thank you for the music

People often ask me, “Is there anything you can’t do?”

Well ... certainly, there are many things. Singing ... is at the top of that list. Sure, I can sing along well enough to music. In my car. In the shower. By myself. But singing ... really singing ... I can’t do. I don’t do. There you have it, folks.

But.

Since Ammon’s been around, I’ve had a reason to sing. And not because my heart is light. But because it’s in my job description to try and make him happy. And he loves music. And so we sing.

From the start - even before he was born - I sang lullabies. I made up my own. I repurposed songs ingrained in my repertoire. Like Isn’t It a Lovely Day and Your Song and Cheek to Cheek and Sound of Silence and My Heavenly Father Loves Me and Imagine and I’m Trying to be Like Jesus and On the Street Where You Live. I sang songs just for fun like Give Said the Little Stream and The 59th Street Bridge Song and Bushel and a Peck. Now we both sing. We sing Popcorn Popping and It’s a Very Simple Dance to Do and Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and Jellyman Kelly and A Little Less Conversation and Footloose and Crazy Little Thing Called Love. And oh-so-many others. And dance. Boy ... do we ever dance.

Every once in a while, I catch myself humming one of my lullabies. No reason. I don’t have a baby to rock to sleep. But I do it, anyway. Maybe it’s my heart’s way of saying it’s all okay. Maybe not. But whatever the reason, it makes me so very grateful to have music in my life. Despite the fact that I can’t sing to pay the bills ... it brings me joy to sing to my little boy. And the smile on his face and the sweet sounds of his voice singing along with mine are better than hearing anyone say, “Oh, what a beautiful voice you have.”

I love you, Ammon. Thank you for the music.

I’m nothing special ...

in fact I’m a bit of a bore.

When I tell a joke ...

you’ve probably heard it before.

But I have a talent - a wonderful thing.

For you seem to listen when I start to sing.

I’m so grateful and proud ...

all I want is to sing it out loud.

So, I say

thank you for the music ...

the songs I’m singing.

Thanks for all the joy they’re bringing.

Who can live without it?

I ask in all honesty ...

what would life be?

Without a song or a dance,

what are we?

So, I say

thank you for the music ...

for giving it to me.

Mother says I was a dancer before I could walk.

She says I began to sing long before I could talk.

But I often wonder ...

how did it all start?

Who found out that nothing could capture a heart

like a melody can?

Well, whoever it was ...

I’m a fan.

So, I say

thank you for the music ...

the songs I’m singing.

Thanks for all the joy they’re bringing.

Who can live without it?

I ask in all honesty ...

what would life be?

Without a song or a dance,

what are we?

So, I say

thank you for the music ...

for giving it to me.

I’ve been so lucky ...

I am the girl with golden hair.

I want to sing it out to everybody -

What a joy, what a life, what a chance!

Thank you for the music ...

the songs I’m singing.

Thanks for all the joy they’re bringing.

Who can live without it?

I ask in all honesty ...

what would life be?

Without a song or a dance,

what are we?

So, I say

thank you for the music ...

for giving it to me.

So, I say

thank you for the music ...

for giving it to me.

Lyrics adapted from Thank You for the Music, ABBA