On Tuesday night, I went to Bass Hall with Jenny and some of my family and friends to see the Canadian Tenors perform with the Fort Worth Symphony. They were FANTASTIC. The program mixed Christmas music with songs from their debut album, featuring fresh arrangements that highlighted the beauty and power of their voices. For me, the highlights included Victor’s mesmerizing performance of the Lord’s Prayer by Malotte and the quartet’s beautiful renditions of “The Prayer,” “O Holy Night,” and a French version of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. The four Canadians obviously enjoy singing and get along well, and their enthusiasm adds warmth to the music. Thanks to my mom for introducing me to these guys.

I love music. I listen in the car, at home, at work. I try to sing. Sometimes I just want background music. Sometimes I want something to sing along with. Sometimes I just want to relax and concentrate on it. Rock, pop, jazz, classical, choral, hip-hop, even some country – my taste is all over the place. One look at my iPhone music library will convince you.

For some reason, certain songs are welded to specific memories in my mind. The minute I hear one of them, I go back in time to see a person, place, or event, Sometimes it’s a good memory, other times a bad one, but it’s a powerful connection to my past.

Here are a few of those songs and where they take me:

• “Faithfully” by Journey – Jenny, since it’s “our song”. More specifically, it often reminds me of the evening we spent at Jellyroll’s piano bar at Disney World for our 5th anniversary. I got the piano guy to play it for us.
• “Give It Away” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers – My first real date was Homecoming my freshman year of high school. The DJ decided to play this song three times in a span of 30 minutes. We didn’t stay for the whole time.
• “Outshined” by Soundgarden – A bad day on the tennis court back in junior high or high school
• “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC – Two memories here. 1) Hearing it for the first time in my bedroom on a tinny little radio. The DJ introduced it as a brand new song. The minute I heard that killer opening guitar riff, I was hooked. 2) Stars games, because they often play it there, and it just works.
• “And So It Goes” by Billy Joel – A girl I dated in high school and part of college. We sang a choral arrangement of the song in high school choir, and the lyrics remind me of our relationship.
• “The Promise” by When in Rome – The end of Napoleon Dynamite, part of one of my all-time favorite ending/credit sequences
• “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” (traditional, arr. Peter Lutkin) – Although we sang this often in my high school choir, singing it in the wings during our one-act play, Little Women, really burned it into my memory.
• “YMCA” by the Village People – My days as a technical trainer in the IT department at Southwest. I found a way to incorporate the Village People into a class on how to use an application I helped design. I got some strange looks but also some laughs.
• “One” by Metallica – My friend Jon from high school, who sorta figured out how to play both guitar parts in the song.
• “The Holy City” by Jerome Hines – My grandparents had an great old-school hi-fi with a record player and the Reader’s Digest collection of Christmas records. They always played those records when we visited for Christmas. “The Holy City” was the first time I ever heard an operatic bass. His power and depth blew me away and helped get me interested in singing.
• “One More Try” by Timmy T – I believe this song was playing the first time I danced with a girl at a junior high dance party.
• “Crash into Me” by Dave Matthews – A good make-out song (try it, just don’t listen to the lyrics b/c they’re kinda creepy), it reminds me of a girl I dated in college.
• “Outside” by Staind – My old apartment in Waco
• “Jive Talkin’” by the Bee Gees – My sister used to dance to this at work. I can easily picture such a scene because my sister is awesome.

Am I alone in this, or do songs take you back in the same way? If so, what are some of the songs and the memories they bring back?

One of my favorite singers gives a stunning performance of one of my favorite songs. This gives me chills.

If I had more talent, time, experience, training, and other advantages, I would love to perform in the Ensemble for an area production of Les Miserables, my all-time favorite musical by far. I’ve seen it twice and listened to my recording of the original London cast countless times. The movie adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel that starred Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, and Claire Danes was also excellent.

I love the story largely because it’s a fantastic picture of grace and its impact on our lives. Early in the show, a kind bishop shows grace to Jean Valjean, a recently paroled thief. Receiving grace instead of justice radically transforms Valjean’s view of himself and of others, helping him become an honorable, loving man. Javert, a police detective who pursues Valjean for most of the show for violating his parole, has no concept of grace and cannot accept it when offered by Valjean. His inability to accept grace ultimately destroys him.

Honestly, my chances of actually performing in the show are slim to none. I certainly don’t have the voice to play Javert, the role that best fits my voice (bass-baritone). Even for a touring show, I probably don’t have the talent and experience for the Ensemble or Chorus, which is the collection of random, nameless characters in a musical who sing group songs. But my, my, my, would it be fun. Barring a Matrix-style infusion of goodness, I will be content to sing along in my car alone at full volume, thanking God and the creators for such an amazing story and musical.