February 9, 2024 By Andy Ayer
With Valentine’s Day approaching this coming Wednesday, I couldn’t help but reminisce, how celebrating it has changed throughout my life. I can honestly say the best time was back in elementary school. When we would all create personalized mailboxes in class to receive messages and treats from our classmates. You got something from everybody. It wasn’t about love or romance, but of friendship.
It started to change in middle school with the handing out of carnations. I never received any carnations. Because of that I was left feeling empty, as if I had participated in a weird sort of informal ranking to discover where I stood within the social hierarchy. As you entered high school, you would then move onto the next stage, when folks began entering into relationships. Leaving you hoping that you were not the last person within your friend group to be not “coupled up” during the holiday.
As an adult not much would change. Relationships would ebb and flow like a wave. You would float on your board until you saw one that was perfect. In an instant, you paddle out to catch it. The minute you do, you pop up and stand aloft in pure adulation that this was the right one. Yet when I look around as I ride, I see a lot still sitting on their boards looking for the right wave.
As I began gathering songs this week, I started using the traditional selections you might think, Barry White, anything from Motown, and Donny Hathaway. As I was doing so, I began to think of this poem by William Butler Yeats* entitled “A Dialogue Of Self And Soul”. In the poem the soul (heart) has a conversation with self (the body) on all the mistakes they made during this life and what they need to fix to make their life better in the next one. Self ends the dialogue with soul, saying they would change nothing as that is life.
So with that in mind I put together a playlist that I hope is accessible to everyone. We will begin with “Self” asking “If You Were Mine” by Leon Bridges and Miranda Lambert. As we continue to listen to the various stories of love in between until we get to “Soul”. Who after a bit of introspection, looking towards their partner, responds with “You’ve Got A Friend” by James Taylor
I hope everyone has a nice Valentine’s day and remember to reach out to those in our lives who need to be reminded that they matter. Because at the end of the day, we are just a bunch of little kids waiting for letters in our mailboxes. – Andy ……….
*For Keyworth 2/13/2020
Playlist: A Dialogue Of Self And Soul
Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/a-dialogue-of-self-and-soul/pl.u-gxqEGsmYmd0
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3FBFSDEMuSGTdvRjsCcMjH?si=1100502f39ba432d
Andy currently runs a Facebook group with his “concert companion” Tim called “What Are You Listening to?”
You can also follow Andy on the following music platforms:
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/profile/aayer
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/dqii6f71pmw2knk2kx71usnsc?si=69b879d2dcb346d1