Ever have a favorite song that spoke for you? Music is a mood-setter. It can give you an adrenalin rush and get your feet moving for exercise or dance, or in the middle of a great mood, it can bring you down. Combined with lyrics, it’s a communicator. How do song writers know our very thoughts? How can they express our pain, our joy, our love? Have they walked in our shoes? Shared our thoughts? Roberta Flack sings Killing Me Softly With His Song. A beautiful example of how a songwriter gets us.
Roberta Flack has another song, First Time Ever I saw Your Face, that speaks for me. I think I loved Bill the first time I saw him step out his mother’s front door. I watched from the back seat of my parents’ car as he covered the face of the six-month-old baby in his arms, shielding it from the porch light and the January night air. From that night on, I watched from a distance, not wanting my love to show, as this handsome, wanna-be-bad boy cared for his two children.
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Even before we thought of dating, Bill would come to our house to visit dad and let us see the kids. We all loved those two little redheads. Late one Saturday afternoon when they were out at our house, the kids were off playing with my little sisters and brother. Dad wanted to play cards and challenged that he and Bill could beat me and mom.
You must know Dad was a jokester and Mom didn’t kid around when it came to winning. She was extremely competitive. No one much liked being her partner—except she played well. Dad knew all he had to do to win was get us kids laughing and we’d mess up, then Mom would get miffed and gripe about how we weren’t paying attention.
Mom and I were winning for a while. Then Dad began teasing me about having a crush on someone. I did have a crush on someone, Bill. I became distracted and we began to lose. As expected, mom got miffed, and I got a little sassy with mom. That didn’t go so well. Suddenly, everything went quiet. Mom went to the kitchen and dad followed her.
Bill and I didn’t speak. I gave him a nervous glance. Did he know I had a crush on him? I filled the silence with the sound of shuffling cards. Bill slid the score sheet toward me and took the cards. He shuffled and I read what he’d written in the margin. Sail on silver girl, sail on by. Your time has come to shine. All your dreams are on their way. See how they shine. If you need a friend, like a Bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down. (Simon and Garfunkle) I looked up at him and he winked just as the smell of fresh brewed coffee filled the room and mom and dad came back to the table with cups for us all.
I still have that score sheet. It touched my heart. We’d known Bill over two years now, and he’d seen the struggles in our home. What a beautiful gift he gave me. He would be my protector. Since then, songs have been a way for us to communicate our feelings.
A quiet, strong man, Bill seldom used his words to express his feelings back then, but he always found lyrics that spoke for him. Like the Willie Nelson song, You Were Always on My Mind, Aaron Neville’s I Owe You One, (see Fifty Ways to Keep Your Lover #12 Persevere)
To me, Bill is the Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler. Although he shares his feelings readily now, Bill still plays songs for me like Rod Stewart’s, Have I told You Lately That I love you? Or Look at Us sung by Vince Gill. Through the years, there have been so many others. Some funny, some romantic or silly. If you know me, you know I talk a lot. Recently, Bill likes to sing Toby Keith’s, I Wanna Talk About Me. He makes me laugh every time.
Do you have special ways to share your feelings? Are you open to hear what your soul mate has to say? Remember, wherever you are you are at the right place when you come to my website and read my blog. Come on back and share a slice of life with me.