I Write the Songs for I am MUSIC!

Recently my good friend Rich was sharing with me how music has begun to effect him more powerfully as of late and how it was making him have some deeper thoughts about the power of music.  He indeed had a lot of VERY deep thoughts to share and it got me to thinking that this is the perfect time to kick off what I believe will be a long series of upcoming posts for my blog related to the spiritual properties (or possibilities) of music. Not only have I long been fascinated by the concepts of frequency, vibration, oscillations, resonance, harmonics and many other musical concepts as they relate to spiritual energy, but I have also been fascinated by the deeper meaning of songs, song lyrics, music videos and the incredible power of music to alter or radically change our moods and behaviors.

It almost seems silly to me now but I remember growing in the Seventh Day Adventist religion being told that Lucifer was actually once the head of God’s choir and a master of music. While the support for this in the Bible seems limited at best, some in the church back then even claimed that Barry Manilow had been inspired by Lucifer himself to write the song “I Write the Songs”.  Some see in the lyrics of this song a sort of haunting revelation that a spirit is living inside of young Barry inspiring him to compose one of his greatest masterpieces.  Consider the following lyrics…

“I’ve been alive forever, and I wrote the very first song.

I put the words and the melodies together

I am music and I write the songs

My home lies deep within you

And I’ve got my own place in your soul

Now, when I look out through your eyes

I am young again, even though I’m very old

Oh my music makes you dance

And gives you spirit to take a chance…”

– Lyrics to “I write the Songs” by Barry Maniolow

While some of this is very hard to swallow now, it is interesting to consider the possibility that music can indeed be used to influence or control humanity and change our behaviors simply based on the music we listen too. 

There is even a strange little verse in the Bible I remember that suggests that David used music to calm an angry demonic spirit (1 Samuel 16:23). Consider also how churches frequently use music to change the mood in the audience just before making an alter call to give your heart to Jesus or how rock music can be used prior to a sporting event to amp up and energize the crowd. Or consider how music is used in movies to make a scene more emotional and bring tears to our eyes or startling us with dissonance to make us literally jump out of our seats. If you have ever been to a great concert or public event with music you might even hear people refer to the evening as being “electric” or “magical”.  It really does seem that music is a bit magical in its’s ability to change our spiritual energy.

Over the course of the next few month I hope to share more of this conversation about music with my good friend Rich and explore further the power of music and some of the possible spiritual and metaphysical properties that make music so powerful of an influence over how we think and feel.