I’ve been up and I’ve been down, I’ve had my feet swept off
the ground by a world that just picked me up and threw me away...
A little variation on Miki Howard, but that’s what life has
been like for me and many others on many a day. There have been days when I’ve felt
dejected, deflated and defeated, feeling like I up was too far to go and down
felt right. Then I’d go digging through my CD collection to find a song to fit
my mood; flipping through the likes of Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Teddy
Pendergrass, Luther Vandross, Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, Anthony Hamilton and
Marvin Gaye to find something just right, something that says everything I need
to say. That’s Soul music. It’s music that draws directly from your Tuesday or
her Thursday, even my Saturday night. It’s what folks have used for years to
get through troubled times and celebrate the good, as few and far between as
they have been for some of us, because of the emotions evoked by the music.
People get that feeling from Soul music, Country, Jazz,
Blues, Rock, Gospel and even Hip-Hip. It’s the connection to the lyrics, the
spirit of the drum, the melody plucked on a guitar, the lasting impression of
someone telling your life to the world. I couldn’t imagine this life of mine
without the music I’ve grown, loved and depended on for nearly 33 years.
When I first set out to identify my favorite songs, I knew
what number one was immediately, but completed the rest
of the songs was a task. I love words, so a beautifully written song wins me
over every time; I could listen to hours upon hours of music acapella (or
acapulco as Martin Payne would say), as long as the singer’s voice was
tolerable. So, the songs selected on my list have been songs I connect to
lyrically, words that touch my soul and a few really good vocal performances. Even
the Hip-Hop songs on my list fit these requirements and have beats that I love,
which was a requirement for their inclusion on my list.
The songs selected have been my life. I absolutely mean
that, I don’t go a week without listening to at least 15 of that top 25; I sing
them in the shower, in my office at work, in the car, when I’m home alone,
these have been the songs that have scored the world according to Teef. In the
following posts I will unveil my favorite songs of all-time and give the
reasoning behind their selection and how they make me feel.
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