Chapter 10

Aching for a song

“Just tell him you know what a middle C is,” directed my friend Chris. We met in residence at University of Toronto’s University College, dubbed “the godless college,” a while back. During first year, he’d briefly kept and rehabilitated an injured squirrel he’d named Noam (for  Chomsky). Chris also introduced me to Sloan and the best falafel in town. Fond memories include mummifying very tall British Shawn with toilet paper with my bud Bernard. B also accompanied me for another tattoo, followed by a dumb, stoned, yummy Bart Simpson iced treat—funny what you remember.

“Just tell him you know what a middle C is.” Anthropology of Healing was the class Chris urged me to take. I was deep into production in theatre, design and acting, with philosophy on the side. “You need to take this class.” It explored healing through music, what kind of music heals and why. Curiosity piqued, I tracked down Professor Turner and told him I had no anthropology, but I needed to take his class. He said “okay.” That was that.

We read Bruce Chatwin’s Songlines that talks about Aboriginal Australians singing their land into existence along precise lines that individuals will trace on walkabout. Next, the Music Physician. Vowel sounds are believed to have preceded consonant sounds, and for this, they are considered more primal and soothing. Gregorian chant is largely vowel-based, so it was possibly the most inherently healing. But which verses do I carry with me? When I’m aching for a specific song, it may not be the words, but a particular note or notes in the song that soothes.

We were put into groups for final projects, and here my memory blurs. I can picture being on a stage carrying a cookie tin stacked with 30+ lit candles donning a sarong. The candles meshed into one substantial big-ass flame and the tin? Well, tin conducts heat. My unpracticed calming ritual flared into to a frantic, abbreviated dance.

Reflecting on music that I reconnect with again and again, the list includes The Mission soundtrack, Iris by GooGoo dolls, Everything’s Alright from Jesus Christ Superstar,  Good Riddance by Green Day, Bittersweet Symphony from The Verve,  Thank you for Hearing Me by Sinead O’Connor, Little Fall of Rain from Les Mis, Bye Bye Blackbird by Jerome H. Remick, and for a while, thankfully over, Adele’s Someone LIke you (this SNL proves I’m not alone). Something about those songs brings me solace and strokes my back.

What songs hit the right note with you? Which ones have for a long time?