When the Music Stopped

Modern Love

The New York Times

Love, New York Times, Nytimes, Essay, Loss, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Redemption, Nyt

4.3 • 9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 October 2022

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Growing up in Brooklyn, Sonia Pérez recalled how her father would drink beer, sit on the sofa and lose himself in records from Puerto Rico, where he grew up. One day, he stopped listening. Sonia and her siblings wondered why. On the other side of the world, in Ireland, Grainne Armstrong recalls the moment she experienced her daughter’s love for the first time, set to a soundtrack of opera and birdsong. Today, two stories about a parent and child longing for a deeper connection – and how music sparked their understanding of one another.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Love now and...
0:04.0	Did you fall in love?
0:05.0	Just now I loved love.
0:06.0	Was stronger than anything.
0:08.0	I feel a love.
0:09.0	And I love you more than anything.
0:12.0	Just love.
0:14.0	From The New York Times, I'm Anna Martin.
0:18.0	This is Modern Love.
0:22.0	Growing up, I went to church a lot.
0:25.0	And my life was filled with Christian worship music.
0:29.0	On the car radio, sleep-boy camp, at the young adult services at church.
0:34.0	The lyrics were about the mystery of the universe,
0:38.0	all the grains of sand on the beach.
0:40.0	These unknowable, infinite things made manageable and catchy.
0:45.0	You are holy.
0:47.0	You are holy.
0:49.0	You are mighty.
0:52.0	You are mine.
0:54.0	I echoed the worship leader in a column response, swaying, ice closed.
0:58.0	I knew all the lyrics by heart.
1:01.0	Even if I didn't have any answers,
	...

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