If you were to choose one song that is “your song”, what would it be? A song you remember hearing on a special occasion, or one you just couldn’t stop singing along to when you were young? A song you’ve loved for years, or a song you’ve only discovered lately? Maybe it would be a song that has grown on you over the years. Or maybe you would really struggle to name just one song, you enjoy so many.
Recently I heard about the Song For Life card. The idea is that everyone should have with them a card naming their song, so that if they were taken ill or in an accident, the song could be played to them. It’s gaining ground and more and more people are trying the idea. An idea that highlights music’s impact on us and how deeply interwoven it is with our identity as individuals. The hope is that hearing “your song” in adversity or emergency might console, uplift, calm or revive you. It draws on what we now know about music and memory, how music stays longest in the memory and can awaken a response when other ways fail. Music is so expressive that a single song can sum us up.
Limiting myself to just one song would be difficult. I like silence a lot of the time, but when I do listen to music, I like all different styles. Music is so powerful in creating a mood that different songs fit different needs and times. Songs can be nostalgic, in a happy or sad way. And over the years, my response to songs changes. Songs that I largely ignored when they came out in my teenage years, such as Blur, Oasis and Pulp, now feel really special. I might forget any song for years, then hear just the first few bars on the radio and it all floods back. And I might only enjoy one song by a particular singer. I’m no Robbie Williams fan, but his hit Angels is one of the most exuberant and magical songs I’ve ever heard. Another of my best-loved songs is Simon And Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, maybe the polar opposite of Angels, but no less memorable for all that. I also like carols and hymns: O little town of Bethlehem, It came upon the midnight clear, Amazing Grace, The servant king, Shine Jesus shine.
Then there are songs from the shows, musical theatre, which feel like the very essence of performance and melody, the way they combine with dance and drama. My Favourite Things (Sound Of Music), Somewhere Over The Rainbow (The Wizard of Oz), Can You Feel The Love Tonight (The Lion King), Memory (Cats)…I could go on. Opera and operetta open up another treasure trove, although less familiar. I do like Puccini’s O mio babbino caro.
Maybe you would choose one of these songs, perhaps something totally different. Now with ever more varied and endless playlists wherever you turn, choosing just one song to define you is more challenging than ever.
It’s interesting that you are supposed to choose a song, not a piece of instrumental music. Wherever music is used to boost wellbeing, singing is central. The power of lyrics and voice together with melody enable a song to express even more than instrumental music alone. And it can be easier to relate to a song, to hear your own experience or feeling reflected.
If you are to have a song card with you, you could name other loves, things that matter most – your football team, favourite animal, hobby or favourite colour. I guess the choice of a song card just shows how strong and unique an impact music has, one that might still spark some positive response when even football or crafting are out of reach.
Do you have any thoughts? Or maybe you’d like to share your song? It would be great if you’d like to share – just go to Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you