*ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 21, 2020*

Ever notice how being around a body of water can feel so healing?

I spent this beautiful day walking the Ocean City Boardwalk with my mother. It felt so good being out with the sun beating down on our faces and breathing in the salt air. It’s amazing what being near the ocean does for your soul.

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Today’s Track: Led Zeppelin – “The Ocean”

“Singing about the good things 
and the sun that lights the day” 
– Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)

I know the temperatures will soon be dropping as winter approaches. I mean, here in South Jersey, we already had some mornings that were only in the 20s! So, since today was going to be so gorgeous, I had to take advantage of it and  spend as much time as I could on my day off outside.

Walking the boardwalk and staring out into the ocean, it really got me thinking about all of the songs out there with water in the lyrics. There are a ton of songs out there about water! Some of my favorite include, but not limited to (in no particular order):

• Led Zeppelin – “The Rain Song”
• Led Zeppelin – “When The Levee Breaks”
• Led Zeppelin – “Fool In the Rain”
• Pearl Jam – “Oceans”
• Billie Eilish – “Ocean Eyes”
• Prince – “Purple Rain”
• The Talking Heads – “Once In a Lifetime”
• Incubus – “Aqueous Transmission”
• Simon & Garfunkel – “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
• Deep Purple – “Smoke on the Water”
• The Band – “Up On Cripple Creek”
• Ottis Redding – “(Sittin’ On) “The Dock of the Bay”
• The Beatles – “Octopus’s Garden”
• Toad the Wet Sprocket – “Walk on the Ocean”
• TLC – “Waterfalls”

Why write songs about water?

What draws a musician/song writer to write lyrics around the topic of water? This is what I have been pondering this afternoon. So of course when I got home I had to look up some things on the internet.

I found a great article shared by USA Today with a Q&A with marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols about his book, “Blue Mind.” The book goes into how being around water brings people into a state of happiness and peacefulness. I just may have to check this book out someday after reading this article!

So, does even thinking about water and envisioning water bring us a sense of calmness and peace? Does it have those same affects on the songwriters when they are thinking of water as they write? Or…are they writing songs involving water to bring a sense of happiness and peace to us, the listeners? Maybe I’m just overthinking this whole thing and it’s just easy for them to write a song involving water because it just flows (insert comedic drum sound effect here).What is your take on it? The reason is obviously different from artist to artist and from song to song. But I’d love to dive into this some more. (insert  another comedic drum sound effect here). And I would love to hear your thoughts on this as well. What are some of your favorite songs about water? Please comment with your favorites!

“Where’s that confounded bridge?”

So now as I’m going back and rereading everything that I wrote, I noticed a trend in almost every song I listed above: they conjure up big emotions in me. I believe that is why some of those listed are my favorite songs of all time. Maybe that is the bridge that connects each of us to the song: songs about water can stir up emotions if written properly and with the right melody to back it.

So will listening to songs with water lyrics have similar effects on our souls and mentality as actually being by a body of water since it invokes so much emotion?

Something definitely to ponder over…