Life songs

I had to buy the concert ticket. I coudn’t let my singing idols perform in Cebu without seeing them. It was a reunion of 70s to 80s hits and a get-together of members of two formidable musical bands way back then – The Circus Band and The New Minstrels. These were the voices to beat. Theirs are the songs that have stood the test of time.

When the first chords struck for the song of Eugene Villaluz and Louie Reyes of the New Minstrels, I wasn’t the only one who sounded off a sweet sigh and eagerly expected to hear the song again. I knew it by heart. I knew the title before the two singers could introduce it.

“Nothing I Want More” was the grand prize winner of the major song festival in Manila in 1982. It speaks of a man’s great love for a woman. I was in mid-college, very much in love, so the song hit me hard that night. My mind rushed back to memory lane and I was singing aloud with the audience. And all voices merged into one collective song.

Isn’t life a concert of many voices too, including your own? Your parents’ voice is authority, your little sister’s voice is one of dependence, your boyfriend or girlfriend’s voice stirs your emotions.

And then you join in and sing your part too. You want to let your harmony ring with the rest. Before you know it, everyone is actually singing together with you…living a life with you.

Truly if someone sings beside you, it makes like easier, don’t you think? Moving forward, you will realize that the songs that you have been singing together reflect the moments you had together. This makes each tune a life song.

Listening to life songs never fails to make me look back on smiles and songs I’ve shared with others, and makes me smile and sing some more.

I was hurting when a relationship turned sour and Burt Bacharach’s “House is not a Home” reminds me of that moment of lost emotions: “Darling, have a heart. Don’t let one mistake keep us apart. I’m not meant to live alone, turn this house into a home when I climb the stairs and turn the key. Oh, please be there still in love with me.”

When the late singer Karen Carpenter’s voice sings “Close to You”, I can’t help but shake my head with embarrassment remembering my childhood days when I would be asked to sing this song in front of my parents’ visitors: “Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be close to you.”

But the song that tugs at my heart not only because it’s my late husband’s favorite but because it speaks of my undying role as a parent is George Benson’s “The Greatest Love of All” – “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way . Show them all the beauty they possess inside.”

The best songs connect human emotions. The great music transports you to the time you shared an important moment with certain people. The connection, the sharing moment is what gives life its best harmony.

Would you then skip those times when you could have helped someone sing their life songs or allowed another person to reach out and help you sing yours, too?

Don’t be tune deaf. Don’t just sit there and listen. Sing your life song with others. Let them share a tune with you. You’ll see, life songs sang together, with love, never fail to bring out the best in all of us.

Even in times when our hearts are troubled and we are suffering , the more we need to sing at the top of our voice to the top Choirmaster of them all- our God! He will calm your heart, but continue singing to him heaps of praise. “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” (James 5:13)

So, what is your life song to the Choirmaster today?