Music - Is it Soothing or Does it Clutter?

Personally, I enjoy most music. The only music that clutters my thinking is hard rock and probably rap. Hard rock is a lot of little boys banging on their mama's pots and pans and yelling while having temper tantrums. Rap...I did get an MC Hammer tape once, but I stopped it there. I cannot absorb all the words fast enough to put it all together and have it make sense. I want music to which I can sing along.

I mostly enjoy soft rock and pop music from the 70s and 80s. Country music has some winners, too. My husband turned me on to classical music. I find it very relaxing and romantic. We also enjoy Celtic music and Sea Shantys that tell great historical stories.

Some songs I find myself learning the words to while I sit at work, or on the drive to and fro. Sometimes I think I know the words, but clearly don't. I'll be belting one out while driving and realize, hey, that just doesn't make sense. So I sing the made-up words I've been singing all along. Otherwise, I will have to just hum until I get to a part I think I know. Good thing all the traffic around me can't hear me. They just see me talking to myself and probably think I'm crazy!

When I have an idea for a story I keep my ears open for a theme song. I find music is a positive muse for me. It puts me in productive writing mode. Sometimes I used lyrics as suggested narration for my characters. Especially the love songs..."oh, my darling!" I have half a dozen first draft novels and they each have a theme song. For one of my novels, anything sung by Roy Orbison is also sung by the hero of the story. He's a rich house-flipper in Portsmouth, NH and moonlights as a singer in a band for relaxation. The heroine is his opinionated childhood friend who waitresses at the Rusty Hammer, and then becomes a real estate agent. They have a tumultuous relationship.

How do you feel about music? Is it soothing or does it clutter? What are some of your favorite songs, and why?
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