by Salamander Davis | July 25th, 2010
Yesterday, hiding in my car CD case, I found a six year old gem of a song. It is a song that makes me dance, sing, and make idiotic hand gestures with no regard to the people at the stop-light next to me. If you’ve read more than one or two of my blog entries you’re probably thinking, “it seems like all songs have that effect on him.” Many do, but this one in particular has also given me a new confidence in my own art, writing.
I may never make any money by typing out thoughts and stories or achieve a readership of over six people, but this song has reminded me of the true motivations behind creating art, to move someone, to entertain someone, or to make someone think.
It has also reminded me that some of the world’s best works of art can be created by political science students, marketers, or real estate agents. The song in question was written and recorded by a high school buddy of mine who has surely spent more money creating music than he has been paid.
But if my friend never falls in love, never succeeds in any job or endeavor, and never does anything else but lay in a drunken stupor and rot, his life will have been worth it. He will have created something that affected someone, affected me. He has recorded a song that I can relate to, a three-minute combination of sounds that is worth putting on repeat for days, a device for wiping brains clean from worry and that frees appendages to roam in obnoxious ways.
So while I may not write a best-selling memoir or be recommended by Oprah’s Book Club, I retain hope that I may occasionally write something that causes someone to act out with no regard their surroundings.