music is life

Someone posted this quote in a forum on FaceBook and it struck me so deeply, I had to share. I knew Bruce was a poet but it still is lovely to see his writing outside of his iconic songs. This is from a speech he gave when he accepted the MusicCares Person of the Year Award in 2013. Needless to say, I stand with every word. And it's just good to be reminded sometimes...

"I’ve been a part of the miracle of music. I’ve seen people tired and depressed and weary and worn out, soul off. And I’ve seen them revived, rise from their seats and dance. 

The Taliban will never win, not now or not ever, not here, not in Timbuktu by banning the music and dancing, don’t tell them. The minute you do that, you label yourself a tyrant and your cruel days are numbered. The minute Timbuktu was liberated, what did people do? They played music, and they danced. 

I was so happy to read that in the paper. I was happy for them, and happy for us “Vive la France!” You can’t triumph without music because music is life; music is the birds singing, the wheat rustling in the fields, strumming of the wind through the leaves of that tree that was in the backyard of your childhood home. The earth and the stars rolling through the heavens at night, before man or a woman heard their name, they heard music. They heard the wind rushing past their eardrums, the grasses humming with insects, the birds knocking and rocking in the trees."

-- Bruce Springsteen

You can see the video and read the full transcript here.

 

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