Thursday, October 2, 2014

Musical Kinship

I stumbled across this blog post from Sinead O'Connor.  I don't always read her blog, but when I do, it's always quite interesting. She has a fluid, free form style that reminds me somewhat of Virginia Wolfe. In this post, she was talking about hearing a Kate Bush song for the first time and how akin that was to a religious experience. The song floored her and she couldn't stop listening to it.

There is something truly beautiful when an artist that you love writes about how much they love another artist you love. It's this strong feeling of kinship that binds you together (in a nonstalker kind of way) through the art. This person influences this other person. Both of them influence you. Ahh, glorious.

O'Connor talked about how she was having a really shitty weekend and how the Kate Bush sound could have made all the difference for her. I know the truth of this. I love how certain pieces of music can just really shut out the rest of the world and make everything better. There are songs that can reach inside you and heal you. You can be healed from hurts you didn't even know existed until they were no longer harming you.

It's also amazing how you can know an artist for years and not really pay attention to certain songs, then suddenly one day, you hear that song and it becomes a part of your DNA. There are songs that structure me. They are the foundation of who I am and tell the history of where I've walked. When you find out that certain songs touch other people in that way, the song takes on new layers, as their experience adds to what you consider when you think of the song.

I'm happy she found that Kate Bush song. She wants to cover it and I hope she does. I want to hear that and feel her passion as she sings it. I'm grateful she wrote that post.

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