That Makes Me Cry
It’s hard to pick my favorite Andy Griffith Show episodes, but I am partial to the ones with the Darling family, the troublemaking, bluegrass-playing family from the hills. Every episode has a running joke where someone will call out a song, but someone else objects because it will make them cry, and they’ll either pick out another song or try to get through it. What makes the joke is the absurd names of the songs; they don’t sound very emotional. After she gets married, Briscoe says they should play “Keep Your Money in Your Shoes and it Won’t Get Wet,” but that makes Charlene cry. Another time, one of the boys suggests they sing “Never Hit Your Grandma with a Great Big Stick,” But that’s too sentimental for Charlene. The joke shifts in another show, and Briscoe objects to playing “Dirty Me, Dirty Me, I’m Disgusted with Myself.” The joke only works by knowing that music is a powerful art form that can bring one to tears. The Darlings might not have had a lot, but they could move Sheriff Taylor with music and song.
Why is that? How is it possible that art has that kind of power? Gavin Ortlund, in his book Why God Makes Sense in a World that Doesn’t, has a chapter dealing with this idea and compares two views explaining the effect music has on us and why. What happens in your brain when you listen to music? Can a purely naturalistic, evolutionary worldview explain the emotions music stirs in us? When you hear a beautiful song, is that just your body tricking you by producing dopamine and nothing more? Can naturalism give us a satisfying answer to why music can provide us with that feeling of transcendence?
I’ve sat in a concert hall and listened to a piece that moved me to tears. I’ve also been in a concert where no one made a sound after the piece was played for quite a long time. Eventually, there was an eruption of applause and a standing ovation. But for about 10 seconds, there was nothing but stillness. The music had moved people to a place of hushed silence. What evolutionary purpose does that serve? How can tunes played in specific keys bring a person to tears? How can a composer communicate anger, regret, mourning, loss, jubilance, or longing to people solely through music? Does the evolutionary, naturalistic, survival of the fittest explanation make sense or provide a satisfying answer?
I think music moves us because it’s a gift from God. It was around before humans were created (Job 38:7), performed by men and angels (Revelation 14:3), and will continue in eternity (Revelation 14:2). Music would exist even if the world didn’t. Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma played some Bach for Steve Jobs and Jobs replied by saying, “Your playing is the best argument I’ve ever heard for the existence of God because I don’t really believe a human alone can do this.” Music moves us because God exists.
