Words

I have always been a lover of words.

I was doing some quilting work earlier today and I asked “Alexa” to play some of my favorite music while I was at it. Each song on my favorites list is a song with lyrics, the words, that I love. I can’t help but sing along.

I remember when I was young, in college, when I would put a vinyl record on and lay on my dorm bed with the album cover in my hands, reading the lyrics, and I would get lost in the words, the stories told. My favorite singers were always storytellers. John Denver, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Dan Fogelburg, the Eagles, Neil Young, CSN, Pure Praire League, and more. They were musicians who wrote lyrics that had meaning. Lyrics I could hear. I was amazed at their abilities with words.

Back then I was not around people who played country music. I lived up north, and it was a time when radio stations were very segmented. Rock, pop, talk, easy listening, etc. But, I remember one time when I was driving in my car alone on a long trip. I was going to college in Ohio heading back home to Maryland. I flipped around various stations along the way because they would go in and out as I traveled. At one point I stopped on a country music station and listened. I liked it! It helped the driving time pass easily while I was listening to the stories told in the songs.

Some of my first country artists that I got into were Vince Gill, Reba, and Crystal Gayle. About that time CD’s came around and I bought their music, and then the first “Greatest Hits” of Tim McGraw. I was hooked. “Three chords and a lyric” is what makes it great!!

Nashville is the home of country music writers. It’s a place unique to a specialty of writing for country music singers, for the performers. Some overlap but some make a living as a song writer.

The lyrics are sometimes catchy, often deep, and occasionally funny. They are the ‘purpose of the song’ which I feel like in other music genres can sometimes be an afterthought. Just not as important as the music.

I also love words via books! Of course! I have been reading, and have been in Book Clubs, throughout my adulthood and I have come to really appreciate authors who have the gift of telling a story, of documenting history, of giving a perspective, with their special ability of the written word. They can keep the reader involved or entertained – and what a gift they have!

I have learned to love some poetry for the same reason. I was deeply moved by Amanda Gorman’s poem at Pres. Obama’s Inauguration. On Facebook now I follow her and other poets (and writers) and I appreciate how they say what we need to hear.

As we are going through such a horrible time now in our country words and lyrics are finding a real place of importance again, from protest signs to speeches, to song lyrics and poems. Some people have the ability to express themselves eloquently, and beautifully, and during times of strife the use of words is a way to protest peacefully.

Words can be artistic. Words can be emotional. Words can connect.

Words bring people together. When I attend country music concerts I feel like family with the others there. We came for the music but we came for the words too. We leave when it’s over with a mutual understanding.

Words can do that.