THE GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME

When Johnny Cash sings Curly's Putman's classic 1965 country-western THE GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME, he is telling a universal story. In just a few bars, a story about the life, longing, and demise of one of the world's lost souls. And because all stories are true -- especially those that happened -- this narrative lives on in the pantheon of American music.

Music, even more than literature and theatre, has this gifted way of reaching and strumming the deepest chords of our being. It's instant...it's gut-deep...it barely takes any detour through the brain for analysis. So when Johnny Cash ends, our own feelings are just beginning to swell. Like what happens in ball parks when we sing the national anthem or every time we watch the classic moment in CASABLANCA when the Frenchmen in Bogart's Nazi-controlled cafe stand and sing The Marseilles.

Good music is indigenous to the culture in which it has been birthed; great music is indigenous to humanity itself; wherever there are ears to hear and hearts to swell. Now wouldn't it be a splendid idea if some someone were to write an anthem for the world itself!

The Medieval Church tried with its Gregorian Chants...Beethoven with his 9th Symphony Ode to Joy... the Communists with their Internationale... 20th Century Fox still tries with that explosive film fanfare before each movie....even Coca Cola took a shot with their 1971 mountain-top commercial I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke.

Here's the point.

Music possesses a potential in the life of humanity entirely unique. It's a power lent to us by the gods, to be used with great respect. Tribes have followed it into deserts...armies into battles...martyrs into death ...hippies into Woodstock...angry audiences into rappers. The leap from Beethoven to Rap is a pretty imposing one, and yet that's usually for each private soul to decide.

That decision, of course, can get complicated. Because our feet start tapping and our passions start crackling long before our brain can catch up. So before following that latest music down that new highway, it's usually a good idea to first listen to the lyrics. Especially with any flashy "music man" that suddenly appears on the stage of our lives....