Sometimes the perfect soundtrack will hit the spot. I'm sitting here listening to a soundtrack I haven't heard in years but I was craving both the music and the message. I think this Linda Ronstadt album is one of the first CDs my family ever owned and listened to on a regular basis. I know every word of every song on Cry like a Rainstorm Howl like the Wind. I usually buy CDs for a song or two and nowadays (for those of you that are proud owners or MP3 players) you can just download a song here or a song there, but on the rare occasion an album comes out that you can listen to all the way through over and over again. Cry like a Rainstorm is one of those for me. Given, Linda Ronstadt has a beautiful voice. The girl can sang (when you say it ghetto like that, they really CAN sing), but right at this very moment I know what she's singing about and how she feels and I'm listening to her because I'm comforted that someone somewhere has felt the way I do.
I've heard people say we read to feel like we're not alone. Well, I would have to say the same applies to music if not more so. Music is evocative by nature, tells stories (think Les Miserables) and conveys emotion that is often times challenging to articulate. Bless the artists that help me, in difficult times as well as in joyous times, to feel less alone. I love it that music also gives me something to celebrate. Any Pit Bull song can get my booty shakin' and I don't care what kind of deep dark space I'm in, if I hear Flo Rida's Club Can't Handle Me, I'm automatically transported to a dance floor even if that's just the car I'm driving in.
Still, I think it's the hallmark of a great work of art to be able to listen to an album all the way through and enjoy every song-you know, road trip CDs that you don't have to change very often. Tracy Chapman is famous for this in my family. We don't leave home without her. Pick an album of hers, any album, and it has that quality. She's also one of the very few artists who sound better live than on the record. Oddly enough, The Essential Dolly Parton is another road trip album that I love. C'mon, 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream, and I Will Always Love You on the same album? One word: THE BOMB!!
So fess up, what's an album that you love and practically know every word to? Hey, if I can come clean with Dolly Parton, you can indulge in a honest confession here. Do it!
