Our Souls Our Souls

The Earworm Society (newly created by yours truly) is a forum to talk about all the music we love and the songs that we carry in our heads. Why do we do this? Because Earworm Songs evoke powerful thoughts, messages, inspiration and memories.

An earworm, sometimes referred to as a brainworm, sticky music, stuck song syndrome, or, most commonly after earworms, Involuntary Musical Imagery, is a catchy or memorable piece of music that continuously occupies a person’s mind even after it is no longer being played.

Have you ever had a meaningful song that gets stuck in your brain? I posed this question to the owners of the local Vinyl Record stores and this is the response I got.

NUMBER ONE ANSWER: TAKING CHANCES IN LIFE

CHRISTOPHER BENVIE - OWNER OF BAD OBSESSION RECORDS, SAVANNAH

“I’ve had to think a little bit about what song is considered “currently” in my head, given how much music I listen to in a week. Therefore, I defaulted on my favorite song of all time, which feels the most appropriate to answer your question.

With that being said, the song perpetually stuck in my head is “Dancing in the Moonlight” by Thin Lizzy, specifically the version featured on their Live & Dangerous album, as opposed to the studio recording. Both the song and the album are loaded with memories for me. The very first time I’d ever heard it was when I was about 10 years old, and it was NOT by Thin Lizzy. At the time my uncle was in a band that played a bunch of cover songs at various bars and restaurants.

Live and Dangerous is a live double album by the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, released in June 1978. It was recorded in London in 1976, and Philadelphia and Toronto in 1977, with further production in Paris. It was also the last Thin Lizzy album to feature guitarist Brian Robertson, who left the band shortly after its release.

See, my uncle is my Godfather, he was the best man at my wedding, is whom I consider my best friend, and for most of my life was my father figure. He was also one of the coolest people in the world to me. In the 1980’s growing up in Boston, he was a member of the band Steel Assassin. In their time, they WERE the Boston metal scene. Bands like Metallica, Anthrax, and Raven, for example, would share the bill with Steel Assassin. They also laid the groundwork for other metal bands from Boston to follow suit. Bands like Wargasm, Meliah Rage, Triphammer, and so on.

As the 90’s came upon us, Steel Assassin had called it quits and my uncle took to playing for fun with some friends and one song they performed happened to be “Dancing in the Moonlight” and my young, feverish musical mind wanted more. There obviously was no such thing as the internet or streaming music at that time, so upon learning who actually sang the song I got a copy of the CD. I played the album in its entirety, but kept repeating that one song, over and over.

My love affair was born.

Since that time, “Dancing in the Moonlight” has been a mainstay in every family event that I can remember. The years would pass by and not surprisingly, if it wasn’t my uncle hosting a family get together at his house, it would be happening at mine. Both of us share a love of music and that song in particular would always be queued up for the night at some point. It was played at his wedding reception. It was played at my wedding reception.

It was the very first song I played when I opened the doors to Bad Obsession Records.

For me, a song of that magnitude is a living entity. It’s far more than a song.It truly has a life of its own and its meaning consistently shifts and changes with every passing season of my life. What it meant to me as a 10 year old boy hearing it for the first time from a man I look up to and admire is very different from where I find my interpretation of it today.

The song itself is about courage. Literally in the lyrics it is about having the courage to ask a girl for the last dance, to take her out, to sacrifice being late for curfew and suffering the repercussions of one’s actions, “but it’s a habit worth forming if it means to justify the end.”

As I sit here today, the conversations I’ve had with this song over the years have helped me be brave to ask the girl out. It’s been there when my wife and I were nervous about buying our first house, and more so starting a family. It’s been there to celebrate weddings, homes, and new adventures.

Today, it is still very much a rallying cry of courage for me. Not even a year ago my family decided to pick up our lives in Massachusetts and move down to Savannah. I wanted to follow a dream, despite being terrified of doing so. This song is comforting. We took a leap of faith moving down here with tremendous courage, and I opened up Bad Obsession Records with a childhood dream holding the reins while I worked my way through the process.

I always try to keep a copy of “Live & Dangerous” in stock. I want somebody else to hopefully find the same magic from that album that I’ve found. Even if it’s not that album, maybe they can find that same comfort from “We Are the Champions” by Queen, “Get Up, Stand Up” by Bob Marley or even “Lose Yourself” by Eminem. At their core, the message is the same. Be brave. Have faith in yourself and take chances in life.”

News of the World is the sixth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 28 October 1977 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States.

“Get Up, Stand Up” is a song written by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. It originally appeared on The Wailers’ 1973 album Burnin’.

Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights

Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight

Preacher man, don’t tell me

Heaven is under the earth

I know you don’t know

What life is really worth It’s not all that glitters is gold

‘Alf the story has never been told So now you see the light, eh

Stand up for your rights, come on