"Strangely, although music is something to listen to, I think music listens back because there's no judgments. A kid can find something he identifies with. Or an adult. Here's a place you can go to where [there are no] judgments. [There is not] someone telling you what to believe in."
-Marilyn Manson
Does music listen to you?
I don't know what to think of this quote, by a man, that, admittedly, whos music is unknown to me. But something about this quote is so meaningful to me that I can't deny it holds some truth.
Whenever I am down, I can go into my iTunes and find a song that will either uplift me or will be perfect for whatever mood I am; sad, lonely, loved, in-love, happy. Whatever. I can find something that knows.
Or at least fits.
It's odd how music can do this. How I can find a set of words, lyrics, that describe exactly how I feel at the moment in time.
How I can hear music, drum beats, guitar rifts, bass chords, piano compositions, and it just feels right. Feels right for how I feel. How I am. Whatever. And not only do I see these as fitting me "alone", but also I take it all as one, and it still fits. Lyric with sound, sound with lyrics, and it still fits.
Also, music, in many ways identifies who we are. We grow up with some types, myself "oldies", or grunge, or even rap... and it symbolizes our growing up. It makes us remember specific events of our childhood based on hearing a song. Music can recall memory, and sometimes, I guess, memory can recall a certain song. A certain feeling.
Then we grow, and we pick and choose what music means to us based on who we are.
Punk, rap, rock, country, classical, soundtrack compositions, techno, R&B; all these sounds, and all the people listening to the same songs, that millions, or no one, listens to and we still find a way to make it ours.
We grow up and music is ours. We find a popular song, a popular sound, and it probably means something different to me than it would to anyone else. Than the songwriter, than my best friends, to strangers.
Everyone.
Someone else's music is always mine alone. Meaning. Sound. We all hear it differently. It makes us, our music defines us.
It's an old friend to cry to.
It's a new friend to meet.
It's who we are. When we are alone. With friends. In the center of a crowd, our music may sometimes know us best.
It never judges. It's a friend that has so much to say, but who always listens.
