Quote of the Week...from Elton John

Music has healing power.  It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours.
                                                                     ---Elton John

I was fourteen when I first heard British rock/pop musician Elton John very late in the year 1970 just after his debut hit single Your Song was released in America. In the following years...which corresponded to my adolescence and early adulthood...he (along with lyricist Bernie Taupin) was responsible for many great songs that I loved like Tiny Dancer, Friends, Daniel, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Blues for Baby and Me, The Bitch is Back, Saturday Night's Alright, Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, and Someone Saved My Life Tonight...to name a few.  His mass popularity took a dip in the late 70s but he has been producing music steadily up to the present day, with 33 total studio albums so far.  So I guess this classically-trained pianist, composer, and classic rock star has a few credentials on his side when he discusses music, doesn't he?

I totally agree with Elton's quote, and it's significant that he tied together the concepts of healing and taking people out of themselves.  I think a lot of our inner struggles are caused...well, by our inner struggling: sometimes you have to just let things go, or at least interrupt the pattern of self-imposed turmoil by focusing your attention on something else.  While engaging in my daily work or socially-driven activities, my attention is rightfully focused on what I'm doing at the moment.  But during other, less structured times I enjoy listening to my music...including that from the inimitable Elton John.  I also find activities like reading, studying foreign languages, writing, and running to be therapeutic...even watching television, too, if it is done purposefully and not to the point where I'm just sitting there in a half-stupor flipping channels...

On a final note, if you're like me and somewhat disaffected by the current popular music being promoted by broadcast radio but are also tired of hearing the same old "classic rock" songs over and over again, there is a third choice: listen to those "classic" musicians (like Elton John) in their later works...many are still producing high-quality, compelling songs, the concept of retirement apparently not in their personal vocabulary.  But you're probably not going to hear any of them by listening to your radio...