Do You Hear the People Sing?

Was in a funky mood all day yesterday. Watching Suicide Kings Tuesday night with Mags gave me some really weird dreams that night, and I woke up in a funk. The rainy weather I drove through to get to work didn’t help matters either. Neither, for that matter, did reading T.S. Elliot while I was in my down time yesterday morning.

On a side note, am I the only one who finds that poetry read in a state of heightened emotion makes it more potent and memorable? I was flipping through, re-reading all the poems that were important to me as a young man, and again feeling the power in the words. Trying to read some new poems, even by my favorites (Sandburg, Cummings (err.. cummings), Elliot, Frost) and the best I could muster was, “Gee, that’s nice.”)

So, by the time I got home after work, I was reveling in the blues. I thought about putting on Clapton Unplugged, but decided to drop Les Miserables. The volume cranked, I sat down, closed my eyes, and allowed the music to wash over me. That did the trick, listening to Valjean, Javier, Cosette, and Marius sing about their troubles as their world fell down around them took me down and then made my emotions soar. By the time Fantine returns for Valjean, and sings, “Come with me, where chains will never bind you…” I was balling like a baby.

It did the trick; I came out of the experience feeling refreshed. When Mags got home, I was able to amicably chat with her for a while, and let her know when she exhibited behavior that I considered unacceptable, even though she got angry with me for telling her something was none of her business. (God! When did I turn into such a wimp?)

I’m still trying to figure out if I really want this marriage to survive unless she changes. I want the girl I married back, and I’m not really sure the woman I suddenly saw for the first time last week is someone I want to stay with. But I’m going to continue to work on me, and allow her to work on her, and we’ll have to see where we come out.

Do you hear the people sing?

p.s.
I've noticed a direct hierarchy in my musical moods when I'm down --

Slightly Blue - Blues or soft Jazz
In a Funk - Les Miserables
Depressed - Harry Chapin
Call for a suicide watch - sitting in the dark, listening to Wish You Were Here