What's in a song?

I've read a few posts on various songs recently that have triggered some thoughts.

I love music. I play guitar. I sing. I listen to music. I'm not real restrictive regarding genres. I like a lot of different styles, though there are some - rap, heavy metal, hip-hop - I don't like. However, I grew up on country. My mom wasn't the biggest fan, but my dad liked it. Every year he'd record tapes of songs off the radio and while he was on his 45-minute drive to work, he'd go through the tapes he'd recorded and find songs he liked. By Christmas, he'd have a tape of favorites made.

Those songs have created some long-lasting memories. The older I get, the more I understand the lyrics. Songs I once laughed at I now understand. Songs I once sung without any thought I now chuckle at, understanding what they mean.

I just heard a song that brought back memories. The song means a whole lot more to me at age 21 than it ever did at age 11. It really defines why I still like country music (some of it, that is...there's plenty of junk too). The artist, Jeff Carson, looks like a total country hick. But that's what's great about music. I don't care if Jeff Carson looks like a bigger hick than Alan Jackson. I don't have to watch Jeff Carson sing the song. A song is a lot bigger than the person singing it anyway. The person singing it is just conveying the message.

The song came across on my Windows Media Player, which was set to "shuffle," and I thought I'd share it, since I don't know anyone else outside of my family who knows the song.

Artist: Jeff Carson
Song: The Car

Boy, I'd love to have that car, I whispered to my Dad.
I've always heard a Mustang flies.
We could fix it up and make it new again.
All it needs is just a little time.
Dad is hardly ever home since Mama passed away.
He's always working overtime.
I know that he cannot afford to buy that car,
Even though he'd love to make it mine.

It's not the car that I'm needing,
Just the chance to be with him.
I know that once these days roll past us,
They will never come again.
So little time and we spend way too much apart.
There would always be a part of us together in that car.

I finally let go of that dream, the time we could have shared.
It was a distant memory
Until last fall a call came saying Dad was gone,
Could I come quick; he left a note for me.
Buried Dad right next to Mom up on Crowley's Ridge,
And there I said my last goodbye.
I opened up the note and found a set of keys.
"Here's your car, son, I hope it flies.

It's not the car that you're needing,
But it's my chance to be with you.
I hope you understand I always did
The best that I could do.
So little time and we spent way too much apart
And there will always be a part of us together in that car.
There will always be a part of us together in that car."
The song that followed it happened to be another that my dad used to play. (Although the lyrics, "Everywhere I look/It’s lovers that I see/It seems like everyone’s in love/Everyone but me" just didn't hit me like "The Car" did.)

It was songs like this that made me shed my high school days of "country isn't cool, therefore I don't like it." There are too many memories associated with it. There are too many lyrics that I haven't forgotten and never will. Here in Winnesota, I don't have this luxury, but when I do get to see my siblings, being able to sing these songs with them is something I enjoy too much. Their harmony on these songs is so fun to be a part of.

And there are songs like "The Car" that I just can't give up.

(In the time that I've been writing this in between projects at work, two other songs that I grew up on - including one that for a long time I called "my favorite song" - have come on. It's been nice to be 10 years old again.)