Sun 06 September 2026

I wrote about personal music libraries on Day 2, but I'm just talking about music in general now.

I think music is so commonplace and accessible that we often forget what a strange miracle it is. How would you explain music to a completely alien being that had no concept of it, if you were communicating over text and couldn't just play some for them? Would you talk about harmonics? Would you describe the mathematical rules that most music follows? Would you talk about the various cultural movements that had their own music? How would you explain protest music? War songs? National anthems? Religious music? How would you explain the fact that music has the ability to move people to tears, to dancing, to action, to rebellion, or (sadly) even self-destructive behaviors? How would you explain how some songs seem to define a generation, while others become super popular for a period, and then fade away with no real lasting effect?

While writing this, I'm watching a video of a worship band of about a half dozen people on various instruments surrounded by maybe one or two hundred people in in some kind of urban space. It's somewhat dark, and there's a warmth that comes across with the video, whether it's from the warm tones of the brick walls, the gentle swaying motion of the crowd, or the soft singing and simple instrumentation itself. It conveys something that is far more than the sum of its parts.

I could probably recall at least a dozen times when a song changed my life, whether it was an uplifting song that healed my mind of a terribly depressive mood, a religious song that stirred up a passionate desire for things unseen, a song I heard in a dream that inspired me, or just a sweet synthwave track with some sick synth arpeggios that kept me listening on repeat until my brain got all tingly.

Sure, sure, you can attempt to rip off the veil. You can tell me all about the simple mathematical properties of music, the neurology of music, whatever. You can say that music is just this or that neural patterns, and that's fine. But I don't honestly care.

To me, it will always be this very strange gift with no definite known origin, a seeming gift from heaven, the leftover soundtrack of creation, the invisible strings that tie human hearts together. Music is both simple, and beyond comprehension, incredibly simple and staggeringly complex, and will always be, now and forever, my very, very favorite intoxicant.

Keep it saucy, my friends. 🍷🎶

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