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Monday, May 3, 2010

"Perfect Day"

As a three-year-old, our daughter watched the same Peter Rabbit videos every weekend when she was home from day care, before her nap, while resting on a sheepskin rug my sister sent years ago from Australia. The stories were as naive as they have always been, a silly goose who trusts a fox to watch her eggs, a disobedient rabbit who escapes from a farmer’s garden.

The graphics were simple, yet unlike many of the videos and books that our girl demanded to “Do again! Do again!” these videos never bored me. Rather than gnashing my teeth after the thousandth viewing, I sat mesmerized, addicted to the haunting, ethereal introductory music which stroked like light fingers on cool skin. Each time we watched one, I waited impatiently for the closing credits, which included the same song. No one was allowed to speak while it was playing.

Like all things toddler, we grew out of this video habit. We put the tapes aside and forgot about them until last fall when I was cleaning out cupboards and discovered one tucked in back. Waving it above my head, I literally jumped up and down before turning to face my wide-eyed husband. “Remember how much I loved the song from this? Thank goodness we still have a VCR. I can hear it one more time.” Popping it in, the music began and I froze, head cocked, inhaling the sound of the piano, the flute, the crystal-voiced performer. Sitting as still as I could, I let the music bleed through me. When it was done, I moaned to my husband. “I hate to get rid of this. This song is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.”

The good news is that one person in our house had his brain turned on that day. “Find the name of the artist in the credits and see if you can download the song from ITunes,” my husband suggested.

Oh how I love that man.

The artist is Miriam Stockley, the Song is “Perfect Day” and when it came on my play list as we ate dinner Saturday night, I paused, as I always do, while the lyrics and voice seeped like a slow brook way down to my center, to puddle at the heart of all I love, at the core of my softening soul.

Words and music and art--sometimes they tickle like a hot breath at the back of your neck or cause you to shiver like a kiss on the ear.

But we are luckiest when they are arranged in an ultimate combination, the one that seems to speak to us alone, the one that stops us cold.

Do you have a song, a poem, a picture that touches you this way? If so, care to share?

14 comments:

glnroz said...

i reeeaaallllyyy like muscis,but seldom does The Boss catch me "jumping and twisting" with excitement. Maybe i should be more attentative.. :)

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

What a beautiful song, made all the more special for the memories you've attached to it. I feel the same way about a song from the Piglet movie.

You know I was just thinking that your lovely writing style reminds me of Elizabeth Berg. I just love her. Have you read her? It's a little different, of course, but your writing has the same sort of lyrical softness to it as hers. Very enjoyable.

Robin said...

I agree with Carol. I really love you string words together. That was a really lovely story and I am so happy that you found a way to enjoy the song as often as you like.

Andria said...

Wow.

I've found a new favorite artist. Thank you so much for sharing this song with me. Oh, and everyone else here, too, I guess, but really I wish I could just take this song and hide it in a box so only I could listen to it. I'm being a little selfish, I know.

Eric Satie's pieces all do the same kind of thing for me. I'm not sure why, but I get so emotional when I hear them.

Tabitha Bird said...

Yep, sure do. It was the sound track to a very old TV show called grizzly Adams. I think the song was called home.

rae said...

OH MY GOSH! I got a whole series of flashbacks when I heard this. I 500% agree with this post-- the videos were amazing. I forgot they existed until I read this post.

Unknown said...

What a lovely post! "There Goes My Life" is the first track on a Kenny Chesney CD that has become the soundtrack of our family life. Hubby and I with our two kids listen to that every time we grill out on hot summer nights, and it puts us all in a happy, nostalgic trance -- peppered with our regular bouts of hilarity. Good times!

Thanks for following my blog!

Helen Ginger said...

Makes you wonder why music speaks so clearly to our inner souls, doesn't it? I love music in general.

Helen
Straight From Hel

Robin said...

I left you an award on my blog. Lucky you!

Jon Paul said...

Very special tune. And a great post too!

The one that always chokes me up is U2's Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own.

Jody Hedlund said...

Love how you describe special words or music! ". . .sometimes they tickle like a hot breath at the back of your neck or cause you to shiver like a kiss on the ear."
I love to be stirred by the lyrics of songs as well as the music. It stirs the passion inside of me as I'm writing.

Live.Love.Eat said...

I love how you described that feeling too. This was really nice. I am going to have check this song out later from home. I have a few songs right now that do that to me, put me in a zone, when I play them. One is Van Morrison's Whenever God Shines His Light on Me.

Anonymous said...

Oh, goodness. Too many songs/musical pieces to count, across too many genres. Let's see...

Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits
Rachmaninov's 3rd Piano Concerto
Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, orchestral transcription by Stokowski
April Rain, Delain
Lose Yourself, Eminem
Head Rolls Off, Frightened Rabbit
Schubert's Piano Sonata in B-flat Major

Oh, the list goes on. Music is... utterly essential.

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