river_head

Radiohead is one of my favorite artists. I feel like listening to one of their albums is like watching a physicist explain a complicated theory that you don’t quite understand, but you connect with somehow. “Let Down” is one of those songs that my soul connects with, and I don’t really know why. But there is a moment, when the song crescendos to its climax, where one second the electronic beats, riffs, and vocals are lost in their own chaos, and suddenly they come together perfectly to form a glorious partnership that sounds like everything in the universe is aligned for a brief moment in time. It literally takes my breath from my lungs when I hear it. Last night my son was having a hard time going to sleep after he ate. I get very upset when he is upset, even though I know that his little world consists of eating, sleeping, crying, and the digestive process. When he is crying he might just be a little uncomfortable or even bored, but it still upsets my heart to see him cry. After a long struggle, he finally fell asleep on my chest in his mother’s rocking chair. She came in to check on us and decided to play some music for us to relax to. Sure enough it was a selection of Radiohead songs played with lullaby-ish instruments (i.e. lots of xylophones, bells and flutes.) As I listened and he slept, I was overwhelmed with a deep sense of contentment. My son, my flesh and blood, was resting peacefully on my chest, in my home, warm and safe. And as we listened to the lullabies, with their simple harmonies and peaceful instruments, the very song that shakes my soul, came right on time, lost in its chaotic flute riff and mind bending xylophone solo. And suddenly everything in my world fell into perfect unison…like a title wave, my son, my wife, my family, my friends, my job, it all came crashing down on me in perfect accord, and I drowned in happiness.