Since You're Gone

[baldoldog]

Just found this quote from Mr. Ocasek that says it far better than I ever could--
“To me, music’s a powerful emotional force,” he told Rolling Stone in 1980. “It can make people cry, feel happy or feel sexual. But more important than all of that, it’s a way to communicate without alienating people, a way to get beyond loneliness. It’s a private

Comments

[acelightning]

Yes, that's what music is for. When I was 13 years old, and I turned on the radio and heard Chubby Checker singing, "C'mon, baby, let's do the twist" (which was the only dance I could do at the time), I knew that kids my age all over the USA were doing the Twist, and it was something different from our parents' generation's big-swing-band music. When we marched in the streets and ended the Vietnam War, we sang "Waist Deep In The Big Muddy" and "Give Peace A Chance" and "The Times They Are A-Changing", and the times did change, largely because of our music. I didn't create any music; I just helped people hear it: "And now here's a new song about the capital of country music - 'Nashville Cats'!"

[baldoldog]

The instant sense of community music creates is wired so deeply into our DNA that I now believe it was our original language. My favorite example of the generational moment is any time I started talking to anyone my age who played guitar, we all had that shared moment on February 9th, 1964 when we saw The Beatles, turned around and told our horrified parents "That is exactly what I want to do with my life."