Sing, Sing a Song

I am not the world's greatest singer, but I have always liked to sing and been interested in singing as an approach to life. No matter how many times I had to watch Sesame Street, I always loved the song, "Sing, Sing a Song" no matter who sang it. It's simple, but it says a lot to me.

Lately, I've been coming across several references to singing and its link to happiness. Usually, when I start to notice the same topic occurring or catching my eye repeated, it's time to pay attention. One was Lizard Eater's post, which I've already mentioned, another was on Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project. And there was a quote I wrote down the week before last at work.

After taking last week off from work, I sat down this morning, turned on my computer and started to read my e-mail with tea in hand when I looked down to see " 'I do not sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing.' - William James" written on the top of my yellow legal notepad like it was the heading for my day. It helped re-frame my entire approach to the day and I actually was much happier to be at work.

At the risk of being a complete cornball maybe I'll make that quote into a sign for my desk so I can be reminded every morning. Sing and be happy; the worst that could happen is you'll look like a dork.

My Favorite Hymn

I was inspired today by Lizard Eater at The Journey today who has a lovely analysis of her favorite song, "How Can I Keep From Singing?" It is a wonderful song and I like what she has to say about it.

It reminded me of my favorite hymn, "His Eye Is On the Sparrow" which I play when I am down. I have three different versions on my iPod and I played them all back to back last week when I was trying to perk myself up.

It always surprised me that these old hymns can have such an effect on me. I don't believe in God anymore, and if I did it would not be the God of those songs. But I love them. Maybe it's just comforting memories of childhood, but some of them are just so beautiful. I don't really feel like Jesus is watching over me, like the sparrow, but it still makes me feel better. Mountains still make me want to sing, "How Great Thou Art". I don't really have to understand it if it works, but it still puzzles me.

A couple of years ago, I realized that I knew so few sing-a-long songs to teach my girls and I wondered why that was when we sang all the time when I was a kid. Then it dawned on me: most of what we sang as a family was either hymns or praise songs. I guess I'll continue to sing Beatles songs and old folk tunes with les filles.