Behind the Music

Between the ages of 8 and 18, I took lessons in piano, flute, guitar, cello, violin, and singing (in that order, each for one or two years). I tried to be a music major for one semester in college, but quickly realized I wasn't advanced enough in any one area to take on that challenge. Though I still love music more than almost anything else, for some reason I currently lack the motivation to get serious about making it myself. However, something that's never lost my interest is the adventure of discovering new songs and learning the stories behind them.

Whenever I fall in love with new music, I'm never content with just listening and enjoying. I want to know what inspired it, who produced it, where it landed on the charts, etc. As a teenager, since there was no Google and Wikipedia for finding such stuff, I would go to the library and check out every biography I could get my hands on. Back then, I only listened to music from the sixties and seventies, so to this day my noggin holds a ridiculous amount of random facts about everything from John Lennon's marriage with Yoko Ono to Cat Steven's conversion to Islam. If you've ever been around me while a song from that era has been playing and I've inundated you with a detailed account of the story behind the song, I really am sorry.

Yet since this is technically a "stories" blog, I'd like to use it as a place to let out at least some of my favorite musical backstories. Hope you don't mind, 'cuz here I go...

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The other night I stumbled upon a video of Missy Higgins singing Gotye's "Hearts A Mess". Within ten minutes of hearing her powerful voice, I was on her website, devouring the lengthy "About" section. I learned that as a teenager, Missy won an Australian music competition, which launched her into an internationally successful career (you might know her song "Where I Stood"). However, after two albums and tours under her belt, she decided to quit making music entirely. She was struggling with certain aspects of the industry, was not getting the happiness she expected from success, had a bad a case of writer's block, and felt like she just needed to figure out who she was outside of her identity in music. So, she decided to travel the world and study aboriginal culture at a university. After a few years of being out of music, she was asked to perform at Lilith Fair, an offer she felt she couldn't refuse. While performing, she realized how much she really loved music and decided to get back in the game.

Her latest album is about this journey back and my favorite song from it so far is "Everyone's Waiting." I passionately believe in being real about who you are in spite of others' expectations and this song beautifully conveys that message within the story of her return to music. I hope you like it.