Music -- August 25, 2019

Among so many things, one thing that interests me so much is why music is such a big deal.

I honestly don't get it. I assume there has been much written about music and humanity. If so, I haven't read it.

I was pleasantly surprised to see three major essays in the "Review" section of this week's weekend edition of the WSJ, two of which were all about music:

• the story of Hoagy Carmichael's and Mitchell Parish's "Star Dust";
• "Greetings of Planet Earth" -- the story of the Voyager spacecraft that carried a gold-plated LP -- a mixtape for aliens filled with Bach, Chuck Berry, Japanese gamelan music, and more;  and, 
• "How Much Time Do We Have Left" -- don't worry -- scientists can predict with 95% confidence that the world won't end before 2031.

Stardust, Willie Nelson