Richard Himber & His Ritz-Carlton Orchestra "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart" (1935)
Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart
People, places, and events have inspired songs in me for as long as I can remember. There were the songs of the seasons and the songs connected with memories now nearly forgotten. Memories of old loves and unconquered objects of my desire evoke refrains inspired during more passion times. A feeling, a tickle of my senses, or any tapping into an old memory might make a melody come to mind.
There are certain songs that I can pinpoint the time, the place, and exactly what I was doing when I first heard them. Then there are other songs that seemed to have been merged into my life as I grew up or were there for long periods until the point when I suddenly noticed them.
Music has been a thread that has connected the parts of my life. In that sense music has been a soundtrack that accents the emotions, the activities, and everything that makes me who I've been. Perhaps having always known movies with soundtracks and having always had music playing through most of my days, I've come to expect music to be playing in my mind if it wasn't entering my ears.
I wonder if before recorded sound if music played such an important part of people's lives? Perhaps whistling, humming, or singing has always been an instinct within humans from the beginning of history. How could it not be so?
Now, at the least provocation, songs come into my head. They may be the songs that others have written and I have heard and known. Or they are sometimes songs that I make up as I go. I used to write them down more often. But now more often than not, I listen to my songs in my head until I am distracted by something else. Are those songs lost forever? They're probably somewhere deep within my mind, but unlikely to be found.
Someday I might go on a mining expedition to dig up those buried songs. Then again maybe I'll only be coming up with new ones. I'll see something that inspires me and zing! another song fills my mind. If I focus in on the song, then maybe I'll capture it. I'll let the strings of my heart play as I write the words.
Do you have songs in your head? Do you ever write songs? Do you think of your life as having a soundtrack?
On Saturday I will return to my regular posting schedule with my A to Z Challenge Reflections for 2014. I hope you'll join me then.
I seem now, to have a "problem" with songs in my head! I've somehow come to the point where all I have to do is hear music and any random song (that I've heard before) gets stuck in my head. I mean really STUCK. I can't get it to stop. I, like you, have always had music in my life. It is, as you say, a portal to memories, to special moments in my life as well as evoking emotions. So this problem with not being able to shut the music out is frustrating to say the least. I wish sometimes that I played an instrument thinking that using my brain that way might help. So I've learned to go for long periods of time without listening to music at all and that seems to clear my mind. What a laugh. I ADORE music. Now I have to take time off from it...
ReplyDeleteI love music, too. It's so funny the songs I've sang that fit the season of life I'm in.
ReplyDeleteWE DID IT!!! Finished the A-Z.
You're awesome for thinking this baby up.
I've had 'earworms' for as long as I can remember. It's always like there's a radio playing up there. If I concentrate hard enough it's like the music is playing in for all to hear because it's loud. I don't write them though b/c I wouldn't even know how to begin. It amazes me that there are still new songs. Seems like by now all the different note combos would have been used.
ReplyDeleteLee-
ReplyDeleteEven absent recorded music, I think having been exposed to music, people like you and I would still have our internal soundtrack.
What would be interesting would be to know whether we'd compose our own tunes or be limited to the music we had been exposed to (which would presumably be a much smaller amount absent recordings).
You made it to Z, my friend...
Larry
Your last couple of paragraphs hadn't registered before I posted that comment.
ReplyDeleteI wrote lyrics for many years-the inspiration has dropped off over the last decade, but it used to be a daily thing.
I HATED it when an idea would come to mind when driving, for example, almost fully formed, only to be lost when I got to a place where I could write it down. Often, no amount of introspective thought or meditation would bring the idea back to my conscious mind.
So if your mining expedition is successful, I may need to try that technique and see what gems may be buried in the nether regions of my brain.
LC
Lisa -- I tend to go for longer periods without external or internal music these days. I'll always go back to it though.
ReplyDeleteTeresa -- Thank you and everyone else from hanging in there.
JoJo -- Always something new to be plucked out of the invisible sea of music. It is amazing how songs keep coming.
Larry -- I think it would be very difficult to recover lost songs even though I think they still must exist somewhere in the memory. For a while back in the 90's I used to keep a hand held mini cassette recorder to lay down ideas, but even that was unsuccessful for the most part. I think focusing on writing and remembering the song is the only thing that truly works. If the song isn't registered in my mind then it's easy for me to forget even if I've written down a lot or all of the lyrics. I have to "practice" the song in my head or out loud until I've got it memorized. Even then if I don't keep up with it I sometimes forget how those go. Songwriting is a job that requires thought and work.
Lee
Well you've made it to 'Z'. I still can't believe that more fOlks have not found their way to this marvelous blog. It has become your main blog in my mind. A place where you express so much more than the mundane things every third blogger is also chatting about. I sincerely hope you keep up the great writing here and possibly consider moving more if your efforts to this site, where you really shine.
ReplyDeleteJust the opinion if one dumb blonde.
LEE ~
ReplyDeleteGreat song choice for 'Z'. I really like it, too! (Love that kind of "antique" music sound!) And there can't be many songs out there that start with 'Z'. I guess you could have posted a song by Zevon or ZZ Top and gotten away with it.
Congratulations on completing another 'A To Z' blogfest!
I assume you'll have a 'Battle Of The Bands' post at Tossing It Out tomorrow?
I gotta get to work on my 'BOTB' right now.
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
Faraway -- And I was promoting this blog like crazy and still people would ignore my signature link and go to Tossing It Out which is still okay. You've given me another quotable quote.
ReplyDeleteStMc --I wouldn't miss BOTB! I've got what I think is a really good one that I think you will greatly appreciate.
Lee
Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteMy mind offers my a nice side benefit when it comes to music. If I have visual images associated with the song, I can close my eyes and do a complete A/V playback. Wonderful treat for a musical theater buff.
ReplyDeleteMusic is everywhere and I am sure it was much much before recorded ones too!! It's in the nature itself! Great to come by this space too Arlee!
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you immensely for A-Z! This was my first time and I had a blast!
Aditi, A2Z survivor
Hi Lee - congratulations on finishing - you've left us an A-Z with lots of listening ideas and reminders of songs forgotten.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for initiating this excellent blogging challenge ..
Cheers Hilary
Funny that you ask the question if your life has a soundtrack because I've recently been working on putting a video or at least an audio track of my own life's soundtrack! Music is in my soul. I'm not a player or a singer, I just enjoy good music. I love how songs are so powerful in evoking memories and crating moods and feelings. If ever I'm having a bad day I just put on some classic rock and let it take me back to the wild and crazy fun days of my youth. Music is the medicine...in my life anyway. Great post
ReplyDelete