Virtueless music that builds #relationships over time. #family

Have you watched the movie South Pacific?  Dave and I hadn’t watched it since childhood but Wednesday night we found the DVD on hand, part of a Rogers and Hammerstein collection. Under the guise of cultural literacy, we watched the film with our kids instead of succumbing to The Amazing Spider-Man yet again.

Dave told us that South Pacific was his mother’s favorite movie. I didn’t know that fact and I didn’t know my mother-in-law, Nancy, very well. She was a quiet, unshowy, and serious woman who died when I was early married, when my first baby was a baby. When South Pacific reached the “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair” scene, one of my sons said, “Really?” As in, “Are you kidding me?” As in, me wondering what’s up with all the scantily clad girls singing about what? I laughed and began to see Nancy through a louder, lighter, and brighter lens.

Listening to Spotify’s Have a Great Day! playlist the next day for my run, the first song to play was The Twist.

I ran a little faster and tried not to laugh, thinking about the endless family memories connected with this song to include my Dad twisting oh so sweet at my sister’s wedding reception and twisting right off the dance floor edge into the endlessly long vertical blinds which came crashing down like the busted light fireworks at the end of The Natural…

And he kept twisting, never missing a beat. That’s right.

So I’ve been thinking about how some songs may not be deep or beautiful in their lyrics but they can connect us. And connection is invaluable to fight isolation and loneliness. Finding ways to connect family members of different eras can be tricky, yet when we tell family stories that include music, there is an extra link.

There is also an extra surprise factor too, because you never know when you’ll hear a song randomly that brings you back.  The last song on my run was, Moves Like Jagger which made me think of the original Jagger and my high school friends. You and I may not be able to share too many of those stories with our kids, but if we bust into a Jagger dance move they will definitely laugh, and who knows, a story for future generations may be in the making.

What songs connect with stories that you share with your loved ones? How far back do these songs go? What songs do you speculate will be handed down to future generations? What are your favorite wedding reception songs?

Hope your weekend sings! ~~~~~~~~ Angie Mc