In our house, we love music. Now, I’m not necessarily musically inclined, but my husband enjoys playing guitar and we’ve always shared music with each other. We have the same taste, and it’s always something we’ve bonded over. We even grew up listening to some of the same music, despite having grown up speaking different languages and living on different continents.
My husband learned his love of music from his father, which is a bond he’s had his entire life. Now that my husband lives far away from his family, it’s a gentle way to recall so many memories he has built throughout the years with his family. We can listen to songs that take us back to our individual childhoods or even vacations we’ve been on over the last (almost) 8 years together.
The day my son was born, my husband wanted to make sure to continue that sense of connection with our own son. So, my son’s first song on this side of the world was “Father and Son” by Cat Stevens.
This song tells a special story. It’s a song that my husband and his father bonded over. When my husband graduated from college and made the decision to stay in the United States, he took his family to Pat O’Brien’s in New Orleans to celebrate. He and his father requested “Father and Son,” but the pianist didn’t know how to play it. My husband wrote on a napkin to the pianist explaining how much it would mean to him if she would play this song for him and his father, to celebrate his accomplishments and becoming the man his father always raised him to be. The pianist was so moved by his request, that she had to play the song!
My husband also danced to this song at our wedding with his mother. Its lyrics transcend that feeling a parent has as they watch their child transform right before their eyes into the adult they’ve always known they would become. Seeing their child build a happy, fulfilling life.
So, naturally, when our son was born, my husband finally understood that feeling his own father had when listening to this song. He looked at my son and couldn’t help but want those lyrics to surround us in those first moments in the hospital as we all got to know each other.
This song has such a special meaning for our family, as well as many others. It’s so amazing to me how the lyrics our parents loved in the 70s and 80s have traveled with us along the way and we’re now singing those songs to our own son.
Music truly transcends time, speaking to generations, and continuing to tell the most meaningful stories.
