The Spin on a Song

I saw the movie "The Music Never Stopped," which I recommend.  It tells the story of a man's memory loss caused by a brain tumor.  The memory loss prevented the man from remembering about 20 years of his life.  And his short term memory was almost nil, so he couldn't remember what happened only moments before.

But the movie is really about a father's relationship with his son.  The father and son were at odds during the late 1960's turmoil, causing the son to leave home in 1969.  The boy's mom and dad didn't see him again until the late 1980's, when they were called to a hospital room and confronted with their son's brain tumor and almost catatonic state.  While benign, and removable, the tumor caused memory loss and essentially erased their son's identity and personality.

It was only the intervention by an inventive music therapist that allowed the son to regain some of his identity.    He did so by listening to 1960's songs, which jogged his memory of that era, including memories of his family.   The father, while he disliked that music, changed his mind when he saw that it was the only way he could  re-connect with a lost son.  The film's climax is the two attending a Grateful Dead concert, a privilege the father denied the son in the late 1960's, which led to his disappearance.  Now the concert brings father and son together.

Music often is exquisite.  Not only does it make us smarter, it helps us manage our emotions, and creates memories that last a lifetime.  I can still remember "My Boy Lollipop," and "Downtown" . . . well it goes on and on.  It is fitting that music, a universal elixir, should also harmonize hearts.