Music | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “Music”

18 Mar 2014

Respecting Life’s Lessons, Life Flows On

There is something about understanding your own choices, though not everyone wants to try to. It means admitting that you are the person in control of the course you are taking in your life. After all is said and done, life’s lessons seem to be the most indelible. Looking back. they have the most meaning and impact our futures. Though it is more popular these days to look for others to blame I think.

I mean all the warnings, all the advice, all those things I have told my kids from my life’s lessons as a parent are things they can decide fit in their lives or not. I could have shamed them into believing them, I could have punished them and made them believe. I could have reasoned with them ( but in those rebellious teen years there wasn’t a lot of reasoning). Still they decided it was valuable to find their way by “being independent” and did things that didn’t always make sense to me. Often it led to those regrettable moments,that they had to end up dealing with personally .

So life’s lessons are the best way to learn, as it seems as though those lessons are the hardest. Mistakes we are making that can break us, can take us to a path we would never have chosen.

As I look back I have to admit that there were plenty of those decisions I made in the past. Knowing that things could be different now doesn’t change it. Knowing I didn’t always take other’s advice had its reward and its regrets.

What I have learned: One of the most important personal life’s lesson: Respect the lesson’s from the past, weigh the advice that others give you. And as I had recently posted … in the end be true to yourself (as I recently posted). Life flows on.

Within You Without You”

We were talking about the space between us all
And the people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion
Never glimpse the truth, then it’s far too late, when they pass away
We were talking about the love we all could share
When we find it, to try our best to hold it there with our love
With our love, we could save the world, if they only knew

Try to realize it’s all within yourself
No one else can make you change
And to see you’re really only very small
And life flows on within you and without youWe were talking about the love that’s gone so cold
And the people who gain the world and lose their soul
They don’t know, they can’t see, are you one of them?

When you’ve seen beyond yourself then you may find
Peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we’re all one
And life flows on within you and without you

25 Feb 2014

Take the Time To Sing

“With your head up, with your eyes closed. Not because you love the song, but you love to sing” – Aaron Marsh

I realize I will forever be tied to music.

MGert Concert Picture

Many of my past family ancestors were artists, many of my relatives today are artists, painters, writers. Creators of the “arts”.

My passion has always been to sing. From elementary school choir to high school musicals. In rock bands that were such great fun in school to working to make it a profession by touring around with a bus ( not successfully by the way). Just jamming in garages or making sounds in basements made for revitalizing enjoyment. Even today I get to sing at church from time to time with the band ( yup, not a “choir” but a great bunch of musicians).

When I get in the car I put on music, when I am relaxing I put on the playlists, when I am working on things I put on music rotations. Parties? Without music? No way.

Concerts are an event, and more often the better. My kids taught me how to experience the music today. I have tens of thousands of songs on my hard drive, own one thousand vinyl records I can’t seem to let go of (even though I don’t have my turntable connected). Songs from every genre, rock music from the beginning, eclectic, progressive, jazz, soul, R&B, even disco ( but not too much :))

So like so many others I around me – I sing. Never going to win any trophies or competitions. But I love to sing.

What about you…? Like to sing? So SING. Not because you love the song- but you love to sing.

COPELAND: You Love to Sing

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Aaron Marsh, Copeland, Grace, Happiness, Joy, mental-health, moments, Music, Personal Soundtrack, Rock music, Singing, Songs, Songs About Not Giving Up, Sprituality, Your Life's Soundtrack

18 Feb 2014

Keeping Your Head Above Water

Keeping your head above water. Swimming along with the life you have. It can be a challenge just to swim and keep it up when you are not so sure you how you will survive.

But we all should be doing that, shouldn’t we? Some days it may seem automatic. We have a life to live despite the struggles, and some complex things can keep you distracted. In some ways keep your mind off it.

Other days we risk getting caught in the undertow of the reality that we are struggling and virtually everyone around us is struggling too. In their own way. They are messing up and getting things wrong, they are sad from loss or angry with their situation. They could swim for brighter days ahead- but it looks bleak to them.

This is my battle song. Fighting cancer, I realized that we have to SWIM. Swim for our lives. But it would be good to find the grace in what we are doing as we continue along. That purpose of our constant paddling along.

The spirit of God can give that to you. The purpose may mean less if you think that at the end it is over and you stop swimming because you no longer exist, but if you believe – eternity can matter. We all fall short of perfect, but this helps. It makes life’s swim easier – especially if you are paddling against the currents of adversity.

Make every day count for something . Swim for it.

Here is a song “SWIM” from Andrew McMahon from a group called “Jack’s Mannequin”.

Andrew is battling cancer (diagnosed in 2005) and this song is one of my favorites.

“Swim”
You’ve gotta swim

Swim for your life
Swim for the music
That saves you
When you’re not so sure you’ll survive
You gotta swim
And swim when it hurts
The whole world is watching
You haven’t come this far
To fall off the earth
The currents will pull you
Away from your love
Just keep your head above- I found a tidal wave
Begging to tear down the dawn
Memories like bullets
They fired at me from a gun
A crack in the armor
I swim to brighter days
Despite the absence of sun
Choking on salt water
I’m not giving in
I swim You gotta swim
Through nights that won’t end
Swim for your families
Your lovers your sisters
And brothers and friends
Yeah you’ve gotta swim
Through wars without cause
Swim for the lost politicians
Who don’t see their greed as a flaw The currents will pull us
Away from our love
Just keep your head aboveI found a tidal wave
Begging to tear down the dawn
Memories like bullets
They fired at me from a gun
Cracking me open now
I swim for brighter days
Despite the absence of sun
Choking on salt water
I’m not giving in
Well I’m not giving in
I swimYou gotta swim
Swim in the dark
There’s no shame in drifting
Feel the tide shifting and wait for the spark
Yeah you’ve gotta swim
Don’t let yourself sink
Just find the horizon
I promise you it’s not as far as you think
The currents will drag us away from our love
Just keep your head above
Just keep your head above
Swim
Just keep your head above
Swim, swim
Just keep your head above
Swim

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music), The Cancer Letters and tagged Andrew McMahon, Emotion, Faith, Fight for Your Life, Grace, life is precious, Music, Poetry, Rock music, Songs About Survival, survival, Truth

10 Feb 2014

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Musical Moments In Time

It is kind of profound really. I did my best to commemorate the 50th anniversary of The Beatles playing on American TV for the first time. I can tell you that I remember right where I was on that night, playing with some elementary school friends who were the children of my parents best friends.

We all huddled around the black and white 19″ TV in their living room and stared and smiled. We boys were too manly to scream. My parents and their friends shook their heads in disbelief that these mop-haired musicians were so popular. They were sure that it would pass, this would be a novelty. Like the icons of the 50’s – they would burn out and something else would replace them also. But we found out later they were not replaceable. They were indelible and made a lasting impression on my life, and so many others of my generation.

Those impressions lasted. I have passed the torch in a way, and showed my children the simplicity of their music, the pure construction of the early years, the experimentation era and the ironic struggles to Get Back as they quickly disintegrated as the fab 4. It was the music, it is the music that has held up. I hear it in the songs and artist my children happily introduce me to. There are so many good ones actually. It takes a true musician to construct pop music that will last beyond the next pre-fabricated musical trends.

I clearly remember every album as they arrived. What I was doing and where I was. Long playing vinyl records that had 2 sides and in many cases didn’t last past 30 odd minutes in total. But there it was in the record bins. When I was younger I even purchased the “mono” versions instead of the stereo versions because it was an affordable $1-2 less than the stereo.

Looking back now I even bought my first (not last) copy of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band in mono. I sat and listened to it that summer, over and over and sponged up the sounds that were so fresh and different that I had to keep playing them again. And the album came with the “words”- so even more than the music, you could enjoy the meaning as well as the tune. The album came with lavish cover art and cut-outs that made the physical album itself an experience.

I will always see The Beatles as the musicians who helped move my world from black and white to color. Helped me explore the music beyond the 20 songs constantly played on the AM radio. Helped me to consider the possibilities for popular music today and I can still them in the new artists music. Like so many other musicians at the time and since, they have paved the way for the music and the experience for my children and theirs in the future. Thanks to those iconic guys.

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged 1964, Acceptance, American TV, Beatles, Change, Classic Rock, Fab Four, Legacy of Music, moments, Music, Paul McCartney, RIngo Starr, Rock music, The Beatles

21 Jan 2014

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Songs About “Time”

“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” – Henry Van Dyke

Coming up on my the end of my 2nd year of posting to “tracks in the dust” and I think I have shared my thoughts a lot on time and its passages. It is truly thinking through the concept of the idea of our tracks we leave behind us in our lives. Each day,each hour we have during our mission here on earth, time passes and we have less of it until that moment our life ends in this form.

Time is something no one can change once it has passed, and everyone is subject to it in the moment that is “now”.

There are so much said on the blogs here in WordPress, so many books written about it, so many songs ( there I am again in the musical mode). It is

We all are subject to the changes that time deals out. It changes everything – except that when it tries to change us we seem to so often be surprised. Go figure I guess.

We all understand that there is no way to stop the clock and wait for things, as much as we sometimes wish. Like stopping a terminal illness until a cure, it won’t happen. It is 5 years since my cancer surgery and start of radiation treatments and time has been kind. I have been blessed that the ongoing treatments invented to help fight the disease are helping, and that while I am surviving as new things are being discovered to help further fight it. Count on the fact there will always be that race.

My kids will often wish that time would hurry, so they could get to the next thing in their lives. Live for the big event, live for the weekend. Look out toward the horizon. But they stop looking at the “now” and cherishing what that is. I think that comes with age (maybe) or the wisdom that is provided us by the life we live and the perils in it.

Which all leads up to the point I have made again and again. The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.

Enjoying while you can. It is yours to spend until the end… time waits for no one.

Some of my favorite songs about time:

Ambrosia: Time Waits for No One