Everything we've grown...

It's always nice to be able to play the random song that the person in the front row requests, even if you're completely unprepared to do it.  We were having an awesome night Friday at Sadler's Kitchen in Jacksonville for a great audience when a couple of guys randomly asked if we could do any Simon and Garfunkel.  Because they'd given us such a great response so far it really pained me to have to say no.  As much as I like Simon and Garfunkel, I just don't know how to do any of their songs.  It was close to the end of the set, and we played a Rolling Stones cover to finish it out.  But when I thanked everyone and set my guitar down to take a break, my dad came to the rescue and started picking out a melody I remembered so well from my childhood.

While I made my way to the back of the restaurant to listen, my dad started in with the familiar lyrics to Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence."  It took a few lines into the first verse, but my mom finally got up and joined him, and they harmonized through the entire song.  It was really beautiful and a very special performance to see for anyone who was there.  I play the Ray Charles song "Seven Spanish Angels" today because I loved watching my parents perform it in their shows when I was younger, but "The Sound of Silence" was by far my favorite out of all of the songs that they played.

As a kid, I didn't always like my parents' choice of songs that they played in their gigs, but that's something to be expected.  Older now, I understand music a lot more, and I appreciate things now that I didn't when I was so young.  I realize that I wouldn't be performing today and I probably wouldn't even have my love for music if it weren't for them.  That's why Friday night was very special for me.  I play with my dad all the time, and my mom does join us on a song from time to time, but it sure was nice to just get to watch them like I used to.  I know that not many people are as blessed as I am to still have their folks around, much less to be able to share something like this with them.  It's a reminder to me to not take so many things for granted.

I'm not good at writing "nice" songs.  And most songs I hear about family are either bitter or so artificially sweet that I can barely stand to listen to them.  The ones I hear on the radio, especially by young country stars, just sound to me like pandering to get a certain demographic to buy records because of the perceived wholesomeness of the artist.  And half of them aren't even written by the performer.  I just don't "get" that.

But a few years ago I was lucky enough to catch a show on the debut album-supporting tour of a band called fun.  The lead singer, Nate Ruess (formerly of the Format), performed a song that he wrote for his parents and it brought me to tears the first time I heard it.  Of course, I bought the record that night and have listened to the song many times since then, and it has not failed a single time to make me cry.  There's not a hint of self-indulgence, pandering, or sarcasm.  It's just an ode to the two people that made him who he is, and a testament to their love for each other.  I wish I could write songs like that, but I'm not good at it.

More than that, even, I wish there was more pure and unadulterated sincerity in songs like this in the music industry as a whole.  Unfortunately, that might not be what sells these days.  But I hope you like the song.  It really is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard.  Here's a nice live version: