Let me begin by saying that I cannot carry a tune. The irony is that I have spent 25 years leading people in singing as part of a customer service workshop. The music touched people's hearts and changed their lives.
Singing has the power to soothe the savage beast that lives inside all of us. Music will cheer you up when you are down. Singing can lighten your load and free your soul from the burdens it carries. Music communicates at a deeper level than mere words or pictures.
When I was in college and I felt down, I would walk the railroad tracks that ran through campus and sing to myself. Singing cheered me up and helped me feel better about myself and the world. I would sing then and often still do the first two lines from the old gospel song, Lonesome Valley. I didn't know the lyrics to the entire song but these two lines stuck in my memory.
"You gotta walk that lonesome valley
You gotta walk it by yourself."
Here is Pete Seeger singing a version of that gospel song.
"Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home"
Here is a version of the song sung by the Dublin Gospel Choir.
