Music and Memory and Meaning

 

 

I thought about Sinead Lohan last night.

I am probably the only person who was thinking about Sinead Lohan at the time and given the time difference between here and Ireland that includes Sinead Lohan. To be honest, she is neither the most popular Sinead nor Lohan and that is an accomplishment. I mean, I can only name two Sinead’s and she comes in second. For Lohan’s she at least beats Michael.

Anyway, I was thinking about her.

Now anyone who is still reading this is probably asking the question of who the hell is Sinead Lohan. Well, she was (is? Verb tense is going to be a bit weird here) an Irish singer songwriter who 25 years ago released this brilliant album called No Mermaid. It had a little bit of airplay in Chicago and an amazing cover photo so it entered my CD collection.

              (Ok, ignore the thumb there. This was the best quality photo that I could find quickly.)

              It stuns me that I bought this 25 years ago. Part of that is just the sheer fact that aging at some point becomes an incomprehensible fact. 25 years is literally half a lifetime ago for me. My brain understands the math but can’t piece together of the reality of all of the time spent on either side of this album. It certainly doesn’t seem equal. But even more than that is the fact that I could immediately remember this album, this photo, and some of the beautiful and amazing songs on this album. “No Mermaid”, “Whatever It Takes”, “Believe It If You Like”, and others are all on instant recall in my head even when I haven’t listened to this album for years.

              Yet, there is one other aspect of this that really made me think and listen one more time.

              See, this is the only album I ever knew that she ever released. Apparently, Wikipedia tells me that she released one earlier album but A) I have no recollection of ever seeing it and B) I went to multiple record stores in Ireland around this time. She recorded one of my favorite albums and just disappeared. A few years later Nickel Creek covered “Out of the Woods”, which means that her version is simultaneously the second most popular version of that song and third most popular song with that title falling far behind Taylor Swift. But that was it. I have this one CD. And I still have the physical CD and have burned it to multiple computers and transferred it to device after device. I could listen to it on my Zune if I wanted to. I have had these songs with me for 25 years.

              And this is what amazes me about art and the unknown ways that an artist can effect us. Sinead Lohan recorded this one album 25 years ago, got a bit of recognition, and then went on with her life. Yet there is someone across an ocean who has never forgotten this one piece of art and has had it floating around his consciousness as part of his life’s soundtrack. And she has no idea of this. Or maybe she does? Maybe that is the entire reason why we create in the first place. For that hope, however distant and remote, that we will put something out into the universe that will resonate with another human being. That we can make this infinite void we live in just that little bit smaller. Occasionally that very thing happens.