The Soundtrack to our Lives

Recently I've been playing my old LP records, now that I have the turntable working. These old records are like a time capsule of memories, mostly from the 70's, and a bit into the 80's...But it made me think of music itself, how it's a never-ending soundtrack to all of our lives. We all have our own favorite songs, or songs that stick in our heads...but in any event, music permeates all of our lives, whether it's in elevators or commercials on tv.
Even among those who consider themselves 'non-musical' or collect no records or cd's, I would be hard pressed to think that anyone cannot be affected by music. I believe that music is hard-wired in us as human beings. We sing, we dance, we attend performances by professional musicians, for as long as we've been around.
Luckily, I understood early on that you don't have BE a musician to appreciate music. I have always wished that I could play a musical instrument with at least some degree of talent or dexterity, but no....
I took up the trumpet in the 7th grade, and it was a great experience, I learned to read musical notes and the experience of playing music in a school band, but that was it....I could only read the notes and play them, as if taking dictation...I could never 'feel' the notes, I couldn't play the trumpet like Louis Armstrong, or Al Hirt, or Herb Alpert....so I thought at the time, "if I can't play like that, then why try?" Though I did 'try' again in 1988, when I was laid up for a while with a broken leg, I got an acoustic guitar and I thought I could learn to play it, but no...it was the same thing, I could learn the lessons and read the notes, but my ear for music seemed to stop at my wrists, I just couldn't PLAY it....like I wanted to play it....with a feeling and naturalness for the instrument and the music...
That's why I admire musicians who can sing and play their instruments with feeling and abandon....
Today, I look back on the music, especially with those records! And I do remember early on, sitting in my dad's truck when "I Wanna Be Around" by Tony Bennett came on the radio and he would sing along, and he'd get me to sing along....He loved to sing in the car, along with the radio...Whenever I rode in the car with my parents, the radio was on....if it wasn't a Giants game, it was music....
My first record was "The Monkees"...and those songs are still chestnuts. And there's a ton of those chestnuts that will forever be in my soundtrack of life, for example, "Norweigian Wood" by the Beatles, "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd, "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell, "Goin' to California" by Led Zeppelin....ohhh, there's tons of songs...too many to name here....
When I got to be a teenager, I went to my first real Rock Concert in 1975...this was the band Yes...it was an incredible experience and their music is still profound to me, to this day...their music is very complex and orchestrated, which I admire most of all, their musicianship....the more notes the better....I can hear them, but I could never in a million years play like they do.
In the early 90's, I became interested in the early Swing Bands, and Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, and Tony Bennett of course, this was wonderful music, fantastic arrangements and golden voices. I became disinterested in modern music at this time, as though it all seemed boring, or maybe at the time I was experiencing something that I could have equated to....adulthood? .....hmmm, well maybe not...
Nowadays, after listening to many kinds of musics....I have come to appreciate all styles, no matter the genre...I used to be very snobbish toward country music, I thought it was all just a bunch of dumb hick music, but after actually LISTENING to some songs, I have come to appreciate it profoundly....and also I've come to appreciate anyone who can make music...who can write their own songs, and who actually have the guts to sing them, my hat is off to all of them. I sing their praises, ha!