by Conroy
I have added youtube links to all (or all but two) of my Top 250 songs. You can now watch the associated videos, live performances, or just listen to the songs.
As I was adding these links, which required listening to the songs, I was struck by an emotional response to the music that I failed to emphasize in my post debuting the list. It makes sense that songs that would rank among my very favorite would have an emotional connection, after all music is the most emotional of arts. But I was also struck by how the music evoked memories of the period in my life in which I first heard or took a strong liking to each song. I mean, I've listened to each of these songs dozens of times (at a minimum), so I know them by heart.
You might think that familiarity would lessen the impact over time, especially as I mature, and my tastes and perspectives evolve. Certainly the list has seen songs come and go through it's many versions, but I had an insight when adding these links. I realized that I may have reached the point where my music tastes are what they are. Sure, there will be some modifications, but at this point I like what I like and this current list of 250 songs says a lot about not only my musical tastes, but more importantly about my emotional attitude towards my past experiences and towards the world.
Music affects people in ways that are not easy to articulate - and quite frankly in ways that I don't want to articulate. However, this lack of non-linguistic communication doesn't make it any less important, and the songs in my Top 250 list are vitally important to me.
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