Moved by the Music

Everyone who knows me well knows how I love music.   It may surprise some of you to know that I’m not  just a fan of country music, although that’s certainly my favorite.  As a young boy, I loved to watch “Your Hit Parade” on TV, and I would try to scrape up enough money to buy records of the top songs.  On my first tour in Vietnam, one of my favorite tapes was a Billy Butterfield album.  I’m sure you all remember Billy Butterfield.  I also love classical music:  Beethoven, Tchaikovski, etc.  I used to have a ten-record set of classicals.  I love most opera music.   To me, probably the most beautiful bit of music I’ve heard is “Nessun Dorma” from Puccini’s Turandot.   I think “Les Miserables” is one of the greatest stories ever written, and I love the music in the musical production.

But I like some good ole Garth Brooks too.  I listened on TV to his concert in Notre Dame’s football stadium last night with 84,000 screaming Irish in attendance.  The screaming muffled some of  the sound, but it was still a moving experience for me.  Garth Brooks is not classic country, which is my favorite, but he is more than acceptable for me as a transitional performer.  I don’t like most of the so-called modern country singers – too gimmicky and phony.  Nothing phony about Garth.  He has some great songs of his own, but I also love to hear him cover other artists’ songs.  He always sings them exactly the way the original artist sang them, but in his own voice.  He doesn’t tweak the lyrics or the tune in an attempt to make the song his own.  Last night, he did a Bob Seger song, “Night Moves,” and except for the voice, you would think it was Seger  and his band performing.  He also did my two favorite Beatles songs,  “Let it Be” and “Hey Jude,” again, exactly as the Beatles performed them.

When I hear good music, I think of Leigh, who also loved music.  Two of his songs last night especially took me to Leigh because of the lyrics.  He sang “Standing Outside the Fire,” with the line, “Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you’re standing outside the fire.”  Too many young women who have suffered sexual assault give up on life and choose to stand outside the fire, merely surviving.  Leigh’s mission was to help survivors take control of their lives and thrive, not merely survive.

Garth Brooks’ closing song, “The Dance,” was my favorite (and he proclaimed that it was his favorite as well).  Louise and I both had to wipe away a couple of tears at the line, “I could have missed the pain, but I’d have had to miss the dance.”  The pain of losing a child has been terrible, but we sure enjoyed the dance while it lasted.

I read a review of the concert this morning, and the writer said it was hard to tell who enjoyed the concert more, the audience or Garth.  I saw it that way as well.  He and his band appeared genuinely happy to be performing in front of such an appreciative audience in the cold, wet weather.  If you can find the concert on You Tube or any media source, I recommend it.