Soundtrack of our Lives

There’s a song that ripples through my life – decade after decade. I never knew much about it except that it was beautiful, emotional and timeless for me.

It’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge. Is the tune coming to mind now? Can you sing the first verse? Bet you can.

The year was 1966, and I glided to it at my spring dance in the arms of Brad, the football hero who made me his first girlfriend. I was nominated for spring queen, but didn’t win. It didn’t matter. The prize was Brad and we had a wonderful evening together. Dancing to that song will forever be one of my best lifetime memories.

I’ve been thinking about this because of a film I watched on PBS last night called simply Muscle Shoals. This was one of the most emotional thought-provoking films I have ever seen on PBS. Filmmaker Greg Camalier has captured something that might have well escaped the history of recorded American music had he not passed through Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Both baby boomers, my significant other and I cried through countless scenes in this film and relived precious times from our past. It is a phenomenal chronology of an important era in American history that anyone could appreciate - even if they weren't music aficionados. It is the history of a small recording studio near the Alabama cotton fields that held some of the most talented studio musicians of all time, and recorded numerous artists that were on their way up.

Percy was one of the first singers to record there and come out with a hit. Producer Rick Hall brought him in when he heard that this hospital orderly had a beautiful song. There is still a little controversy over who wrote it, but Percy made it a timeless classic. He came from the cotton fields nearby where he sang his heart out daily and was encouraged by other pickers to pursue a singing career.

What grabbed me as much as the music was the place itself. My parents grew up near there and often told me about the places they went on dates and the towns that welcomed young people to dance and meet each other. The film even featured the Elks Lodge that my parents talked about throughout their lives as the place that held such happy memories for them.

One scene showed the Rolling Stones coming out of a Holiday Inn where they were staying while they recorded at Fame Records with producer Rick Hall. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The times that my brothers and I had come from Michigan to NE Mississippi for important family events, found us in this Holiday Inn. It was the closest place outside the dry counties where we were visiting with our relatives, where we could have a legal cocktail.

Back to Percy. The song  again came to mean so much to me when I was in my 30’s, as I was in the relationship that would endure for many years. My lover’s long time best friend disapproved of me and did his best to break us up. “When a man loves a woman, can’t think of nothin’ else, turn his back on his best friend if he puts her down.” These lyrics endure to this day as I write this. Somehow, over the years we worked it out, and we are both still in his life.

I can’t finish this without speaking about the movie of the same name with Andy Garcia and Meg Ryan. He does love this woman who is solidly addicted to alcohol. I can’t mention my family history without noting that alcohol addiction has played a role in our lives. Woven in with the love and caring was the love of alcohol. I won’t sugar coat it. There were tugs of war. But, in the movie, love does conquer the addictions and other distractions and their love carries them through all the challenges and betrayals.

The background music of our lives often comes to the forefront when we least expect it. I offer you the film Muscle Shoals, and I’m fairly certain you will find some lyric from your life history that was recorded here.