke in class today." While the lyrics never explicitly say that Jeremy got up in front of the class and committed suicide. Most people know the story from the controversial music video.

After watching the video, you realize that Jeremy “speaking” is not so much a reflection on something he said but on what he did. Even if you’ve never seen the video, there is something unhinged about the way that Eddie Vedder sings the chorus that foreshadows a tragic ending.

The words “Jeremy spoken” rise up and down in a smooth contour but the words “in class today” are awkwardly crammed together. Vedder dips into a full baritone for this line with singing it like a man possessed. You can see a young boys hands shaking in anger in the uncomfortable intensity of Vedder’s voice.

Pearl Jam, thought initially characterized s a grunge/alternative rock group, arranges their music with a clarity and intricacy that transcends the distorted punk chords that characterize most grunge music. The melodic bass line in the beginning, the slick use of vocal overdubs to create a schizophrenic feeling are advanced music devices that add to the feverish energy that permeates this song.

I don’t get any joy from listening to “Jeremy.” I somehow feel hurt, sad and at a loss when this song is over. I don't understand why I feel this way. I don’t understand how someone could feel this alone, this hurt and this angry. I don’t know how someone could contemplate let alone act in such violence.

We fear what we don’t understand, and I am afraid of "Jeremy."

I Hung My Head by Sting

If someone walking down the street and a drunk driver swerves off the road and kills the pedestrian, is the drunk driver wholly responsible for the death? In we assume yes, than do we ignore the choices of the pedestrian? He could have decided not go for a walk and stay home. I’m not saying that the drunk driver doesn’t deserve to be punished for his crime, but I can’t help but wonder what is it that puts that person in exactly in the place that the driver swerved off, is it “fate” or “destiny” or simply bad luck. How do we accept the consequences of our own actions while considering whatever force it is that makes situations happen? “I Hung My Head” provides one answer as a boy faces his own execution.

Sting included “I Hung My Head” on his fifth solo album Mercury Rising. As a member of one of the most influence bands of the 1980s, The Police, Sting established himself as an important musical force. His solo work continued the musical innovation he had done with The Police stretching the musical boundaries of popular music.

“I Hung My Head” is the story of a boy and one fateful day that changed his life. One morning he goes up on a hill and sees a lone rider. He decids to practice his aim on the rider and the rifle goes off accidentally, killing the rider. The sheriff arrests the boy and later in court, a jury sentences the boy to death by hanging for his actions.

Though the lyrics are straightforward, concise and beautifully nuanced. The first line of the song ends with the word “kill” foreshadowing future events. Other lines like the opening of the second verse, “I set off running to wake from the dream” combines the action of running with the feeling of wanting to wake from a nightmare.

As the story develops so does the meaning of the lyrics. The lone rider, which the boy shoots in the beginning of the song, comes back in the end of the song as a harbinger of death. The title of the song starts as a description a gesture of despair and regret. By the end of the song, “I hung my head” becomes a statement of acceptance. As the boy facing his own hanging he sees how his own actions has lead to his death.

If you read the words you probably would imagine something like Johnny Cash’s interpretation of this song. Acoustic instruments, simple instrumentation surrounded by a feeling an ominous darkness.



What Sting does instrumentally is very different. The Johnny Cash version is in 4/4 , which means that there are four main beats that you can count in each measure (what you’d naturally clap along to). Each one of these beats are divided into two smaller beats. Sting’s arrangement is in 9/8. Instead of having all four beats divided into two, one of the beats is divided in three. If you were going to count each measure, it would go 1-2, 3-4-5, 6-7, 8-9 (2+3+2+2). Try counting every note you hear in the guitar riff accented 1, 3, 6, 8 and you’ll feel what is referred to as compound meter.

The groove that Sting created adds a feeling of things coming apart. The instrumentation and the counter-melodies in the brass section and organ don’t sound especially sad but the fact that they are placed over an irregular compound meter provides an uneasy feeling that reminds us of the events in this song.

At the end of the song when the line “I hung my head” is being repeated, it appears that the boy fully accepts the consequences of his own actions, but maybe he doesn’t. Maybe the only reason he states that he hung his own head is to make sense of all that has happened. If his death is by his own actions, then that means he could have done something about it. It means that this wasn’t some random occurrence. In a weird way, it’s more comforting to take the blame yourself for your death than to face the idea of randomness of the universe.

Does everything happen for a reason? Is there such a thing as fate or destiny? I don’t have an answer to these questions. Maybe we're just asking the wrong question. Instead of looking for meaning in why things happen maybe the true meaning is how we react to the events in our lives. We can never know for sure why things happen so all we can do is the best with what we are given.

Mack The Knife by Bobby Darin

Not all lyrics are created equal.

Some lyrics are trite and are just there to serve the melody, other times lyrics play an equal importance in the song and with artist like Bob Dylan, the lyrics are the most important expressive and artistic aspect of a song.

Regardless of the level of the lyrical artistry, I like knowing the lyrics and what they are about. Often when I’m talking to friends and they a mention and I casually mention what they lyrics are about they are often shocked especially when the lyrics seems to say express something different then the words. One of the most striking examples of this is “Mack The Knife” from The Threepenny Opera

Between World War I and World War II, life for Germans was so bad that all artist could do was make jokes about life’s misfortune. This type of “black humor” was the only way people could cope with life. Two of the most important artists of this time in Germany who used dark humor to comment on life were the composer Kurt Weill and the playwright Bertolt Brecht. In 1928, these two legendary artist combined forces to compose the musical The Threepenny Opera.

The Threepenny Opera is the story of Macheath. He falls in love with a girl named Polly and wants to marry her against her father’s wishes. The father, Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum, who controls the beggars in London, successfully gets Macheath arrested and sentenced to death. Luckily Macheath is pardoned right before he is executed. Our hero is released and we are made to feel happy that Macheath has escaped such an unjust and cruel fate.

Before this story begins, we are told about this person, our hero, Macheath, otherwise known as “Mack the Knife.” The musical opens with a “moritat” a story of murder performed strolling musician. The moritat singer bookends the show singing about hos exploits.

Macheath is bad man even though it’s not clear what exactly he has done. The police have arrested him numerous times for crimes but Macheath always gets released because he served in the military with the Chief of Police. Even though Macheath has done some horrible things, we cheer him on in this story as he fights for his love and freedom, with the warnings of “Mack the Knife” echoing in our memory.

What people originally heard was not a big band arrangement with a swinging jazz vocalist out front, instead they heard this:



This recording of Brecht singing “Mack the Knife” in German is kind of creepy isn’t it? Listening to this song feels like I’m wearing a shirt that doesn’t quite fit right but I just can’t get it off. . ick.

That’s the original “Mack the Knife.” It’s eerie and just a tad disturbing. It’s like someone telling a group of people a joke about a girl being raped and laughing at his own joke while everyone else in the room is just sickened.

When Bobby Darin told his management that he wanted to record “Mack the Knife,” after he had just scored with the hits “Splish Splah” and “Dream Lover,” they argued against it. Darin recorded it anyways and it became his biggest hit. Many people recorded this song after Darin brought it into our cultural consciousness. My personal favorite is this Robbie William’s cover.



The song opens talking about a shark as a metaphor for Macheath. The “scarlet billows” is blood flowing while Macheath’s fancy gloves never show “a trace of red.” The next verse talks about a body “oozing life” as the singer wonders if he just saw Macheath around the corner. The singers takes us down by the river, where a cement bag is weighing someone down to the bottom of the river which the singers sees as a sign that Macheath is back in town. The last part of the song lists off people who Macheath killed. It’s kind of odd how this is the part of the song when it kicks into a joyful shout chorus.

I’ve always loved “Mack the Knife” but ever since I found out the history behind the song and what the lyrics are about, I feel a little guilty enjoying hearing about this sadistic man, Macheath. The thing is, I like the song even more knowing what it’s about, and the feeling that I shouldn’t is what makes it all the more fun.

Beau by Jimmy Stewart (poem)

"Beau" live reading from The Tonight Show

"Beau" text

WARNING: If you like animals, have a dog, or have had one in the past this "Beau" will make you cry and even you don’t like animals all that much, be careful because this poem will likely make you tear up.

My wife and I have decided to get a dog. She grew up with Abby, a Shetland sheepdog and one of the things she always wanted to as an adult was get a puppy of her own. This is something I never considered before meeting my wife.

I remember bugging my parents about getting a dog but not really making too much of an issue out of it. I wanted a dog to fit in with my friends who had dogs, not because I actually liked animals. My parents weren’t really into pets and it wasn’t something they wanted as part of their lifestyle. They grew up with dogs in Taiwan but they were more animals than pets. So beyond the fish that inhabited our house every so often, pets weren’t part of my life growing up.

I’m not comfortable around dogs. So when Diana, my wife suggested that we babysit a dog named Wrigley for a week and a half, I was a little apprehensive. It’s not like I don't inherent dislike dogs, I just don’t know what to do with them. The first afternoon I spent with the dog was a little awkward and uncomfortable but after a week and a half, I found myself fighting back tears not wanting to let go of Wrigley.

The first time I saw Jimmy Stewart read his poem, “Beau” was as part of a boxed videocassette tape collection of clips from The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson. My parents bought this collecting having many found memories of this show which defined which featured some of the most important cultural figures in popular culture.

Whenever we would watch Jimmy Stewart speak about his Beau, I would get sad, more because Jimmy Stewart himself was becoming choked up, but now when I watch this clip, I’m tearing up for a different reason. I understand why Stewart is so sad.

When I got back from work on Monday, the day after I gave the Wrigley back, I walked in the front door and to my dismay there was no dog sitting attentively waiting to greet me. I had to catch myself before I called for Wrigley. I felt silly that I had forgotten that the dog was no longer staying with us. I miss our house guest and that was only after a week and a half, I can’t imagine what kind of wreak I’d be after losing a dog like Stewart lost Beau.

Jimmy Stewart’s poem, “Beau” starts out describing his dog as flawed. Not a well-trained dog, Beau would not sit or stay and seemed to do things out of spite. Beau lit the house on fire but Stewart brushes this off as not being all that important. The loss of material things always seems less significant in retrospect.

I got to say Wrigley was similar. He would come when I called only if there wasn't something more interesting around. If I called him when he was taking a nap he would open up one eye to check on me, realize that I didn't have anything and then stretch out even more in an attempt to take up as much floor space as possible.

As crazy as Beau’s evening walks were, Stewart describes how Beau would stop every so often to make sure that Stewart and his wife were there. Every time my wife would leave the condo Wrigley would start whining, I would call him over to let him know that I was there and he would curl up around my desk chair as I sat. Then he would start licking the legs of my chair, which was just a little weird but anyways he just wanted to know that he wasn’t alone.

At night Beau sometimes lied in bed with Stewart and other times he would just sit there and watch his owners and softly sigh and Stewart feels that knows why.

He would wake up at night
And he would have this fear
Of the dark, of life, of lots of things,
And he’d be glad to have me near.

Sometimes, Wrigley would wake up from a nap find me in another room, and settle down to take a nap near me. On some level like Beau, he just felt better knowing I was near. In describing what Beau’s fears, Stewart is describing his own fears, telling us how Beau comforted him in the same way that Wrigley comforted me.

I asked my mom what she thought about me and Diana getting a dog. To my surprise, she immediately said it was a great idea. My mom believe all people benefit from having a dog in their life if they accept the responsibility of having a pet and view the dog as a part of the family. My wife and I are a family. We may be a small family and on the short side but we are a family. Getting a dog means that our family is getting a little bigger and that's exciting.

I know that there will be some times that our dog will be a pain. I’m sure she will have accidents, get sick and need to be walked when I just don’t feel like it. There will come a time when our dog will have to leave us, like Beau left Stewart and I know that is going to be hard. However, I have no doubt that it will all be worth it.

To our puppy: I can't promise that we'll do everything right in raising you but I can promise that Diana and I will do the best we can to care for you and that we will always love you. You are in our dreams right now as we look forward to meeting you. You will be in our thoughts as we share our lives together and you will be in our heart long after you leave us.

We can't wait to welcome you into our family.

Power of Love by Huey Lewis & The News

“Power of Love” music video

After my mom told me that my uncle had died of Parkinson's disease last July, I became flooded with feelings and thoughts. It's almost debilitating and only through time and self-reflection did I reach a sense of clarity. After nine months I think about my uncle every so often but in general I feel that I have "gotten over" his death.

Before my uncle's death I knew Michael J. Fox had Parkinson's and I had seen him do interviews in support of stem-cell and Parkinson's research. Even my uncle had Parkinson's I didn't really think much of this. Recently Fox has been making the rounds around talk shows promoting his new book Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist about his life with Parkinson's disease. His words and his life now mean something very different to me now that my uncle has passed away.

At first it was my uncle losing his balance, and then it was missing easy shots on the tennis court. Though it was probably, a gradual development to my young eyes it seemed like all of the sudden he was stuck in his recliner unable to walk. His clear articulate voice became garbled and his ability to even reach out his hand became almost impossible. Maybe it was the fact I myself was getting bigger, but it seemed that my once tall and athletic uncle was shrinking.

His brain gradually lost control of functions until he needed to be fed through a feeding tube, needed help to breathe and then finally, well things just. . . stopped.

I was born in 1982. Things seemed simple during that decade. We had a grandfather-like figure as the president and images of economic success seemed to permeate our culture. For a kid growing up it truly did seem like morning in America. My uncle hosted family get-together, we would go out on his boat and well, everything just seemed right. I was too young to see the other side of the coin, the economic hardship and problems at home and abroad. America had a sheen to it that like memories of a childhood that only seems to get brighter in the distance.

For myself, one of the most endearing films stars of the 1980s is Michael J. Fox. The image of him riding his skateboard to school as Marty Mcfly in the beginning of Back To The Future with “Power Of Love” playing in the background is one of my favorite scenes in film.

Back To The Future directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg featured Fox as a teenager who unwittingly travels back in time, meets his parents as teenagers, has to fight off romantic advances from his mom (hilarious), coaches his dad onto how to get with his mom, all while trying to get back to the future. This mixture of science fiction and teenage adventure was an enormous success and spawned two successful sequels.

After the success of their third album Sports, Huey Lewis & The News composed and recorded "The Power Of Love" for Back To The Future. This song was featured in the opening skateboard ride to school and was also the songs the Marty's band auditions with to get into a battle of the bands. Even though studio execs were disappointed that this song did not have the title of the film in the lyrics, they loved the song and it became a number one hit and was nominated for an Academy Award

Huey Lewis with his 80s mullet and clean image was about as threatening as a puppy dog In the 1980s when Springsteen was dealing with social issues, Madonna was pushing sexual boundaries and Michael Jackson was extending the musical possibilities of pop music Huey Lewis & The News were simply creating fun, relatable and catchy pop music.

"Power Of Love" is a celebration of all the things that love makes us feel and do. Lewis contemplates the good that love does, making men sing, correcting mistakes and also the bad making men weep and keeping people home at night. He concludes in the chorus that love may save your live and that love makes the world go round.

When I see Michael J. Fox talk, it makes me sad at first knowing how much he has changed from that character rocking out to “Power Of Love.” I’m reminded about my uncle and how the disease slowly debilitated him and the last time I saw him before his passed away.

The last time I saw my uncle before he died, I remember feeling very awkward. I didn’t know what to say or what I should do. He could barely mumble and he was immobile. It’s a horrible feeling worrying about your own emotions in these situations but I did. I wasn’t extremely close to my uncle and it wasn’t until after he died that I understood all that he did for my family and felt a deep sense of gratitude. I wrote my aunt, his wife a letter after died telling her how much all that he did for my family meant to me, but I never told him.

For the past couple months I didn’t know what to do with this feeling and it wasn’t until a recent Michael J. Fox interview that it all kind of came together. He talked about how the Parkinson’s made him appreciate his life more and make every moment count. I may not have made every moment with my uncle count. I can’t do anything about that but what I can do is make his passing mean something in my life. In the way, that Parkinson’s made Fox relish every moment with his family, my uncle’s passing can serve as a reminder of what is truly important in my life. Also, there will always be “Power Of Love” to remind me not only how great it was to be a kid in the 80s but to have my uncle in my life.

Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton

Today I’m going to a funeral.

For the fourth time in my life, I am preparing to say goodbye to someone who was once in my life and now only lives in my memory and in my heart.

When someone passes on in our lives, most things in our lives are the same but when we think about that person, our memory reminds us that they are no longer here in our world. It doesn’t matter that you may not have seen that person every day when they were alive. Just knowing that someone is out there caring about us brings us comfort and being reminded of our loss makes our heart ache just s little bit, just enough to bring us back to how it felt to lose them. That feeling never leaves us and that is why "Tears In Heaven" is speaks so deeply to our souls.

Eric Clapton in known for many things. People wrote graffiti with the words “Clapton is God” in London and sarcastically nicknamed him “Slowhand” early in his career because of his virtuosic guitar skills. He composed some of most memorable guitar licks in popular music history and influenced generations of guitar players with his blues and rock infused playing.

Then in 1991 Eric Clapton’s four-year-old son, Conor fell from a 53rd-story window to his death. It was a tragic accident and Clapton was distraught for months afterward. He wrote this "Tears In Heaven" with a friend, Will Jennings for the film Rush. The song garnered critical and commercial success and Clapton featured it on his album Unplugged.

The lyrics are simple and understated but reveal great depth of emotion.

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven
Will it be the same
If I saw you in heaven
I must be strong, and carry on
Cause I know I don't belong
Here in heaven

Clapton asks his son if he will recognize him in heaven and if there relationship would be intact if they met in heaven. What he is really asking is if his son will forgive him. There is a tragic level of self-blame. When coping with tragedy we often blame ourselves in an attempt convince ourselves that we had control over the uncontrollable. He is saying that his son is in heaven because he could not protect him. He hopes that his son will forgive him, but regardless he feels that he does not deserve to be with him in heaven.

After the instrumental break, Clapton reassures himself that his son is in a better place.

Beyond the door
There's peace I'm sure.
And I know there'll be no more
Tears in heaven

Clapton is reassuring himself that his son will find peace as he know he is leaving his son taking his tears of loss with him.

Playing an instrument with a high level technical ability with incredible speed and accuracy takes years of practice. Notes however doing create meaning, it is how they are played. In the first 13 seconds of the song, Clapton is playing guitar with no other instruments. He balances lines in the lower strings with melodies in the higher strings. The lower notes and the higher notes are like two different instruments responding to each other, mostly playing apart and coming together at specific places. The guitar does not only provide harmony but depth and lines in a single instrument. The guitar responds every vocal line with slight subtle nuances and melodies. The guitar cannot communicate lyrics but reassures Clapton by being present. The guitar is like a friend in a time of need. Sometimes by simply being there makes all of the differences.

The instrumental break features a duet between Clapton’s guitar and a slide guitar. The slide guitar answers the melody that Clapton folds into his guitar lines. This playing may not seem impressive but it is mature. The song is not about Clapton’s guitar planning, it is about the emotion that he is trying to express. Through his artful, precise and careful playing of each note, we almost forget about the playing and focus on the emotion itself. Great musicians play in a way that the music disappears and all that we experience is pure emotion.

Clapton’s singing like his guitar playing is never overdone. It is simple, intimate, and mournful. The ease in which he slides up to the high note right before the instrumental break expresses a feeling that comes from the heart through a voice that is bare and open with nothing left to lose. The simplicity in his singing is all the more powerful because it doesn’t tell us how to feel but creates a palette for our own feelings.

One of my grandfathers died more then six years ago and I still don’t feel like I know what to do with those emotions. I don’t know if I’m really over it. I don’t know how I’m suppose to feel and I don’t know how to really make his death mean anything.

Music does not provide any answers.

The power in music is that it reassures us that we are not alone in our emotions. Listening to "Tears In Heaven" doesn’t make us miss that person any less but it does remind us that someone else out there feels the same way we do. We are reminded that we are not alone in our emotions and even though it doesn’t change our emotions it makes us feel better about our emotions knowing that they reflect the humanity and the experiences that we all share.

Today at the funeral, I will not be alone. I will mourn and be comforted sharing meaningful emotions with others. Sharing our lives with others honors the people who have passed on because it is the times that we shared our lives, our emotions and our hearts with ones we have lost that make the people we morn mean so much to us.

I miss the people and in some ways, it seems ungracious to hope for more time with these people in heaven when we have been so blessed to share in their lives. I don’t know if I belong in heaven, I would like to think so but I do know that it is the time spent sharing my life with the people around me that brings a piece of heaven into my life every day.