Tagged

So, I just get here and I'm tagged for songs that have changed or impacted my life. Okay, you may be sorry you asked!!

1) Ramsey Lewis' "Wade in the Water" -
Picture this - a sixteen year old girl, dressed in her best (balloon-skirt dress, patent heels, sweater over her shoulders), sitting in the second row in an auditorium at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) on a first date with a friend. The year is 1965. (Ok, count it out! I dare ya!) The Ramsey Lewis Trio is on stage. The girl is so transported by what she hears she can't keep still. From her seat she can hear that Mr. Lewis' wife, who is singing out her joy backstage, feels much the same way. But this IS 1965 and at IIT, so there's no dancing in the aisles. Her date seems resonate with her and Mrs. Lewis. He has his hands plastered to his legs like he's forcing himself to stay seated. He looks at the girl with the same googly grin and bright eyes that she's mirroring back to him. How could we possibly not simply levitate?

I feel no differently today when I listen to the Lewis recording. It's the theme for my life. It's an old slave hymn, if you aren't familiar. Here are the lyrics:

Wade in the water (children)
Wade in the water
Wade in the water
God's gonna trouble the water

If you don't believe I've been redeemed
God's gonna trouble the water
I want you to follow him on down to Jordan stream
(I said) My God's gonna trouble the water

You know chilly water is dark and cold
(I know my) God's gonna trouble the water
You know it chills my body but not my soul
(I said my) God's gonna trouble the water

(Come on let's) wade in the water
Wade in the water (children)
Wade in the water
God's gonna trouble the water

Now if you should get there before I do
(I know) God's gonna trouble the water
Tell all my friends that I'm comin' too
(I know) God's gonna trouble the water

Sometimes I'm up lord and sometimes I'm down
(You know my) God's gonna trouble the water
Sometimes I'm level to the ground
God's gonna trouble the water

(I Know) God's gonna trouble the water
Wade in the water (children)
Wade out in the water (children)
God's gonna trouble the water

It speaks Freedom. Freedom to be who you are amid the Troubled Waters. I have the original vinyl album. One groove is much deeper than the others. It's one of my few most treasured possessions.

2) "Brighten the Corner Where You Are" - an old hymn, lyrics by Ina B. Ogdon
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/b/r/brighten.htm
This was the only hymn I ever heard my father sing. (He was brought up Swedish Baptist). He'd belt it out every once in a blue moon. I think maybe it was his theme. It says much about who he was. He left its legacy within me.

3) "Fields of Gold" - Sting
Once again, transported the first time I heard it and ever since. In a much quieter way than "Wade in the Water," though. It reaches a peace-filled place inside me, opens it, and radiates it through me.

My son sang it at his senior voice recital. Need I say Mum sniffled and mopped her face the entire time?

Many years have passed since those summer days
Among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down
Among the fields of gold

Youll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
When we walked in the fields of gold

4) "Angel Eyes" - Jim Brickman
No words with this one. Which seems appropo. This number is my daughter to me. Every time I hear it, vignettes of her growing up flash before me. Our relationship is one still unwritten. But that's a good thing. Room for growth.

Oh, all right! I've been reminded I need 5-10 songs, so I'm borrowing one of Michelle's songs.

5) "Sounds of Silence" - Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel
This and the next are hallmarks of my college days. We had to be sooo blinkin' relevant back then, ya know. Flowers in my hair, bare feet, peasant dress...*sigh* But it was good and fun and forged me.

6) "Both Sides Now" - Joni Mitchell
But it was the Judy Collins album that reverberated through my dorm hallway. Over and over and over.
I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's lifes illusions I recall
I really dont know life at all

I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's lifes illusions I recall
I really dont know life at all

7) "Quick" - Eddie From Ohio
This is now. My son got me hooked on these folks. If you don't know them, here's a link: http://www.efohio.com/

Albert Einstein was never good at math
But he found time down a curving path
The faster you go, the slower you grow, the less that you have to fall
The faster you go, the slower you grow, until you weigh nothing at all, nothing at all, nothing at all

I love them. They are quirky, funny, intense and intelligent. And I have to be ready for them...Judy Murphy Wells is incredible...and quick!