Tir na nOg

Music is funny sometimes. I listen to music a lot more than many of my friends combined. Always have, always will. Of course, as I have gotten older I have found the amount of time I am able to truly listen to music happens less and less. However, it is always there in the background, whether on the stereo in the car while others are jabbering away or at the very least inside my head as I am sitting in a meeting, or shopping, etc.

Sometimes when I think I am really listening to music, I’m really not paying attention, and sometimes I’ll listen to something and a huge light-bulb goes off in my head. Case in point, I heard the song Bat Out Of Hell the other day and when it was over I again marveled about how great a song that is, and how important that album was when it came out in my youth. SHIT….we were ALL listening to it non-stop. All I could think about the other day was that Steinman and company really caught lightening in a bottle with the release, something they were never able to duplicate. I then began to think about what other releases were the same way and was going to write an article about it. However, upon researching the production of Bat Out Of Hell, I read that it really through pure luck, persistence, and other unmentionables, that the album even got recorded. Anyway, enough of that, I digress.

The point of this rambling is that sometimes when you listen to music, really listen to music, you hear something that stays with you forever. I firmly believe the music of your youth (say ages 15-21, just to pick some years) is the music that influences all of your musical decisions the rest of your life. Of course, there are exceptions and variations. Back in 1977 when I was 18 and heavy into Zep, Purple, Springsteen, Progressive Music, etc, I would have NEVER thought I would listen to some of the music I listen I love today such as Wilco, Ryan Adams, alt-country, etc. We do change our taste, but the base of what we love remains the same.

In Celtic mythology, Tir na Nog is the land of eternal youth. It’s on the edges of the map in our minds view of the world. It’s not a real place, but a place of myth and remembrance. Music has a way of bringing Tir Na Nog closer to you. Whether it be just one song or an entire CD, music can bring you back to where you were, before knew where you wanted to go, and it often has the power to steer you in a different direction that you are currently on, or at the very least try to prod you into going there. The music that sounded great ‘back then’ when you were 17 (or 21 or 25) should still sound great to you know (for me, at 49). The music should still matter, and if it brings you back to Tir Na Nog, even for just a few moments in a normal day, that is a good thing. The best music will always stay with you for your life. You carry it with you (in your head or on your Ipod) and sometimes it will surprise you and hit you where it counts again and again. Tir Na Nog indeed.