Nostalgia and Music

People often ask if I get homesick. The truth is I tend to get nostalgic more than homesick. Yes, I miss people and I do get homesick for them, but I think more often I get to feeling melancholy for the way things were or for the way they should have been, but never truly were.

There are parts of my life that I miss and sometimes I wish that I hadn't had to leave those pieces of my life behind. But there is truth to the saying that we look back through rose colored glasses. So tonight I was listening to one of my favorite "nostalgic songs" by Shenandoah (from that time of my life when I really got to be the country girl that I always dreamed about). The melody is moving in it's quiet beauty and in case you have never heard the song some of the lyrics are below.

Mill worker houses lined up in a row,
Another southern Sunday morning blow.
Beneath the steeple all the people have begun
shakin' hands with the man who grips the Gospel Gun,
While the quiet prayer, the smell of dinner on the ground,
heals up the morning air. Ain't nothin' sweeter around.
I can almost hear my mama pray:
"Oh Lord forgive us when we doubt."
Another Sacred Sunday in the south.

I can almost hear the old folks say:
"You'll make it big one day, you'll leave this town."
Some other lazy Sunday you'll come back around.

I can feel the evening sun go down,
and all the lights in the houses one by one go out.
Softly in the distance nothing stirs about
and the night is filled with the sound of a whipporwil.

(You can download the song "Sunday in the South" from Itunes if you want to listen to the whole thing ).

Do you have any songs that are nostalgic for you?
I would love to hear about them - leave your comments below.