I Got the Music in Me...In The Stone - Earth Wind And Fire(1979) Part 1.

Music is not only my muse, it is my healer...okay and my lover too.  I present the song of the week ( 2 weeks or month until we get a new song of which there are already new ones brewing), as my healing and growth are moved forward in the hopes that what is said, sung and performed will help somebody else to move forward.

"In the Stone" by the INIMITABLE Earth, Wind & Fire is one of so many amazing records from a catalog that spans 30+ maybe 40 years.  I will not tell my age, but for all of my life that spans back to conscious memories of childhood and in particular memories of radio, 1600 AM WEUP in Hunstsville, AL, I don't remember them ever not being played on the radio. 

At home we had "Saturday Night" on a Casablanca Label 45.  Their songs that punctuated my childhood are "Septemeber", "Boogie Wonderland", "Got To Get You Into My Life (their arrangement on this cover is MATCHLESS), "After The Love Is Gone", "Reasons", "Devotion" and the list goes on ..."Getaway","You", "And Love Goes On" and "Side by Side".

I don't mention songs like "Let's Groove" (a mega hit that crossed them over which is always good for the musician's pocket) or even "System of Survival" because these represented a shift in their continuum of creation. While the success they brought the group are to be applauded, it signaled a turn from the melodies, hymns, spirituals that I loved and songs that had been for the listener (me) transformational.

In the 6th and 7th grades I played clarinet in Davis Hills Middle School band.  My sister played saxophone. Learning to play music was awesome.  I can't say that we demonstrated a particular gift for our instruments, but we tried.  All band camp kids know that when you enter a band as a school activity you are taught music.  You are taught scales and what terms like crescendo mean and what symbols on the sheet music signal a staccato, crescendo, decrescendo or rest. 

I was always impressed with "staccato" because it required...demanded precision. (Staccato is what you hear when "Getaway" opens...they ROCK it)  For two little girls who already LOVED music, being in the band and being taught music lifted me to a new level within myself.  I saw a glimpse of a higher self at 10 years old.  I didn't know what to do with the higher self, but I saw her in the distance :)

Of all the Soul Music played on the radio, I would submit that EWF was most recognizable as band.  I didn't imagine them in an orchestra arrangement in rehearsals like we were at school, but they sounded like they were HUGE.  Their horns and horn arrangements were a major signature for them as a band. There were so many signatures to their sound.  They were and still are flawless.  I heard Philip Bailey sing at a funeral here in LA recently and Verdine White spoke...for me they are timeless icons of Soul Music...of Music. Their compositions were classic and rhythmic at the very same time.  You can listen in a chamber fashion or you can DANCE.  God is so in their music.

My sister and I composed very short songs that we went on the garage and played.  We, I believe assumed that's what you are supposed to do when you learn something new.  EWF (and some TV scoring) bridged a connection for us between what we were learning what was available to be done as musicians. Participating in band meant you were to try, do it, get in it and be a part of it.  We had taken ballet very briefly so while this wasn't an introduction to the arts or craft it signaled to us that we had permission to ..."do something" that started within and came out.

I reflect now (many years later) how beautiful that was because, we saw no barrier between ourselves and the music.  Thank you Earth, Wind and Fire. Because your MUSIC was on the radio, we believed in enough of our potential to try...to not only play, but compose. Though our potential was neither recognized, realized or encouraged (God had another plan). To this day I still see no barrier between me and the music. I am looking to purchase a tambourine and learn piano on this computer...I will not be stopped :)

Anyway this notion of "no barrier between hearing and doing or seeing and doing" I want to bottle that and teach it to Ali, so while I work on that concept for child rearing I share Earth, Wind and Fire's compositon "In the Stone".  The song is still transformational and now that I pay attention to lyrics...I am even more moved...



"In the Stone"
written by Maurice White, David Foster and Allee Willis

I found that love, provides the key
Unlocks the heart and souls of you and me
Love will learn to sing your song, yeah
Love is written in the stone

Every man I meet is walking time
Free to wander past his conscious mind
Love will come, and take you home, yeah
Love is written in the stone

Do you believe, my friend, in what you claim?
People of the world all doubt the same
Bringing questions of their own, yeah
Truth is written in the stone

In the stone you'll find the meaning
You're not standing tall
In the stone the light is shining
Forever touching all

Life experience a passing day
Time will witness what the ol' folks say
Getting stronger every day
Strength is written in the stone

Deep inside, our hearts for you to keep
Lies a spark of light that never sleeps
The greatest love you've ever known
Yea is written in the stone

In the stone, you'll find the meaning
(why) You're not standing tall
In the stone the light is shining
Forever touching all

Never, never my darling
Never you'll be alone
Never, never my darling
Never you'll be alone
Ever, forever my darling
True love is written in the stone

Never, never my darling
never you'll be alone
Ever, forever my darling
True love is written in the stone

Never, never my darling
never you'll be alone
Ever, forever my darling
True love is written in the stone

Never

Ever

Written In The Stone

Never

Ever

Written In The Stone