I got a text from somebody at an REO Speedwagon concert.
Brought back memories of singing “I Can’t Fight This Feeling Any Longer.”
My soon to be ex-girlfriend at the time was crying after I performed the song at my brother’s senior show.
Little did I know it was because she couldn’t fight the feeling that it was time to break up with me.
That song reminds me that sometimes the best things in your life come from those heartbreaks.
About a year later, I met Lisa.
I was singing ‘Addicted To Love’ in a cover band, rehearsing in a kitchen and Lisa wasn’t crying.
She was smiling and blushing as I sang “Your throat is tight, you can’t breathe, another kiss, is all you need….”
It wasn’t long before we were holding hands on our first date walking around the U of A.
That song used to depress me, but now when I hear it, I realize that singing that song would be the catalyst for me to go from having my heart broken to having it fulfilled.
God Bless the Broken road was the same thing.
When I first heard the song, it reminded me of Lisa.
The broken roads, failed relationships were all paths leading to her.
When we went through infertility, that song took on new meaning.
Now when I hear it, I think of the broken road we took through infertility to get to our daughter.
Music is funny that way.
One of the highlights of my time in Nashville was meeting Hugh Prestwood.
He wrote the quintessential song about the how experiences throughout our lives shape our perspectives of what a song means to us: “The Song Remembers When”.
Here are the lyrics. I am still transported in time by songs that bring me back to different places and moments I’ve been in in my life.
“The Song Remembers When”
I was standing at the counter
I was waiting for the change
When I heard that old familiar music start
It was like a lighted match
Had been tossed into my soul
It was like a dam had broken in my heart
After taking every detour
Getting lost and losing track
So that even if I wanted
I could not find my way back
After driving out the memory
Of the way things might have been
After I’d forgotten all about us
The song remembers when
We were rolling through the Rockies
We were up above the clouds
When a station out of Jackson played that song
And it seemed to fit the moment
And the moment seemed to freeze
When we turned the music up and sang along
And there was a God in Heaven
And the world made perfect sense
We were young and were in love
And we were easy to convince
We were headed straight for Eden
It was just around the bend
And though I have forgotten all about it
The song remembers when
I guess something must have happened
And we must have said goodbye
And my heart must have been broken
Though I can’t recall just why
The song remembers when
Well, for all the miles between us
And for all the time that’s passed
You would think I haven’t gotten very far
And I hope my hasty heart
Will forgive me just this once
If I stop to wonder how on Earth you are
But that’s just a lot of water
Underneath a bridge I burned
And there’s no use in backtracking
Around corners I have turned
Still I guess some things we bury
Are just bound to rise again
For even if the whole world has forgotten
The song remembers when
Yeah, and even if the whole world has forgotten
The song remembers when