The Connection Between Music and Books

It is 8:10 in the morning and I'm on my way to work. John Legend's sexy baritone is emanating from my CD player and I realize that my mind has just left me....I'm taken away. His words are like the footsteps of my past. My heart aches as he sings:

Take me away from here
Take me somewhere where love feels like breathing
I don't care where we go
As long as I'm there with you

I realize that my heart is breaking, right there in the Tim Horton's drive through. I realize that music, for me, is like reading. I am escaping....perhaps retreating to my past or wishing for a future that could never be. Akin to reading, where I am connecting to the words on the page, I am drawn to the words in this song. The musician is a story teller, evoking in me both passion and heartache. How does this artist conjure up images of my past, emotions I have hidden away in the depths of my soul, that only his melody can evoke? Smells, sights, sounds....they all come rushing at me when he says:

I could tell she's been through pain I could only dream
Nightmares that live where you live
Tears well in her eyes
But she would not let them fall
I'd give the world to know
Where her smile is

It's magic. Authors and musicians....I envy them. What I wouldn't give to possess such a talent....a gift....the ability to transport someone to their favourite place, to make them feel the memory of their first kiss, their first heartbreak, their first real love. So for now, I continue to listen and read.

Take a listen for yourself: