You say you want a revolution....

Thanks for your comments and thoughts regarding music changing the world. Here's the not so dramatic conclusion. I'll start by sharing Neil's answer. He simply answered, "No." That he doesn't think you can change the world with lyrics and music. Even though he didn't expound, the answer stood out to me considering who was answering. Neil has written a wide variety of songs from love songs to protest songs. He wrote Ohio and even has a whole protest album (Living With War). In the Greendale album, he obscurely covers a range of issues, but very clearly (for Neil) talks about saving the planet. And here he was, without hesitation, saying that music and lyrics can't change the world.

As I drove last Saturday, I thought about the ideas and definition of change and musical attempts to change the world. Live Aid, Farm Aid, Sun City (Artists Against Apartheid), etc... The desired changes have been to end hunger, end war, end poverty...HUGE ideas. Huge ideas for change that we haven't seen. Were these efforts a failure? The pessimist would probably say they were and the optimist would say that they rose awareness for their respective causes. Raising awareness can be a great thing and can spur on people to make change happen, as my friends said. Changes of this magnitude are a process and music certainly has it's place in the process.

But can music and lyrics DIRECTLY change the world? I say, "Yes." Music and lyrics evoke emotion, love, laughter, tears, sadness, comfort, heartache, passion, anger.... Music and lyrics can attach themselves to memories and moments in time, forever associated with those things. Couples have "their song (or songs)" that they share. On a bad day, a single song can be a ray of sunshine and bring a smile. Conversely, a sad song can bring a tear in the middle of a smile. Music may not bring us out of the economic crisis or reform health care, but music is there regardless. The changes may not be headline worthy, but music and lyrics are constantly changing the world around us through the people we see and interact with.

Personally, I know the buttons that music pushes for me. Ben Folds' album Rockin' the Suburbs always makes me happy. Lucinda William's album World Without Tears is good on a melancholy day when I don't want to get out of a funk just yet. Flight of the Conchords' Feux De Fa Fa always makes me laugh (as does pretty much anything by FOTC). Coldplay's album Parachutes mellows me out (I swear my pulse drops drastically when I listen to that album). These are just examples of some of the songs and albums that have a KNOWN effect on me.

I'd say that maybe I think about music and it's place more than most people, but I don't think I need the word 'maybe.' I love music and I enjoy thinking about how it interacts with the universe and things like 'change.'

So there you have it. Thanks for reading......