Did I just take drugs?

I read once that William Burroughs and Jimmy Page used to discuss how crowds are influenced. It was explicitly music in Jimmy's case, but they'd discuss in general the ability for public speakers and musicians to affect large bodies of people. It resonated with me because when I listen to music, it feels like a tide (An effect even more enhanced at live shows, which I so dearly miss!). I feel like when a musician plays something extraordinary, a singer hits a high note, or the words punch home, my body is water-filled and is being wrenched and pulled by the music's gravity. It's a whole-body experience because it's in your mind, but the mind pulls on the nerves and heartstrings, giving the sensation of being tossed around.

As a band, the Rocket Soul Choir get up on stage and just play, feeding into each other almost absent-mindedly (I mean, every good fitting team is that way, right?). But there is a spot in The Butcher Boy that always catches me unawares. Coming out of the first and second chorus, Pete plays a little fill, and it's always so frenetic, and I just wish I could kick my amp to 11 at that moment. I've been playing that song for years, but that drum fill just eggs me on, aiming just a little higher.

I bring it up because this week, I realize it's not just music that does it; it's everything; work stress, relationships, the news, words coming out of our mouths to each other. It's walking past inanimate objects; The little wooden carved acorn on my bookshelf, the circular gold chair in Jen's office, or my guitar. I'm sitting here, working away managing a few small fires today, and my mind and body just want me to stop and play guitar and sing. It's a physical tug (Which, of course, is its own problem with currently eight instruments sitting around the house!)

For good or bad, I'm a tide, and the gravity of everything is pulling on me. On the bad days, you get pulled apart by the current, but on the good days, you get washed up on the proverbial beach, and it's warm, and the chords come, and the words come, and I get to make music.