Like a bridge over troubled water

According to the web site Mental Health Connecticut, “Social isolation has been linked to higher blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, vulnerability to infection. . . .  Loneliness can affect your mental and emotional health as well as your physical well-being.”  Musicians have also weighed in on this same subject. Fiona Apple once stated that, “When you're surrounded by all these people, it can be lonelier than when you're by yourself. You can be in a huge crowd, but if you don't feel like you can trust anyone or talk to anybody, you feel like you're really alone.”  And even though I am lovingly surrounded by my wife and two sons, we are all battling the effects that this global pandemic is having on our daily lives – online learning and working from home. To cope with this stress, my wife turns to running on the treadmill, my boys like their video games and playing outdoor basketball, and for me it always seems to in one-way or another lean towards music.

Music is my happy space.  However, I have recently learned that, “Musicians are three times more likely to experience depression” (study completed by University of Westminster, London, UK).  The research surveyed 2,211 musicians, and over 68% stated they had struggled with depression.   This led me to ask myself, do all performers need to experience some sort of heartbreaking event to be able to create the songs that become the soundtrack of our lives?  My dear friend (and cousin) Jason and I have now been going back and forth for the past 48 hours with what seems like endless song titles (a lot of them with lyrics to match) that could be ripped from today’s headlines. 

Who knew that the Guns N' Roses song “Out ta Get Me” from their groundbreaking 1987 album “Appetite for Destruction” would carry so much weight in today’s unprecedented times:  “Been hidin' out / And layin' low / It's nothing new ta me / Well you can always find a place to go / If you can keep your sanity”.  Of course, there is more:  “Isolation” from Joy Division, "Armageddon's Back In Town" by the Drive-By-Truckers or "Don't Come Around Here No More" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: “Don't come around here no more / Whatever you're looking for / Hey! Don't come around here no more / I've given up, stop”.

It is surreal to think that this is where we find ourselves in March 2020.  Nathaniel Rateliff at the Byham Theater – postponed, my trip to New Orleans for French Quarter Fest – postponed, The Rolling Stones NO FILTER tour – postponed.  There are now a lot of red question marks and Xs on my calendar where live music once occupied a spot.  Despite its absence, I still find myself relying on music in this extraordinary era and to a certain extent leaning on a band that encompasses popular music mythology. Although the Beatles can seem larger than life, sometimes it is their grounded lyrics that can bring us to safety: “And when the broken hearted people / Living in the world agree / There will be an answer, let it be. / For though they may be parted there is / Still a chance that they will see / There will be an answer, let it be / Let it be, let it be. Yeah / There will be an answer, let it be.”

Thanks for reading!