Music and Your Mortal Soul

Having little musical inclination and virtually no musical memory, it amazes me that music can be such a powerful stimulant.  Music is evocative and, like the smell of cinnamon, a simple melody can awaken the memory of when it was first or last heard as well as the places and the people who were around us at the time.  Music speaks to our hearts and sensibilities and is like poetry but with a punch.  Music can be our energy, our balm in time of sorrow, the background of our beliefs and aspirations.

One reason that certain motion pictures are so memorable is their musical score.  Real life is usually played out without music in the background; but a movie maker can intensify a real-life scene with music and give it the emotional texture that one wants in real life as well.

In November of 2009, Don McLean, a 60-something musician, song writer, guitarist and singer, performed his classic folk rock song, “American Pie,” at the Rams Head tavern in Annapolis, Maryland,  Listening were 200 people, most of whom were as old or nearly so as the performer.

The song starts slow but then picks up.  Nearly anyone that has heard “American Pie” knows the chorus:

“Bye Bye Miss American Pie;

In 2023, the President of South Korea during the State Dinner at the White House, was given a microphone and sang his rendition of his favorite song which was “American Pie.”  Google this because it really is a hoot.

Give a listen to “American Pie” and, fair warning, it goes on for quite a while but listen for at least 3 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX_TFkut1PM. After listening to American Pie, “Do you believe in Rock and Roll? / That music can save your mortal soul?”

The lyrics of “American Pie” speak about “the day the music died,” a reference to a 1959 plane crash that killed American singers Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper.  It was written about 10 years later and it hit the American pop charts in 1972 and was subsequently recognized by the Songs of the Century Education Project as the number 5 song of the Twentieth Century.

Holly was the lead singer of a group called the Crickets and some of his biggest hits were “Peggy Sue,” “That’ll Be the Day,” “Oh Boy” and “Maybe Baby.”  If there was a singer who epitomized the American Rock ‘n Roll culture of the late 1950’s, it was Holly. His music formed the beat of high school dances and teenage parties.  It was fun, upbeat and danceable music.

Holly was the music of the young in the years of the Eisenhower presidency which was pre-civil rights, pre-Vietnam and previous to the widespread use of recreational drugs.  The children of the 1950s would later be called “baby boomers” having been born of parents who had survived World War II and were creating the American economic prosperity of the 1950s.  It was rebellion music but not of an angry rebellion but rather of a precocious and innocent rebellion for those who tried to inject levity into a staid and respectable and, in many ways, admirable society.  But in many ways and for many people, it was not so admirable.

“American Pie” refers to songs and lyrics which were popular at the time of the plane crash such as “Who Wrote the Book of Love” (the Monotones). “Lonely Teenager” (Dion) and “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation” (Marty Robbins).  All of these songs “died” with the plane crash only to be replaced by Elvis Presley and then later the Beatles and finally the “Devil” in the form of Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones.

Since “American Pie” was written in the late 1960s, it has no comments on the later varieties of music which have uplifted or assaulted us including heavy metal, grunge, punk rock, rap and hip hop.  It was, however, the music of the “boomers” who – with age and time – would take their place in American society and either be described as the most precocious American generation ever or the most self-absorbed. 

When asked what “American Pie” meant, McLean replied:  “It means I never have to work again.”  He has preserved his silence on the “poetry” of “American Pie” and the references which include the “Jester,” the “King,” the “Queen” and “the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost caught the last train to the coast on the day the music died.” 

A few weeks later in nearby Baltimore, the annual “Night of the Hundred Elvises” was held in downtown’s three-story Lithuanian Hall.  Scores of Elvis Presley impersonators performed, ranging in ages from 10 to 60.  The performers were bedecked in tight pants, sequin shirts and sunglasses.  The event, which raises charitable funds for a local hospital, is a celebration of all things Elvis, an American musical icon who still inspires 40 years after his death. There were multiple stages where the Elvises were performing.

Shortly after Elvis had reigned supreme in Baltimore, at the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel, just 5 blocks away from the Rams Head Tavern, a larger crowd heard the U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club and the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra – along with 4 professional singers – perform Handel’s Messiah.”  The “Messiah” is a sacred oratorio, a large musical composition which, while modeled after the opera, is not musical theater but strictly a concert piece.  “Oratorio” means “hall for prayer” and, hence, oratorios were usually concerned with religious themes.

If there ever was music that “…can save your mortal soul” it is Handel’s “Messiah.”  The “Messiah” is a story of Christ’s birth, life and death.  The most famous part of the “Messiah” is the Halleluiah Chorus which occurs near the end of the piece and during which the audience stands, before sitting again, for the conclusion (https://youtu.be/BBZ7AfZR9xs?si=ertDLWLMwZmekag.)

Apparently, the tradition of standing comes as a result of an English king who stood during the Halleluiah Chorus and the audience was required by custom to follow the king’s lead.  One wag suggested that the king had a leg cramp at this stage of the concert.  Nevertheless, audiences continue to stand during the Halleluiah Chorus proving that tradition can be idiotic and not necessarily illuminating.

The chorus is a vital part of the presentation of the “Messiah.”  While the Halleluiah Chorus is best known, an earlier chorus is perhaps more powerful (https://youtu.be/eQN9oCTHtSc?si=26VFQi-LYI5TkGtL):

The “Messiah” became such a popular oratorio because it was written in English and gripped the English-speaking world from the time it was first performed in 1742 in Dublin.  While originally a piece to be performed in the Easter season, it is now usually performed at Christmas.  Since “Messiah” celebrates both the birth and the death of Christ, it covers all significant events in the church year from Christmas through Easter.

The lyrics of “Messiah” are drawn from the New Testament.  This magnificent piece of music sums up Christian belief https://youtu.be/_rQYv8EsGSQ?si=H-7nzHK5F_7a-_Ch

The Naval Academy Chapel is anything but a “chapel” or “small” church.  It is a massive building, designed in the shape of a cross, with a huge central dome.  The acoustics may not meet concert hall standards but the combination of this massive church with its soaring space and a 100+ person chorus makes a presentation of the “Messiah” both moving and as memorable as it was on December 5, 2009.

Whether music is part of religion or just mixed up with it is anybody’s guess. But it is the stuff that moves most people and it comes in all kinds and sizes.  “American Pie,” Elvis songs and “Messiah” can move and perhaps save mortal souls.