Hear that beat? Feel it in your soul. Hear that rhythm? Feel it in your heart. That is a song that your heart and soul knows. A song that evokes a memory inside you. Maybe from your childhood or teen years, but wherever it comes from, it connects with you.

Now think back to a depressing/dark time and music may have been there, as well. A favorite song by your favorite band or maybe even a depressing song. Music can literally save a life from falling deeper into depression.

Whether it is rock, bluegrass, rap, heavy metal, instrumental, hip-hop, jazz or any other kind of music, it evokes emotions in people. Music connects people to each other, when they go to concerts or when they make fan sites or clubs.

The memory may be from an earlier time with a friend, family member, spouse.

Some of these emotions can be life saving. Artists get surprised when they write depressing music and someone tells them it saved them from killing themselves.

People who are depressed listen to depressing songs because they can relate, not because they dwell.

As a writer, music has a huge impact on my writing. The reason I’m talking about impact is because there is connection to music for everyone, even people who say they don’t like music.

I asked a friend about the lyrics to a favorite song, “Patience” by Guns and Roses.

“Yes, I remember lyrics to nearly every song that I love or parts that are connected to situations and memories. I can look at photos and hear music.”

On the other hand, music gives people happiness and brings back memories.

Another person I interviewed said “Danny Boy” was her favorite song because “that’s where my son got his name,” she said.

One man I interviewed told about his love of dance as a teen. He was born in 1941. In 1957, at 16-years-old, he was on American Bandstand in Philadelphia.

“(Music) gave me inspiration to dance. I danced on American Bandstand where Dick Clark was the producer in 1957. This made me happy, popular and semi-famous,” he said.

American Bandstand got teens dancing to Top 40 music. Clark wanted to revive the show, but he had a stroke in 2004. The show eventually became the hit series So You Think You Can Dance.

Music takes darkness away, because music is forever in our hearts fighting the darkness. It is the light when you think you have none.