Importance of Music

I was 15 years old in 1956 when Elvis Presley’s first #1 record was on the airwaves.  “Heart Break Hotel†had converted all my teenage friends to a new type of music called Rock & Roll.  My mother looked at me one day as I turned the volume up on the radio, smiled as she said; “Tommy Joe, Elvis is just a flash in the panâ€.  That was one of the few times, to my knowledge, she was wrong about anything (maybe some of the times she whipped me were wrong J).  Of course, Elvis later became known as “The King†and had fans all over the world.  There are a lot of wonderful singers in the world today, (Cher, Dion, Barbara?), but I still enjoy listening to Elvis.  Music is such a vital part of my life.  As I write this missive, there is music in the background, sometimes it’s easy listening or gospel, but most of the time its country (very seldom Rock and never Rap).  Yet, I know people that seldom listen, and a few that never listen, to music.  To them quiet is more important.  I think, probably, that quiet should be given more credit than it receives.  If a psychiatrist analyzed those who preferred continual music to no music at all, they would in all likelihood  conclude that music listeners are easily bored and in constant need of some form of energy surrounding them.  I definitely prefer listening to, “You Ain’t Nothin’ But A Hound Dogâ€, to sorting thru the shopworn thoughts that bounce around inside my head.  I think Charles Darwin said it best; “If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once a weekâ€.