The Healing Power of Music & Tunes o’ the Week!

I don’t know about you, but I find music can be very healing and cathartic in tough times.  This past week, my dearly loved grandfather passed away after battling a blood disease for the past two and a half months.  It was a very difficult time for my immediate and extended family, because my grandfather, or Opa as we grandchildren referred to him (that’s german for grandpa, I think), was such a strong patriarchal figure who ruled the family with stern love; an odd combination to some, perhaps, but we wouldn’t have had it any other way.  I am very close to all my cousins and aunts and uncles, and I know I have my Opa and Oma to thank for this, as their focus was always on family.  I feel that even through this difficult event, our whole family has been drawn that much closer and that was a great feeling for me; perhaps one last gift that our generous Opa gave us, as unintentional as it may have been.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I find music can be very healing.  Music can bring your deepest emotions that you try so hard to hide, right to the surface.  A good song can be a strong embrace, a shoulder to cry on, or simply enough, a time for reflection. In difficult times, I find that certain songs can bring new meanings that you never noticed before in the song.  This is more prevalent in songs that aren’t necessarily “sad-themed”, because the meaning doesn’t necessarily jump out at you until you go through something difficult, unlike songs such as Tears In Heaven or Everybody Hurts, where the theme is very apparent.

In this week’s Tunes o’ the Week, I’m not focusing on dreary tunes entirely, but a few that have taken on new meaning in the last week (particularly the first two).  And a few that are just downright awesome, so have a listen and enjoy!

Elliott BROOD – The Valley Town When my time comes, this is what I want played; dueling ukuleles and an upbeat, yet subtly somber affair (listen to the words of the final verse).

City & Colour – Body in a Box As I was sitting at my Opa’s funeral and I looked at all the hundreds of people gathered, all the beautiful flower arrangements surrounding a photograph of him, and so many people sharing about how wonderful of a friend, grandfather, father and business partner he was, I couldn’t help but hear the words to this song play in my head and ring so true: “We celebrate the lives of the dead / It’s like a man’s best party only happens when he dies / We gather around to pay our respects / While their souls are still searching for the light”…

Attack In Black – Liberties The song that made me want to hear every other song by this band… unfortunately, none of the other songs on this album are even half as good.

The Swell Season – Astral Weeks Live cover of Van Morrison’s classic; fantastically done with such emotion.

Against Me! – Because of the Shame A good friend turned me on to this tune, which is quite different from their other work.

Armchair Cynics – Coalmine I know, I know, this is a pretty “pop-y” tune and I will be judged by the music snobbery… but I can’t help but kind of enjoy it, so sue me.

Dan Mangan – Robots If you don’t know Dan Mangan, he is acoustic rock excellence; this tune is a great example of either how music can be fun, or a deep metaphor…or both.

Hope you click the links and enjoy the tunes, let me know what you think!

~ by DR on September 17, 2010.