Ok, so the heading is a little misleading; I didn’t actually sleep with Al Green. But, I did fall asleep with him last night and I woke up again with him this morning, and let me tell you there are worse things a girl can do. There is just something about the good reverend’s sound that I find very soothing. I tend to go through phases in terms of music, and at the moment it’s all Al Green. I had been going through a long period of listening near exclusively to a very specific playlist of tracks sung by Gretchen Peters, Heather Nova, Dixie Chicks and Martina McBride, and then, for some completely unknown reason I came up for air only to dive straight into my Al Green archive. Not sure why. I just did. A bit odd, actually, since I haven’t really listened much to him before. I mean really listened. You know what I mean.

I’m a big believer in the healing power of music. Not just composing it (which I sadly haven’t got the talent for), but just randomly listening to music. Having it around you, allowing yourself to be completely lost in it.

I pretty much use music and lyrics as a replacement for traditional psychopharmaca. If I need something to lift my mood, well there’s a song for it, if I need something to help me settle down, there’s a song for that, too. Also, when words fail me I can often find a line from a song that will express exactly what I wanted to say. My youngest sister and I often communicate by sending texts to each other, not with our own words, but with little bits of lyrics, or lines from books we’ve read, and it’s all that’s needed to let the other one know what we’re thinking of, what mood we’re in and so on.

So, yeah, music is a pretty awesome thing, if you ask me.

I wonder if there is such a thing as music therapy (in the same capacity as there is art therapy). There should be.

Love and Happiness,

xx

A tiny bit of trivia: It’s Al Green’s 63^rd birthday tomorrow.

Click “Love and Happiness” and various other hidden links in the text above to hear some great music. (Feel free to ignore the actual videos..)