Posts
Mankind shares a soundtrack.
Science assures us of that.
Experts in all fields are singing the same tune.
Experts in all fields are singing the same tune.
Anthropologists, evolutionary biologists, neurosurgeons, and psychologists
have all come to the same conclusion while taking different paths to reach it.
They believe the "musical" area in the brain created human nature.
Music is as universal as language.
It predates agriculture.
It predates agriculture.
Some scientists believe it even existed before language,
its melodies promoting the cognitive development necessary for speech.
Americans spend more money on music than they do on prescription drugs or sex.
The average American spends more than five hours a day listening to it.
Obviously, it is important to us.
And with a title like that that, it should come as no surprise.
It is important to the lead character, Samuel McCord, too.
It is no coincidence that he owns a jazz club. A jazz club he named after his wife, Meilori.
Music to him has become a remembrance of shadows, an echo of times spent with friends, and a glimpse into a time when he was loved.
He is a monster who mourns the loss of his humanity.
So much so that he nutures it in the souls of those who enter his club, lost and hungry.
McCord sees life in terms of music.
When he first views the flooded streets of New Orleans, he hears Bette Midler singing,
"I think It's Going To Rain Today," especially the refrain "human kindness is overflowing."
He championed the tragic jazz legend, Billie Holiday. His wife's favorite song was Billie's "You Go To My Head."
He often hears it throughout the novel.
And when he is facing his death before overwhelming odds,
he once again hears that song before murmuring the one name he promised himself would be the last on his lips:
"Meilori."
Here is the Canadian legend, Diana Krall, singing YOU GO TO MY HEAD:
{I like to think of this video as Diana rehearsing in the smoky haze of Meilori's.}
No comments:
Post a Comment