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Saturday, February 21, 2009

More Music & Synchronicity

The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

iseecolor "Songs with the Best Lyrics"

Lynetta White is so great to have started up the group, "MEMORY LANE: R&B Oldies, 60's-80's Classic, Rare, Smooth & Mellow Music."

"My Greatest Inspiration" by Teddy Pendergrass is playing now on Lynetta's profile. She started a discussion this afternoon that I couldn't resist responding to: "What songs captured your heart because the lyrics were so touching?"

My response:

  • "Street Life" by The Crusaders
  • "I Will Be Here for You (Nitakungodea Milele)" by Al Jarreau
  • "Poetry Man" by Phoebe Snow
  • "Portuguese Love" by Teena Marie
  • "Sarah, Sarah" by Jonathan Butler
  • "Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes)" by Mint Condition
  • "Sensitivity" by Ralph Tresvant.

Growing up, I always said that I didn't care that much about lyrics. Songs just needed to be cheerful with a beat. And it's also true that not all of the songs on this list necessarily would have been included if they hadn't also had such great melodies.

What makes people feel an affinity for one another, akin?

For school earlier today, I was writing about synchronicity and society for an assignment:
I feel in synchronicity with society as a whole when I see or hear a great piece of art that is not of the mainstream, and yet somehow makes it to sufficient prominence that I’m graced with seeing or hearing it.

I feel in synchronicity with society when someone from the margins is allowed to lead....I feel in synchronicity with society when I’m among people in a beautiful, public natural setting, or when I’m exercising among random members of society.

I love these feelings. Feeling in synchronicity is to feel like an insider.

I feel out of synchronicity with society as a whole around the issue of same-sex marriage. I feel that my humanity is not recognized; otherwise, it would be legal worldwide....I feel vulnerable at best and at worst, erased. When I’m not synchronous with society, I feel like an outsider.

And then Lynetta's profile serenades me with The Manhattans' "Shining Star" and I'm an insider again....And then Cameo's "Sparkle" comes on and I'm included among this world's beauty. As I've written here before, music is the balm.

4 comments:

Br. Bernard Delcourt said...

Thanks, Sarah! I love what you had to say about synchronicity in your paper. I empathize with that.
And, not least, I've let you become the YouTube-jockey of my Sunday morning. Yeah!

Sarah Siegel said...

Thanks for relating to my writing, and my music-taste -- or at least, for exposin yourself to my music-taste.

Br. Bernard Delcourt said...

Well! That was fun! Between offices and meals with our guests, I've kept listening to your whole list. I didn't look at the videos but just listened to the tracks. I enjoyed it thoroughly; many songs I had never heard before (growing up in Belgium before our cultures became so globalized). It was great to get a peek into your formative R&B years. Thanks.

Sarah Siegel said...

I'm more aural than visual; I'm always less interested in the accompanying videos because it's never what I imagined when I listened to the songs.

I'd love to be exposed to some of the Belgian pop-tunes you listened to as a teen and pre-teen. I'll Google them if you give me the titles.