The 5 meaningful songs

I was given a very interesting and also quite a fascinating challenge. I should make a list of songs that are and have been meaningful to me in my life somehow. The challenge has a true difficulty in it because there are dozens and even hundreds of songs that are and have been somehow meaningful in all these years. But I’m definitely going to give the challenge a try.

But before I get started I want to say the songs are not in the order of importance in the way that the first song mentioned would be somehow better than the ones listed after it. And the song mentioned last isn’t the least meaningful. It’s just a list and all the songs are meaningful for a particular reason.

Now when all the five songs have been listed and I’ve justified why I listed just them I have to say that it was wonderful to do it! Why did I come to write these words in this part of the entry? Well, if I had written them to the end it might have seemed a part of the description of the last song. I got a lot of memories back – both good and also bad. But I enjoyed writing every word down in the list. It was really nice to build up this entry.

Garth Brooks – The Night I Called The Old Man Out

On the second of April 2005 I found country music. Naturally I knew before the date there was such a music genre but I wasn’t familiar with it. Country music isn’t popular or even well known in Finland. Of course, people may know Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson but that’s about it.

I have a very good and close friend living in the US who once happened to ask if I knew any country music – he did it in another context. I said I knew Johnny Cash and John Denver but that was about it. He isn’t a fan of country music but he was shocked for my answer, so he sent me a link of this song by Garth. It happened while we were voice chatting on Skype – I can still even remember the exact time of the day when it was.

When the song started playing, I first listened to it as a song and focused on the melody, lyrics, and the rhythm. I always do so when listening to music because I play the piano and I’ve gotten an ear of music. Then I realized Garth’s accent sounded different from what I was used to. I pointed it out to my friend who said, “It’s the way they speak in the southern US.”

Because the song was good I started looking for more song by Garth. And the more I looked the more fascinated I got. I started looking for more country singers and in that way I simply fell in love with the genre. And in all these nine years, I’ve also become fascinated by the southern culture and the lifestyle they lead. I have a dream that next April when I have The Tenth Country Music Anniversary I’ll travel to the US – somewhere to the south, needless to say!

Richard Clayderman – Ballade Pour Adeline

On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfsgXJQ0ebU
I was 16 when I was once spending a weekend at my father’s place. I went to the attic to look for some old LPs and I found a LP called Ballade Pour Adeline by Richard Clayderman. I liked piano music and – as I must confess – he looked really handsome in the photo, so I went to my father and asked him to tell me about the LP. He said he had bought it in the 80’s and learned to play the song. Then he came to the attic with me and found a notebook – it belonged to the LP.

I was able to read notes, so I went to his piano and started trying to play the song. I wanted to try to play it before actually listening to it. It sounded beautiful and romantic, so I went to the LP player and listened to the song. It was really beautiful and romantic! The more I found his music the more fascinated I got. And at last, it inspired me to start learning to play the piano properly, so I started taking classes. And ever since, I’ve liked piano music even more.

Michael Jackson – Billie Jean

It was an evening in August when I was at the summer cottage with my father, brother, and little sisters. I was 12 years old. We had been listening to some old LPs and then my father came up with Thriller by Michael Jackson. He played us Billie Jean – the song that introduced Michael Jackson’s music to me properly.

He’s one of the best musicians I know. Michael Jackson had a concert in Helsinki in fall 1997. It’s too bad I didn’t go there. I’ve regretted it several times afterwards. And now it’s too late. Fortunately, his music will never die. I’ll always enjoy it a lot.

Lasse Mårtenson – Myrskyluodon Maija

(Maija From The Stormy Small Rocky Island)

On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd_3NbOVCGE

As a piano player, I love this song! When it comes to music, it’s been very well composed. The style of rhythm changes in the middle and then it changes back. I’m proud to say that I can play it by the piano. And I often do.

There’s a TV series where the music is played as a theme, titled as Myrskyluodon Maija. In it, a young couple moves to a stormy small rocky island out on the open sea in the archipelago in the Southwest of Finland. They have a family and they live in quite severe conditions. But they are happy. Years pass and they go through several difficulties caused by nature and other things. But nothing puts them down because they are happy together and they have each other.

I feel the plot is close to my life philosophy. It doesn’t have to be fine and luxury to make you happy. It’s all up to your attitude. And it’s definitely not the material that would make you happy.

I’ve once visited an island called Utö which is an island out on the open sea in the archipelago in the Southwest of Finland. It was a day trip and I spent just a few hours on the island. But it was definitely one of the most stunning and powerful experiences I’ve ever had in my life. The atmosphere there surrounded by all the sea and with nothing in the horizon simply had a strong and deep effect on me.

Chris LeDoux – Cowboy Up

In the past 12 months, there’s been quite a bit of rough things happening to me which have nearly beaten me up. When I first heard this song I didn’t know what “to cowboy up” meant. But when I learned what it meant I realized that’s what I should do too with my life and all the issues.

The saying became a metaphor to me. In that song, Chris is singing, “I was a new kid on the circuit gold buckles in my eyes. But the horse I drew was plenty rank much to my surprise. I did a double back flip and landed on my head. This old cowboy limped out in the arena, leaned over me and said you’ve got to cowboy up when you get thrown down. Get right back in the saddle as soon as you hit the ground. You heard that the tough get going when the going gets tough. Around here what we say is boy you better cowboy up!”

With the issues, it was like I’d gotten a rank horse to ride. Finally I was thrown from the saddle when things started tumbling down. I landed on my head and it hurt like hell. It was about to defeat me. But then I found strength when I realized I should respect myself enough to pull myself together. So, I realized I should keep going, no matter how tough it was.

I’ve been thinking that if Chris was still alive – he passed away on cancer in 2005 – I would send out a fan letter to him telling what his music has done to me. I’ve loved country music for nine years. But ever since I found Chris in December last year I’ve loved it even more. I call Garth my ‘Country Music First Love’ but I really think Chris’ music partly came to my rescue. In addition to this song, he has a whole bunch of songs with extremely effective and well-written lyrics.