The time I heard the song Sanctuary for the first time, I was starting up my now favourite video game for the first time. I was about 12 or 13 when I first started playing it, and the music came on with the intro cutscene. It was this beautiful song that during a time when I felt alone and dealing with a lot of my own mental and emotional problems.
The song starts with this upbeat melody and it's lyrics are about finding happiness and sanctuary for yourself: physically, emotionally, mentally, or however you could interpret it. The melody and lyrics then became darker, and talk about how you'll struggle and be in pain at times, but soon returns to the happy showing that one can find their way out of the dark.
It served a personal or spiritual function. It helping me in a time I didn't think very highly of myself and was feeling somewhat depressed. The music provided this idea that I can bring myself out of that and helped me cope with my own problems. It made me work my hardest to help myself and others and to know that when things seem their darkest, there will always be a bright light at the end.
This particular artwork reached me for many reasons. First of all, it could reach me because it was in something I enjoyed, a game I was playing and was the only noise playing at that moment. Secondly, the music was able to reach me because of it's melody and lyrics. The artist was wonderful with choice in lyrics and having the proper melody to match those lyrics. That it why it could reach me and have such a great effect on me.
Thanks for sharing this. My theory about music is that it is one of the oldest art forms for the very reason you brought up-it's highly effective of moving us forward, out of rough patches. It's so entirely unique as an art since aural in nature.
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