And the tears started falling....
Really, Laura, why would Sara Bareilles make one cry? But the answer came swiftly behind the question: music holds too many memories.
Hootie & the Blowfish songs shuttle me right back to the music festival I went to with Chris Thomas. We laughed and had a tremendous day. BareNaked Ladies toss me into a dorm room in Boston, dancing with my friends, smoking too many cigarettes and drinking too much coffee. Musical theatre of any kind makes me a 7 year old, singing next to Dad at the piano. John Legend's "Stay With You" or Three Doors Down's "Here Without You" deposit me into the firm embrace of my wonderful husband.
Sara Bareilles's songs push me into the driver's seat of my Toyota Corolla, as I still hung desperately onto dreams of a singing career; driving to and from voice lessons, coachings, auditions, and gigs. Her "Vegas" was my anthem: I was "gonna quit my job and move to Vegas, see my name on a palace marquee." Silly, silly dreams....
James Taylor's "Shower the People" makes my heart swell and my palms sweat a bit; don't come in too early, Lau! You're singing backup for James Taylor AND Sting, dammit! Don't screw this up!
Amy Winehouse finds me, ironically, in rehab. Or at least in the hospital. How many mornings did I wake up listening to "Back to Black", chin jutting out defiantly, inviting the world to please fuck off?
The final fanfare of Verdi's "Four Sacred Pieces" takes all the air from my lungs, makes my heart race uncontrollably. I see Seiji Ozawa looking up at me, his left hand lifted to me, cueing my solo.
Bill Nighy singing "Christmas Is All Around" seats me at the computer in Paulie's house (now ours) before we were married, navigating the Internet and a brand-new fairy-tale relationship. God bless the pair of them, Paulie and Mr. Nighy.
These days my listening devices all seem to spew Melody Gardot, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Lily Allen. What will they "save" into my brain's fragile hard drive? I sigh, take another sip of coffee, turn another corner, turn another page of another book.
Strike up the band........
