Some Things Just Play Better With Music

I remember my older sister playing her radio loudly while we cleaned our bedrooms on Saturdays when I was small. I grew up on the Beatles, CCR, Iron Butterfly and The Supremes. Somehow listening to the music made the work go down better. Forget the spoonful of sugar, it's music does the trick.

I'm not a great singer, but I love to sing. I can't remember a time when I didn't sing. My parents sang around the house. My mother would sing, "I wonder why nobody don't love me. Or is it a fact that I'm ugly?" My dad would sing, "I talk to the trees, but they don't listen to me." I always thought the songs were made up until I became acquainted with Harry Belafonte and Paint Your Wagon. So maybe this singing around the house is in my blood. I only know that I can't imagine not singing around the house.

In the movie About A Boy the lead character, Will, talks about watching other characters "singing with their eyes closed" and cringing because it was just too much--too much emotion, too much letting go, while they belted out the song, while they felt the song. Sometimes you just have to belt out a song or it doesn't quite feel right. Do you know what I mean? Will finally changes when he, too, experiences the joy of singing with his eyes closed. Sometimes you just have to, really have to sing with your eyes closed. Do you know what I mean?

All I know is that there are things that are really more fun, more pleasurable, more meaningful when you sing, even with your eyes opened. So these are some of the situations where I like to sing:

• In the pews at church. I really love a good hymn.
• Doing the dishes.
• Taking a shower.
• Cooking.
• Driving, especially at night on an open highway. Yep, this one is the best.
  

So tell me, where do you sing? And do you ever sing with your eyes closed?