If You Were to Wake Up

Last week I went to the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado.  It is an amazing venue built into the slabs of rock that form the foothills of the Rocky Mountains as they slide onto the plains of the eastern part of the state stretching to the Great Plains.  I took my son and daughter-in-law to see Lyle Lovett.  We have appreciated this musician’s talent for decades.  Coincidentally the last time we saw him together was in Aspen.  The world shut down after that performance as the pandemic arrived.  He and his “Large Band” were on stage with the Denver Symphony Orchestra.  It was an epic concert as the musicians left the stage at 11:30pm having first walked on at 7:30pm.

 He is an incredible musician and song writer.  It is the incredible talent he surrounds himself with that make his concerts remarkable.  They are in their own right amazing musicians.  Throughout the concert they are given the opportunity to demonstrate their individual talents.  However, like so many things it is the collaborative effort that produces amazing results.  This concert was exactly that --- Amazing!

 Music is an emotional experience for me.  I am familiar with most of his work but it is the emotional response created by each song that resonates so deeply.  As these songs are played the wave of nostalgia flows over me as I remember her, them, him and the circumstances that attaches them to me and to the song.  Sometimes it is the words but most often it is the resonance of the music.  That melody which touches the memory of that moment when our hearts were one.  It is the vibration of the music that recalls the moment when the family was together or the experience mutually shared.  Music is your personal history of happiness and sadness.  The euphoria of the time or the melancholy of the conclusion.

 The notes are the same yet for each of us the music is so individual.  I hear the music in a different way than you do because my experience associated is unique.  Music provides a foundation for our memory to rest.  It is an assist in helping us recollect those times that we wish to recall and have the desire to live again.  Perhaps music is there for us to keep our hearts full and to remind us of lessons learned. 

 This concert as the others before and yet to come will remind me of the importance of music in our lives.  If we allow the music to touch us then we will always remember.  Those people and experiences will not be forgotten and can be held in our hearts.  Music is timeless and helps us remember the time….

Time reaches to you just like a willow

That bends to the water and clings to the shore

And there was a time dear, that once you did love me

And there was a time you loved me no more…

“If You Were to Wake Up” ----- Written by Lyle Lovett