What Do the Wild Things Listen to?
One of my favourite books as a kid was Where the Wild Things Are. While I was initially most fascinated by the creatures pictured in the story, as I grew up I fell in love with the message it delivers: there is a ‘wild thing’ in all of us. More importantly, this story serves as a very important reminder that we do not lose our ‘wild thing’ with age. We may act older, take on more responsibilities, and maybe even eat our vegetables without being forced to do so, but I don’t believe this means our sense of adventure must only exist as a memory. I think it's something we can still access with some help.
This is where music comes to the rescue. Similar to the plot of this childhood classic, music can help bring out this sense of adventure, this wild entity that we all have within us. I, for example, have a playlist for this exact reason titled songs that make me want to climb a tree. I honestly can’t remember when I made this playlist but it's always brought me that same cascade of feelings; wonderment, adventure, and excitement, among many others.
Whether it's remembering one of the first songs you listened to at camp or a movie soundtrack that has been perfectly coordinated to match the energy of an adventurous story (my favourite example being The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), I think it's safe to say there exists a subset of music that brings something unique out of all of us - our wild thing.
I’ll admit, it’s a bit of an abstract idea. Even when writing this article I didn’t know the exact word I should use to describe the feeling this music gives me, which is probably why my playlist is titled the way it is. Perhaps it's because these songs remind me of a version of myself that had even less of a grasp of how to articulate these feelings. Or maybe it's because the inability to be described is a crucial element of your inner wild thing. Regardless, music helps us communicate these feelings when we cannot find the words to describe them - and this playlist never fails to prove that.
