It never seemed like my parents had very good music when I was a kid. They had a lot, just not much that I was really drawn to. I found a handful of their 45’s and even fewer LP’s that I really liked. One record that stands out in my memory, though, was Elton John’s Greatest Hits.
I would play that record and picture Elton’s brother “Daniel” flying away in an airplane bound for Spain. I would try to figure out what “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” had to do with the Wizard of Oz. And I would imagine the bars where Elton and his friends would go to fight on Saturday nights, since they were alright for fighting.
In hindsight, I think I really appreciated the stories and emotion in those songs. And somehow, this British dude with huge glasses managed to connect with a little kid from Indiana.
That’s the magic of songwriting that I really love. I love the way you can put the notes and words together and it can have its own meaning apart from you.
Sometimes I imagine all these little s.o.s.’s can have a positive effect on someone else. You get all honest and transparent. You cry for help in a song. You write words that beg for someone to come and save you. And then, if everything goes right, in the end, the song ends up saving someone else.