Music history 103 (part 1)

My years of teenage angst were comparatively mild, really. It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I truly broke out of the “good girl” mold and proceeded to make a pretty good mess of my life.

A bad breakup had left my heart broken and my confidence in shreds. I had dropped out of college and wasn’t doing anything musically at all. Working in bars and restaurants provided superficial fun but the party atmosphere was taking its toll. I began to suspect I had lost my way but hadn’t a clue as to how to get back on the right track.

This was the beginning of a beautiful period in my personal music history, when music — literally — came to my rescue!

Through a miraculous combination of intuition and divine grace, I started to be drawn to music that blended a positive message with an energy-raising beat. It was music that tapped into my vague inner yearning; it made me feel hopeful; it inspired me to move…which in its turn helped me raise the energy in my spine and — bit-by-bit — I crawled out of the hole I had thrown myself into and took back my life.

There were four artists in particular who were key to my turnaround. Today I’m featuring George Benson. The two songs of his that I listened to over and over and over again are The Greatest Love of All (which I wrote about in a previous blog post) and Down Here On the Ground.

Down Here on the Ground
Down here on the ground
ain’t no place for living
Down here on the ground
Watching sparrows fly
I watch the birds
As they make their way
They’re flying kind of free
And I wish it were me
Down here on the ground
Wanting something better
Down here on the ground
Wanting something more
One morning sure
You will find
I got wings on my mind
Wings to take me high
So if you hear a sound
From down here on the ground
Don’t you know?
My friends it’s only me
It’s only me trying to fly