Wednesday, March 25, 2009

A MOTHER'S MUSIC

Daily, music moved the house. And not so softly either.

Morning to wake. Evening to clean. Night to play. Music for the everyday. Music for occasions. But always silent during family dinnertime.

The Chieftains. Edgar Winter. The Eagles. Lorena Mckennitt. Hootie and the Blowfish. Public Radio baroque. Sting. Michael Jackson. Vivaldi. The Power of One soundtrack. Howard Jones. Basia. Huey Lewis and the News.

The notes of my childhood.

We groaned when she piped Public Radio orchestral through intercom to wake us on Sundays. We rolled our eyes as she cleaned to the beats of the Celtic bodhran. We made fun of the Eagles, saying they were country.

We wished we could moonwalk on the kitchen counter like she could when we danced to Michael Jackson.
(And denies she ever did.)

We were annoyed by Vivaldi. We thought The Power of One was weird. We went along on errands and sang to Basia. We were with a babysitter when she went to the Huey Lewis and the News concert and danced in the aisles.

•••

Now: I listen to Public Radio. I meddle in Photoshop with the music of my heritage on repeat in the background. I know the Eagles aren't country.

I can't moonwalk, but I do know the steps from MJ's "Beat It" video.

I have Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" in my car. I married a man who who sings along to The Power of One soundtrack (and thinks he introduced it to me). I can hum along to the elevator music when it's Basia.

I scroll to Huey Lewis and the News on my iPod and twirl while I clean the kitchen.

It's hip to be square.

11 comments:

Sue said...

Eagles concert on May 9th! Yea baby!! More dancing in the aisles.

(I NEVER Moonwalked on the counter, BTW.)

Luv ya, meg..

Julie said...

My mom cleaned to the Carpenter's forever giving me a sense of melancholy every time I pick up a bottle of Pinesol.

Shelby Lou said...

we cleaned to the likes of shania twain and garth brooks every saturday morning in my house. Then we got older 94.1 MIX radio station came on, and I had to jump into the reality that not everyone listened to country music like me... that was in the 6th grade.

[Morgan] said...

sounds like our mothers have very similar taste in music.
but, throw in a little billy joel (my mom his the biggest fan he has. surely) toto and some oingo boingo from my dad.

oh and yep, i still clean to billy joel. the lyrics to nearly every song are burned into my brain from my childhood.

Mal Robin said...

No one knows cleaning till they have done it to Celtic music. That is a Sue original. Love you Mom

rabidrunner said...

Last Halloween I got out the ol' Thriller video and wanted the kids to learn the steps to it. They were HORRIFIED. They think I'm satan now.

Megan and Keli'i said...

I totally relate to this one. Yep, my mom always had music playing, and now I do too. Hope my kids appreciate music as much as I do. Life without music would suck.

Megan and Keli'i said...

Oh yeah, and I love The Power of One. I just made Keli'i watch the movie for the first time, and yep, it was as good as I remember. Great soundtrack. Last of the Mohicans and Braveheart are bomb too.

Holly Anderson said...

Does this mean my offspring will change sheets to Bone Thugs and ride to piano lessons getting an education in Big Pun? YIKES! Probably should have been more selective in my choice of music had I known this.

And Sue, you rock. All I got was Air Supply and Hall and Oats...oh, and Lionel Richie when my mom was feeling sexy.

whitneyingram said...

I am sitting at my computer listening to MJ as I blog and "Black and White" came on. It was at the beginning with the kid who is sassing his dad and I was reminded of our mother. Remember when she used to say, "Now girls, he is being really bad. Don't ever talk to your parents like that." Sometimes she would even fast forward through that part.

Oh mother.

Sue said...

hey, you do what you can...