04/03/2022
Lynn Murphy Mark
First comes Aretha Franklin. She is at the top of my musical pyramid and has been for decades. When she died I was bereft. I watched most of her 8 hour funeral and cried through a lot of it. Just the thought that her energy has now taken a different form gives me a little soul hole, a sense that the world is a little less complete without her living presence.
In a lot of ways, her life was not an easy one. She was a mother while still a teenager. Her father exploited her talent and forced her to perform for his guests, sometimes in the middle of the night. She battled alcoholism and food addiction most of her life. But she belted out one classic hit after another. Her drive to play the piano and to sing carried her along despite the lows that visited her. According to various biographical outlets she knew what she needed to do musically despite opposing pressures from managers, family, and fans.
In 2009 I was finally able to go to an Aretha concert in New York City. By that time she was up in years and not as energetic, but her pipes still worked. At one point she asked for some water. Someone brought her a plastic cup, presumably filled with H2O. She literally snorted and announced, “Plastic. Huh. I used to get my water in crystal.” I also noticed that she brought her purse on stage with her – and later found out that she was famous for wanting to be paid in cash and for carrying that cash close to herself. Yet, despite being very guarded with her money she died without leaving a will. I guess she knew you can’t take it with you so she left it to those left behind to fight over it. Rest In Peace, Queen.
If it’s possible to have two icons on the top of the pyramid, then the Queen of Soul shares the spot with my other soul musician, James Taylor. I’m listening to him now. I have so many James Taylor albums to choose from and I know the words and music to most of them. I also love him for the songs he composes himself. I love his music because it is so easy to harmonize with his tunes and I really love to blend my ability to sing in harmony (GO ALTOS!!) with the notes he produces.
When I was raising my children there was always music in our house. A lot of it was James Taylor’s. I never stopped to think if he was as popular with the children as he was with me. But, I got a come-uppance once from my son, Ted. I don’t remember what grade he was in but he had been given an assignment to write a story. I also don’t know if he had been given a topic to write about. If so, he digressed and instead told a tale of a kid who lived with a mother who played James Taylor music without stopping. The kid decided he had had enough. In his desperation to get away from James, he broke some of his mother’s CD’s. After the deed was done he felt really bad and confessed his transgression to his mom. And he bought her some new James Taylor discs. Happily ever after, etc. etc. etc.. Anyway, I got the message.
That story cracked me up, but it also made me think that perhaps I was hogging the ear waves. It didn’t slow me down musically, but I did make an effort to play James mostly when the kids were with their dad.