I have been having a cozy leisurely New Year’s Day morning listening to WXPN’s top 200 songs of 2012. They are playing the top 100 now. I feel inspired by the songs that were voted onto this list by listeners. WXPN is my favorite station, and I aspire to be on a list like this.
Some of the chosen songs are inspiring because they are well crafted and performed, and I am happy to be spending my morning with them. I would like to hear them again. However, I am finding myself more inspired by the songs I don’t like. There are lots of them!
I am reminded that songs are like relationships. We are all attracted differently. Our passions are unique. We don’t choose who we love, we just do. Songs are the same.
There are some musicians and bands that I know are talented, but I just don’t feel attracted to them. I also know people who don’t like the music I hold most dear. It reminds me that everyone will not like what I do, but some people will love it. I need to spend my energy finding those people.
A kind man found me this week who bought my first CD in 1997. He remembered liking it, and wondered if I had put out another collection of songs. He searched for me on YouTube and found some of my recent videos, and he wrote some amazing comments. It felt validating to be remembered that way.
He taught me another important and timely lesson. I never met him, he never came to a show, and he is a fan. He found my CD in a long ago Princeton store. I could not have orchestrated that. He showed me that I need to just keep moving, and he reminded me that I won’t know until later if the seeds I plant take root, or fly in the wind to blossom in places I can’t imagine from where I sit, here on my sofa, listening to the chosen ones.
What do you want to remember in this brand new year?