Music of My Life

Simon and Garfunkel
-Greatest Hits
-Wednesday Morning 3am
-Scarborough Fair
-Sounds of Silence
-The Concert in Central Park
-Parsely, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
-Bridge Over Troubled Water
I first heard Simon and Garfunkel at Rose Records in 8th grade. Mrs.Robinson was playing. I had my own Money. Their Greatest Hits was my first Album ever. At one time I had every single song memorized. Their poetry is mesmerizing. Ironically, since not long after that purchase and from then on, Mrs.Robinson has been my least favorite of all thier songs. For a couple years I collected all their albums and none else.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – Deja vu
When, after months and years of continual Simon and Garfunkel, I became aware of other magical harmony in the world, I bought Deja vu. It doesn’t hold the same magic for me but I am completely transported when it plays.
Red Grammer
– Teaching Peace
-Soul Man in a Techno World
Red Grammer started out as a children’s musician. I found him at 19 and quickly memorized all of Teaching Peace. 9 years later when I got married and now had a child of my own, we bought everything else we could find of his. Soul Man in a Techno World was one of his first adult cd’s. I listened to it a few times before it’s powers transformed me.
Michael Hedges – Aerial Boundaries
This is the second Michael Hedges cd I owned. The first, Taproot, saved my sanity when I was working for a door to door, business to business, walk the pavement “opportunity” situation that found me “working” insanely long hours Monday thru Friday. On the weekends I could be found many an hour sitting quietly on my couch, staring at earings and necklaces I’d put up decoratively on the opposite wall in a burst of creativity. Too tired to cook or clean, too mentally and emotionally zapped to think, I listened, over and over. A few years later I bought Aerial Boundaries. From the first note I flew, seeming to be made aware of a beautiful future full of love and light. More years passed. I believe I’m living that gorgeous future now.
Arrested Development – 3 Years 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of….
Pure genius musically and lyrically. Ideas that must be explored, considered, meditated on. This one I memorized at 2o while saving $ for my 2nd semester of college. I still hadn’t figured out that adult society was confused so I was still making an effort to do things “right.” This album gave me permission to continue asking questions, seeking truth for myself.
Sweet Honey in the Rock – All For Freedom
I heard this when I picked it up from the library. I was 4-6 weeks pregnant with our first child. We lived in a boarding house of sro’s with a shared kitchenette on the second floor. There I sat on the floor, eating who knows what that actually appealed to me, feet under a board stretched accross crates that was our table. I cried and cried so enchanting and sweet was their sound, so powerful and necessary their message. Our landlord happened to have a copy and made me a tape.
Carlos Nakai – Earth Spirit
This is all I wanted to listen to in labor with our first child. I don’t remember how this cd came to me. I remember only the hours of peace as I listened to it.
George Winston – Winter into Spring
I listened to a lot of George Winston the fall, winter and spring before I got married. My favorite spot was sitting up in my bed with pen and paper, usually writing a 20+ page letter to some lucky soul, pausing often to stare longingly out the attic window, grateful to be at such a momentous stage in life, grieving the child I was (now healing from deep wounds), celebrating in my heart the wonders sure to come when one becomes two.