Grows on you, doesn't it?

Er, not the pointless photo. Or the bergenia, for that matter.

At least I hope bergenia doesn't grow on you. That'd be a problem.

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This will, I hope, be short. I have other things to do yet this morning. Here we go:

Want to know something odd? One of my absolute favourite songs (and it has been for a long time) is Feelin' Alright. Um, ok. So that part's not odd. The odd part is that the version I like is Joe Cocker's cover rather than Traffic's original (although I like that too, actually).

Not quite getting why that's odd yet? Can't say I'm surprised, really. I'm having a little trouble with focussing today.

The odd comes in more when you consider that I never particularly liked Joe Cocker. He seemed hard to watch and even harder to listen to. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if it hadn't been for Artie Butler's amazing piano work on the track sucking me in I probably never would have given it a second thought. Not exactly my kind of music at the time.

The time being when I was in my early teens.

And what was my kind of music at the time? Oh, I'm not sure I want to tell you. Let's just say that, like a fair number of teenagers, it took a while for my tastes to move beyond basic pop music. I did have a bit of a thing for Billy Joel, though. I prefer to think of that as the highlight of my teen listening, but you can think whatever you want to. It's not like it's going to change my teenage self anyway.

My current self, speaking musically at least, is a fair bit different. Eclectic is a fair word. You'll find me listening to jazz, blues, rock, big band, classical... well, it's probably quicker to list what I don't listen to, but since I don't want any of my two fans to take umbrage if I happen to not like something that they really enjoy I don't think I'll bother with it.

So what happened to expand the horizons? Lots of things, really. Growing up, moving into university rez and being exposed to different music, becoming more willing to give different things a try, gaining experience performing in different styles; that sort of thing. I think the biggest catalyst was simply time, however.

Time to hear things.

Time to listen.

Time to figure out the merits of music that maybe didn't strike a chord (no pun intended) initially. Time to allow things to become familiar.

There's a good feeling in the familiar, you know. It's one of the reasons we tend to sing along with the radio when an old favourite comes on. It gives you a sense of place, comfort, or even belonging. The music sits right once you've given yourself a chance to get to know it.

And you'd be surprised what kinds of things can grow on you if you give them a chance.

How else can I explain the fact that my Essential Joe Cocker disc (google it yourself if you're interested. I've linked enough in the past couple of days) is so frequently in the the CD player these days?

Yep. It's pretty amazing what giving something a chance can do, all right.







I had to find a way to end the blather with an all right because, as much as I like the song I mentioned above, having to type alright is awfully hard on my OLF soul. The things I do for you people.

And so much for a short post...