COLUMN: Music is not my friend right now

Usually my love of music makes my life better, but lately it’s done nothing but bring me down.   

Last Thursday I should have been working on a project, but instead I was learning Cee Lo’s “Fuck You” on the organ. I really needed to work on the project, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s so catchy that I had to learn it. And why not learn the bass and guitar parts, too?

Next thing I knew it was 1 a.m., and I had gotten nothing done. My workload for the upcoming week of hell would be no lighter.But hey, it’s music. I can’t be mad at it. It’s there when I need it.

Once I was driving home from the middle of nowhere at six in the morning, and I could hardly keep my eyes open. I put in Hüsker Dü’s classic 1985 album “New Day Rising.” I blasted it the whole way home, and the distorted guitar kept me awake.

Had it not been for the Dü, I would’ve most likely wrecked.

That was then. Now it is 7 a.m., I haven’t slept, I have a 10-page research paper due tomorrow and I just wasted five minutes figuring out how to type that “ü.”  

What, do you want me to leave out the umlaut? Never. That band saved my life. I owe it to them to type their name correctly.

But because I owe it to them, I spend 10 minutes on Wikipedia looking up bands that use umlauts, and my research paper remains incomplete.

I’ve become exhausted with so much to do. If I put on some music I might be able to stay awake, so I just put my iTunes on shuffle.

It has to be someone I have no interest in learning about.

Nothing that would make me want to play any instruments.

It can’t be anyone who’s good live, or I’ll watch live videos. Ahh, the relaxing tones of Booker T.’s “Time is Tight,” perfect to write to.

You know what? I think I might like Stax more than Motown.

But then again James Jamerson is Motown. But Stax has Otis Redding. But it’s Motown...

It’s always music.  It’s there when I need it, but it’s also there when I don’t.