When what goes on day to day

brings to mind a certain

old song or two . . .

I know, I know, you’re not the first one to tell me I’m crazy. Just because I think of different business people and situations whenever I hear certain old tunes doesn’t mean I’m ready for that big nuthouse in the sky.

But it IS interesting to think about how parallel some favorite lyrics can run to the good and bad fortunes of your business. No, not “The Eve of Destruction.”

Consider, just as an example, the three plays in a row I heard recently on Sirius 33:

James Taylor:

“I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain…sunny days that I thought would never end…lonely times that I could not find a friend…” 

Bob Seger:

“Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then…I’m older now, but still running against the wind…”

and Jackson Browne:

“Running on empty.”

All three of those sets of words have applied to my business and many clients’ businesses many times over the years. Some, in fact, hold varying amounts of truth today. (You think Jackson Browne had some premonition about gas prices?)

Then, how about that great old inspirational song from that great old group, AMERICA:

This is for all the lonely people, thinking that life has passed them by . . . don’t give up until you drink from the silver cup and ride that highway in the sky!” 

 

Music, it seems to me –considering it in both a business context and the reality of life– has a funny way of opening up some of the wounds it heals and healing some of the wounds it opens. Does that make sense? You don’t have to be a shrink to see the truth of that. 

This observation is not limited to pop music, by the way. I think the dynamic of stirring up old emotions and creating new ones applies equally to classical music as it does to rap or jazz or any other style of creative musical expression.

Why else do we tap our feet and fingers, hum along, and sometimes just drift off into the mental or emotional space that music suggests?

Certainly, advertising jingle and commercial background music producers plus cinematic music specialists  know the heartstrings-tugging value of an oboe, a violin, or a wailing tenor sax, and how to make it play to trigger emotions.

These people are also acutely aware of the importance of maintaining some denomination of 80 beats per minute to best coincide with the average human heartbeat, and use that tool to help reach the unconscious mind through the ears and absorbed vibrations. 

Is there music in your workspace? Does it help or hinder productivity? Inspire creativity? Innovation? Is it the same music you listen to when you’re not on the job? (HA! Are you ever not on the job? Hey, YOU chose to be an entrepreneur.)

Anyway, dredge up some happy stuff (there actually is a little of it out there!) and sing away. That action alone is a terrific stress reducer, and we can’t have enough of that as we plunge onward into 2011.  

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www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

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“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

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