Don’t Let Anyone Steal the Music of Your Soul!

Last weekend I saw the musical Memphis, and I was blown away. The music, the dancing, the story… By the end I was in tears. Sure, the storyline took me on an emotional journey of two star-crossed lovers in Memphis, a segregated, racist city, in the 1950s, a time when blacks and whites didn’t mix. It was obvious there would be conflict, drama, passion, and a bitter sweet ending. I expected all that on the stage, but what I didn’t expect was all the conflict, drama and passion to rise up inside of me.

The message of the musical was clear. Don’t let anyone steal your the music of your soul.

A brief synopsis of the story follows Huey Calhoun, a poor white boy, who never followed the rules and always insisted on doing things his way. He never kept a job and was considered a failure, until the day he heard the music of his soul coming from an “underground” rock and roll joint on the wrong side of town. He followed the music, fell in love with the voice of a rhythm and blues singer, and turned the white community upside down when he played  black music on a white radio station, eventually landing him the number one radio program in Memphis.

Felicia Farrell, a young black singer, longed to be a star in Memphis, but knew her color prevented her from ever singing on the radio, until Huey gave her that opportunity. Her popularity grew and their secret love blossomed despite opposition. Then at the peak of their careers in Memphis, Huey makes a foolish decision that puts Felicia in danger and his television career blows up in his face. New opportunities open for Felicia to follow her dreams in New York, a city more tolerant of blacks, but Huey refuses to leave Memphis, claiming “Memphis lives in me.”

The parting was bitter sweet, but I supported Felicia’s choice 100 % and thought Huey a selfish fool not to help the woman he loved follow her dreams. Foolish for insisting on staying the same while he sparked a revolution in the community around him.

At that moment, the story hit too close to home for me. Often times over the years I’ve felt family and friends just didn’t get this writing thing. They didn’t understand that it is was more than a hobby, a passing phase or a whim. They couldn’t comprehend that writing was the music of my soul. Over the years they tried to be supportive, but our definitions of support didn’t match and often times I grew tired of trying to justify WHY I needed to write. Why I had to pursue this dream. Why writing was the music of my soul.

Fast foward in the Memphis story four years and Huey is down on his luck, his fame and name forgotten. Felicia is a big star and is engaged to someone else. Someone I suppose who was able to support her in her dream. Though  Huey and Felicia remained friends, and Huey pretended he was happy, I didn’t believe it. I don’t think anyone in the audience believed it either.

But he was Huey. Unable or unwilling to change. He could have left Memphis and gone to NY with Felicia and had a career of his own there. But he wouldn’t have been able to do it his way. Still he would have been with the woman he loved and they would’ve been safe. They would’ve been together. Instead, Huey dug his feet into Memphis and decided not to change his ways, leaving him a pathetic, lonely man, sad and stagnant. While the woman he loved, whom he couldn’t fully support, followed her dream and changed, blossomed.

Before the final number, Felicia says, “Huey, sometimes I think you tried to change the world and then refused to change with it.” That one line just about summed it up!

The musical ended with the cast singing “Don’t let anyone steal your rock and roll.” (song and lyrics below) I’m not sure where I “lost it,” during this song, but when a story connects with your soul, you can’t help but get emotional. And isn’t that why we write? To take the reader on a powerful emotional journey, to connect with the music of their soul.

I want to encourage you today. Don’t let anyone steal what’s in your soul! Don’t be stagnant and fearful of change or opportunities so that you end up living a life God never intended for you.

It makes me sad thinking about who Huey could have become. How many people he could have reached instead of being forgotten in a town that used to love him.

I don’t want to be Huey. I don’t want to hang around people like Huey. I want to be like Felicia and chase after my dreams. I want to see where God will take me.  I want to sing the music that’s in my soul!

What about you?

“Don’t Let Anyone Steal Your Rock and Roll” Lyrics

HUEY:
I listened to advice from folks smarter than me,
And I ignored it.
I listened to hatred from folks richer than me,
And I deplored it.
I listened to music from folks darker than me,
And you know I adored it!

FELICIA/COMPANY:
First come’s a point in everybody’s life
When they gotta stand up and face a fight.
There comes a point in everybody’s life,
When they gotta wonder if they done right.
I swallowed my fear, followed my heart right here,
And through it all one almighty thought stood clear-
Listen to the beat, listen to the beat
Play it, obey it, love it with, love it with your feet.

HUEY:
Oooh oh oh
Listen to your soul, listen to your soul,
Heed it,

FELICIA:
Heed it

HUEY:
Ya need it

FELICIA:
Ya need it,

HUEY:
Let it make/ let it make you whole.
And if ya listen to the beat
And hear what’s in your soul-
You’ll never let anyone steal your rock ‘n roll!

HUEY/FELICIA/COMPANY:
Listen to the beat, listen to beat
Play it, play it
Obey it, obey it
Love it with/love it with your feet!
Listen to your soul/listen to your soul
Heed it, heed it
Ya need it, ya need it
Let it make you whole!
And if ya listen to the beat and hear what’s in your soul-
You’ll never let anyone steal your rock ‘n roll!
Listen to the beat and hear what’s in your soul-
You’ll never let anyone steal your rock ‘n roll.
Listen to the beat, listen to the beat
Play it, obey it
Love it with your feet!
Listen to your soul
Heed it, heed it
Ya need it, ya need it
Let it make/let it make you whole!
And if you listen to the beat
And hear what’s in your soul-
You’ll never let anyone/ never let anyone/
Never let anyone steal your rock ‘n roll!