Songs: They're the key to life

The Boston Globe

Beverly Beckham

I had an idea a while ago about writing a book called ``Everything I Know I Learned from My Garden,'' full of pithy if not original insights. Growth can't be rushed, for one, or maturity counts, and it really does matter where you're planted. I scribbled some notes, but got predictably sidetracked. Then winter came and my garden died. (I know: It's not really dead. Which is another life lesson: Things are not always what they seem.) Still, I abandoned the project.

Now I'm glad I did because it struck me recently that everything I know I learned not from my garden but from songs. Old songs, new songs, Broadway songs, kids' songs. Ballads. Rap. Rounds. They're all packed with life lessons. `

`Just what makes that little old ant think he'll move that rubber tree plant; anyone knows an ant can't move a rubber tree plant, but he's got high hopes.''

`If you're worried and you can't sleep, just count your blessings instead of sheep.''

``Row, row, row your boat.'' ``A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.'' ``A dream is a wish your heart makes.'' ``I can fly! I can fly! I can fly!'' All incredible motivators.

There are songs of affirmation: ``What a difference a day makes.'' ``Whatever will be, will be.'' ``Little things mean a lot.'' ``Time heals everything.'' ``There will never be another you.'' ``Give a little whistle and always let your conscience be your guide.'' And injunctions: ``Tap your troubles away.'' ``Think happy thoughts.'' ``Make someone happy.'' ``You gotta have heart.'' ``Big girls don't cry.'' ``Give `em the old razzle dazzle.'' ``Wrap your troubles in dreams and dream all your troubles away.''

Some songs are wise: ``Love changes everything.'' ``There's no place like home.'' ``You can't get a man with a gun.'' ``Try a little tenderness.'' ``The best things in life are free.'' ``You're never fully dressed without a smile.'' And some are invitations: ``Life is a cabaret, old chum, come to the cabaret.'' ``Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow, 'til you find your dream.''

Want pure nostalgia? There's this. ``The way you wear your hat The way you sip your tea The memory of all that No, no, they can't take that away from me.'' Want sad? ``Pretend you're happy when you're blue,'' is sad. ``It's a hard-knock life,'' is true, but so is its antithesis: ``And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.''

Music, like a garden, is full of contrast. ``Smile though your heart is aching.'' ``The best is yet to come.'' ``The sun'll come out tomorrow.'' ``Breaking up is hard to do.'' ``In the wee small hours of the morning, that's the time you miss him most of all.'' ``It's a party in the USA.'' ``It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.'' ``Some days are diamonds. Some days are stones.''

Songs and life lessons, all.