my dad is a music man. he's not a musician, but he can sing really well - in spite of how i felt about his singing when i was a kid. you know those elementary school projects where you have to fill in the blanks about whatever subject they assign you? my brother recently found one of mine that had been a father's day project. some of the blanks were normal like "i love when my dad: takes us boating." but the very best one was, "i love when my dad sings: in another country!!!" i didn't understand why i wrote that at first, because my dad doesn't go to other countries, but my brother explained that i wrote it because i used to hate when my dad would sing. i was using sarcasm in second grade that now goes over my head, wow.
after i finished laughing at what a ridiculous thing that was for me to write, all the memories of my dad's singing came back to me. i have no idea why i hated it so much, because now i find great joy in his deep bellowing voice.
i remember one particular road trip where he was singing along to boxcar willie and i was whining in the backseat begging him to put on some better music. what's funny about me and boxcar willie is that for a long time i was under the illusion that boxcar willie was synonymous with willie nelson. so for years on end i thought it was the coolest thing that for my parents first date they went to a willie nelson concert. how lucky am i? i had super cool hippie parents who fell in love at sweet concerts of musical legends. "okay nooo chelsea," i was all too recently informed, it was actually boxcar willie, not willie nelson, and there's a difference. changed my whole perception of their first date. i mean what the heck dad, you're lucky you were a stone cold fox because what girl wants to go to a boxcar willie concert, blech.
when my dad listened to country music i also complained, claiming it gave me headaches. my brother always sided with me on this. growing up is funny, because now we both love country music. do we like it because we like it? were we conditioned to like it? do we associate it with happy childhood memories? happy is kind of a generous term for me to pair with whining along to boxcar willie or getting country music headaches in the car. but whenever there's a diner jukebox or a radio playing hank williams jr, elvis presley, waylon jennings, willie nelson or johnny cash - it makes me happy and makes me think of my dad.
that's the funny thing about music. i love the way it takes you back and stirs up emotions and memories. the way that listening to a certain album can make you think of one person or one season of your life. musicians get to play such a lucky role in people's lives. so many of our most intimate memories are synchronized to a soundtrack of complete stranger's voices and we don't even think twice about that. then when the people we love the most chime in with their own voices, the songs become all the more special to us. and whether we'd choose to listen to those artists or not, we cherish the melodies because of the memories, and the people in them.
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