Jim Croce

Back in the early 70s, there was a voice which sang of rejection, regret, and human nature - a voice that was silenced much too early. Jim Croce started out his career by playing old favorites written by such artists as Woody Guthrie. When he discovered his own lyrical voice though, he started to use it and he used it brilliantly. He produced several albums with songs that always featured his unique vocal style with a well developed acoustic guitar sound in the background.

He sang about people falling out of love, people holding on to love with all their will, and perhaps most powerfully of people holding on to their identities in the increasingly complicated world. In other words, he was singing about human nature. The way he put things into words made him a unique voice in an ever changing landscape of music, and that voice still resonates to this day. One of his most well know songs, "I Got A Name", is all about the sense of identity that one man has and strives to hold on to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9hYpM0o7x8.
Many other songs of his should be classics as well, including "These Dreams", a powerful song about heartbreak and regret: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bA1j8quV64&playnext=1&list=PL745D8628B12B0C23. I especially like the line "What came between us? Maybe we were just too young to know...". So great.

And who knows how far he could have made it? His life was cut short in a terrible plane accident, and so he died in his prime the same way Buddy Holly, another musical pioneer, did. He left the world with wise words and wonderful music that will hopefully live on for a very long time.

What really matters?

Ok, so I haven't written a post in a while, and honestly I think the reason for that is that I ran out of steam. No one was reading this anyways, and some of the feelings I have in my head just can't be written out. But I've decided to try.

If you see this, just take a minute to read it and see if any of it resonates with you.

Here's how I feel: music is more than just entertainment. If music is done well (which it scarcely is anymore), music is something that reaches down and touches you deep inside. No, let me broaden that. It's not just music - it's any form of art. If art is done well then you feel you can connect with it. You feel that somehow the music is meaningful to you, whether that be in what the art says or how the art says it. There are so many forms of art that can all have meaning to so many people - music, painting, sculpture, cooking, film... the list goes on. Art can interact with all five of our senses, but it goes beyond that. It touches each person's mind too.

Art can be made to touch many people, as is often the goal with such art forms as film, or it can be designed to only mean something to people who are truly insightful, such as in the visual arts or in music. I have recently discovered the capacity within myself to really comprehend the meaning behind some music and some movies that I hadn't understood before, and that made them that much more beautiful.

Now, you might cast off what I'm saying as overly sentimental or just plain cheesy, but just think about if for a moment - what really matters in your life? What touches you, and what moves you? If you actually think about it, maybe life has a little more meaning to it than meets the eye.