Essay #2. How Music Has Influenced My Live

Yani Rivas

Essay #2 draft #3

2-10-09

How music has influenced my life

"Words are just words and songs are just songs until you bleed it". Those were the words of my uncle Ruendy when I told him a few years ago, "I don't know why, but before I didn't care about the song’s lyrics and now I do”. He just said the phrase and immediately I understood the meaning of these words. I stayed astonished and thought ohh!! My god!! That is true. After I heard my uncle words I remembered that each song that I had heard was talking about a situation that I was in at that time. These sorts of things make me think of the many ways that music can influence our lives. In my life music has influenced my hopes, love and the bad moments.

Music helps me not to ever give up on my hopes. I have many goals that I hope to carry out one day. When I hear songs like "I'll survive" by Monica Naranjo and “Life is a carnival" by Celia Cruz it makes me joyful and full of hopes because these sorts of songs can to transmit to me the same strength that the artist feels when he or she is singing it. Then after I had hear the song or while I'm listening it, I feel renewed like new batteries. These two songs talk about people that despite they had have bad times as many people, they don’t give up, and instead they see problems like just part of life. In other hand many people when they have problems they give up and begin to think negative about life. I don’t like to be like this kind of people. I like to think positively although there are problems in my life. One day I was disappointed because of my job and was feeling drained. Then I heard a song by Luis Fonce, but not the whole song, just a little phrase that said, "I don't ever give up." This phrase was enough to change my mind. After that I began thinking positively looking for the best way to solve the problem in my job. So not just in words, I mean that music can help me instead in my own experience.

In the same way that music can renew you, music can make you feel more in love too. There many love songs telling you about the magnificence of this about all the pretty things that you can feel when you are in love. I know that for some people it sounds very corny, but I have to say it. When you are in love and you hear a song talking about the same feeling that you have, it is amazing. When I began the relationship with my boyfriend I didn’t have idea about what was love because he is my first love. One day I heard a song by José José called “wanting and loving is not the same” this song tell you what you feel when you love somebody and what you fell when you want somebody. After had heard this song I said, “I feel more than want for him I I’m really in love with him.” That song made me know my feelings. Others songs can make you relive your feelings and relive good moments. As soon as I hear a song that reminds me of a good time it is like I could be there again. If you don't have any idea about what I'm talking about maybe you have never been in love. Because when you are really in love, you are going to say that this is true. Songs make me feel pretty things about love.

Not all is pretty in life as hopes or love. Sometimes moments come when you just want to be alone. In these moments music is a partner for me. Those moments that you feel that you don't care or you don't want to think positively. There is a song called "Tomorrow" by Mirian Hernandez that can describe what I mean. This song is about a woman who is experiencing a bad moment, and she says in this moment “I need to cry.” She says, “tomorrow I going to try to be fine, but today I just want to cry.” This is the perfect song when you just want to be alone pondering your bad times. It could be the death of somebody important to you, disappointments in love or a very big problem. These are moments when you don't want to hear anybody telling you that you have to be strong, there are moments that you just want to have a partner with you in your hurt. For me the music is my partner in those bad moments.

In my life I will never forget my uncle's words because I have understood a big meaning through it in my life. When I was a young girl I used to hear songs that I considered “nice,” but just for the sound or because my mother liked it. Now when I hear a song, it has a deeper meaning for me. It doesn't have to be just in my life, it can be in a person's life near to me. If I'm sure of something, it is that when the music has a meaning for you or some familiarity with your feelings, it is more pleasure for you. That's why my uncle told me, "words are just words and songs are just songs until you bleed it".