At A Moments Notice...

Most times when I’m out and about stumbling through the streets of New York, there’s a soundtrack playing in the background. This soundtrack is ever evolving and cannot be limited to one genre, artist or mood. Each track, explicit or not, universal or not, sensitive or not is equally important, and serves a necessary purpose in the evolution of Chris. Sometimes, while embracing a song I wonder what my life would be like if music wasn’t a part of it, and each and every time I immediately usher the thought out as quickly as it surfaces; for to me there would be no life without music.

This week and for the last couple of months I have been living and breathing Elton John’s classic tune Daniel. Maybe you’ve heard it? If not, maybe you should. It is a painfully beautiful song with lyrics as powerful as they are poignant. But then what else would one expect from Elton John, the musical equivalent—some have speculated—of Stevie Wonder? Released in 1973, the year of my birth, Elton had to fight to get his label to issue the song as a single. It seems they believed the song was too long and too somber to be a hit. When all was said and done, Daniel ended up peaking at #2 in the United States and #4 in the United Kingdom, and has since gone on to live in the hearts and minds of music lovers everywhere.

Part of the song’s charm lies in its ambiguity. It’s one of those songs that seem have a different meaning for everyone who listens to it. The most popular speculation (probably due largely to Elton’s sexuality) is that Daniel is a former lover who has gone off to Spain, and has left his partner behind. But the true meaning, according to Song Facts, is that Daniel, having lost his sight in the Vietnam War is abandoning America for Spain. Hence the lyrics: Do you still feel the pain of the scars that won't heal; your eyes have died but you see more than I... Rumor has it Elton eliminated the verse that contained this information to condense the rather lengthy song, almost certainly, I imagine, to appease the already doubtful label. And though I would love to hear this mysterious original version in all of its historic revelry, a piece of me knows no matter how beautiful and clarifying it could be I still wouldn’t trade it for the version I’ve come to know and love. As mystifying as it sometimes is, in its simplest form it is pure perfection. As revelers of music, isn’t that all we want, simple pleasure?

I love my soundtrack. I love its melodies, its highs and its lows. I love the way it seems to know which songs to play at exactly the right moment. And I love the way each song in one way or another completes that moment, almost like the way a period just happens to complete a sentence. But most of all I love the feeling I get whenever I happen upon one of those rare beauties I can listen to repeatedly and never grow tired. And today that’s just what happened as Elton and I walked hand in hand wondering if indeed we had glimsed Daniel, or, if it was merely the clouds in our eyes.