This is part of a series of blog posts written to share songs, bands and musical experiences that have shaped me as a musician and artist.

When I was in elementary school, I was a regular at our public library, namely, that A/V Department.  It helped that my mom, for a time, worked there in the Children’s Books department and that it was across the street from our church and a block from the Jr. High School.  My sister and I still boast of the unmatched movie selection our library had.

I remember one day walking in and hearing a song playing in the A/V Department.  It was a song that was unlike anything I had heard and I quickly realized what I was hearing.  It was a song I had heard when a girl used it for a baton twirling routine in our school’s talent show  and I had been captivated by it.  Like I’ve said before, in our pre-internet life, if there was a song you heard and wanted to hear it again, you had to rely on fate to bring the two of you back together – or find out what the song was and cough up $12 for a cassette or $15 for a CD from Record Town. (really, why did CDs cost MORE when they cost less to produce!)

So I walk into the room and fate had stepped in.  I didn’t wait two seconds before asking the library worker what was playing and he pointed me to the CD case sitting on the display under the “Now Playing” sign.

The song was Orinoco Flow by Enya.

Wow.  It was such a magical song to me – unlike anything I had ever heard.  Otherworldly.  Sounds I had never heard.  After that I had to explore everything the library had of Enya.  Enya has come in and out of pop culture, most recently involved with the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  You can still, time to time, catch Oronico Flow.  Here it is for your enjoyment.

This is part of a series of blog posts written to share songs, bands and musical experiences that have shaped me as a musician and artist.

Ok, so we’re still in the 80s here, but barely. The group: Tears for Fears. The song: Seeds of Love. Still one of my all-time favorite songs. I can listen to it again right now with the same interest. Seeds of Love was my introduction to Tears to Fears and one of the earliest music videos I remember watching on MTV. A few years after that, the album Elemental came out which continued to captivate me (though I had to listen to my brother’s CD). Once again, in college, when mp3s were readily available through Napster and other file-sharing methods, I got my hands on some of the Tears for Fears hits: Woman in Chains, Shout, Everybody Wants to Rule the World – no longer having to check out CDs from the library or catch them on the radio. Tears for Fears was also the first I started taking notice of multi-layered sequenced music. Layers upon layers of synthesized sounds, keyboards, soundscapes, effects – all woven together into masterpieces (and best explored with a good pair of headphones). It’s also the extensive song format that makes this song epic.  It doesn’t follow the American Idol hit formula (Verse 1, Verse 2 add Drums, Chorus, Bridge, Key Change, quiet verse 3, big chorus at end) It’s possible this opened the door to my exploration of what our local library termed “New Age” music (the style, not the religion). More on that later…

I have easily listened to this song hundreds of times. The song is epic in length and depth. I hear some Beatles influence in the song (although, what song doesn’t in some way!) Have a listen. Perhaps it will bring you back to a fond memory in your own life!  What time in YOUR life does this song bring you back to?  Leave a comment

This is part of a series of blog posts written to share songs, bands and musical experiences that have shaped me as a musician and artist.

When this idea came to me, the first song I thought of, one I thought of right away, was a song I came across in an 80’s movie that I hope you’ve seen: Farris Bueler’s Day Off. Now, you may be trying to guess what song it was from that classic that got stuck in my ears. No, it wasn’t “Oh Yeah”.

Remember the scene at the Chicago Art Museum?

Back in the 80s, life was different than now. If you wanted to hear a song, you had to own a recording of it or know what radio stations played it and listen long enough to catch it. Or if it was on a movie, you had to rent the video (or as was our case, check it out from the library). There was no YouTube universe.  It wasn’t until college that I had the means to acquire a recording of the song.

As a college student in the late 90s, I was privy to a new technology called the Internet and peer to peer file sharing. It was an amazing and mind blowing discovery when I learned how to search the bottomless pit of cyberspace for mp3s of any song I could think of! This is when I went searching.

This was before well before YouTube and Wikipedia were born. I had to look up Farris Bueler’s soundtrack listing, find out the title to the song (which had no lyrics to search) and then put my Napster skills to use. Jackpot. I found it. “Please, please, please, let me get what I want” by Dream Academy…which was an instrumental cover of a song by The Smiths.  I searched for it and found it.  I downloaded it. Loaded up my media player (no iTunes yet) And I listened over and over and over again to my heart’s content.

So, to kick off my first post, enjoy a song that stuck in my ears and took root in my heart. I don’t know what it is about the song… perhaps it had to do with the time in my life, the way it was presented in the movie, or some other subconscious factor. What ever it is, it’s still nostalgic and makes me smile when I listen to it.  It’s the kind of song you just wish was longer.

Have a listen.  Maybe it’s nostalgic for you, too.  I’d love to hear your comments!

Here is the original by The Smiths

On my YouTube Channel and Facebook Page there are places to list your “influences” as a musician. I’ve always passed right over those because I never felt that I had time to sit down and think through all the musical influences that have, over the years, shaped me as an artist. There are some recent groups that I listen to who I could list, but it wouldn’t be fair to many other bands and artists who have taken root in my life over the years.

Rather than make a boring list, I have decided to create a series of blog posts to share songs and bands and musical experiences that have impacted me through my life. I’m not sure how long this series will last. The more I think, the more songs I remember.

The series will include both individual songs that I have listened to hundreds of times and music groups that I have become a fan of – gravitating to every piece of art they produce.  My musical journey has taken me far and wide through many eras and diverse styles.

When possible, I will share the songs themselves (as long as they are available on YouTube!) I look forward to this exercise as a chance to look back and an opportunity to give my readers and listeners some insight to how I’ve been shaped as a musician and artist!

Watch for the first post in the series early next week!

-Ben

(Heart artwork - Original Painting by Phil Fung)