Changed For The Better

Wicked - Kristin Chenowith and Idina Menzel - For Good

My friends have been on my mind a lot lately.  I sense change is on the horizon - losses of many kinds.  The thing about friends is that each one is a wave in our ocean, coming and going with the tide.  Some are steady and strong, some wash away leaving debris in their wake.  Some crash and are gone. 

Being an island really isn't the answer to avoiding hurt.  Like with anything, joy and sadness are the yin and yang of any relationship.  Right now it's difficult to find the joys, but sooner or later my yellow brick road will lead me there.

"And now whatever way our stories end, I know you have rewritten mine by being my friend.  Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes the sun; like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood.  Who can say if I've been changed for the better?  I do believe I have been changed for the better... because I knew you, I have been changed for good..."

Almost Hear You Sigh

This song, with it's blend of classical guitar touched with a drop of contemporary to give it a modern feel, takes me back all these years later to a dusty, smoky room with faded wood lining the walls, a dimly lit bar with sad men lined around it, perched on their stools and begging for mercy from their half-empty glasses.  There was always one, Ed, who sunk his quarters in night after night, playing this melodic Stones tune, singing out loud to a heartbreak that you'd swear was on the chair next to him, with the way he stared vacantly at it.  I don't think she was ever too far away, certainly not far enough away to ease his haunting. 

Ed and I had a bit of a kinship for a bit.  Two lonely souls who leaned on each other from time to time.  Next time you have another shot of been-done-wrong, think of old Ed and raise a glass to all of those who've come down the line on that same train.

Empowerment

I am not a morning person by any means, but on a rare occasion as I'm struggling to wake, I get a song lodged in my head that starts with a slow beat and builds throughout the day until I feel the blast that pushes me into the stratosphere of energy that gives me the boost I need to make it through. 

What is your empowerment song?

Christina Aguilera - Fighter  (mobile users, click here)

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Reba McEntire - Turn On The Radio  (mobile users, click here)
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Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger (mobile users, click here)

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Janet Jackson - This Time  (mobile users, click here)
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Nikka Costa - Everybody Got Their Something  (mobile users, click here)
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Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive  (mobile users, click here)
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Just A Touch Of Love  (mobile users, click here)

A Bluegrass State Of Mind

Bela Fleck - The Ballad Of Jed Clampett  (mobile users - click here)

I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow  (mobile users, click here)

Steve Martin feat. Bela Fleck - The Crow  (mobile users, click here)

The Cotton-Eyed Joe  (mobile users, click here)