Michael Franti & Spearhead…& a Cancer Diagnosis

Rhythm Reverie #2

The following story is part of a larger series that you can read more about here. Check out this Spotify playlist to hear the songs referenced in the series.

Whenever I hear the opening beats of “Say Hey (I Love You) by Michael Franti & Spearhead, I have a tendency to immediately hit ‘next.’ Despite a dance-inducing beat and upbeat meaning, it tends to have quite the opposite effect on me.

It’s a trigger, one that brings up memories from my teenage years I’d prefer to forget.

On Good Friday 2010, I found out my mom had cancer. It was a rare one that lead to months of radiation and chemo. Oh and a feeding tube. I’ll never forget that feeding tube.

I lived with a sense of helplessness for the next 10 months as I watched her take a beating from the treatment rounds. But when she asked me to burn her a CD (damn did I just feel old as I typed that) to listen to as she was hooked up to the chemo IV, I felt for once that I finally could be of some sort of help.

“I don’t want any sad songs. Only happy ones. Make sure you put that ‘Say Hey’ song on there.”

I couldn’t tell you a single other track that made it onto that burned CD besides ‘Say Hey (I Love You).’

Michael Franti — if you ever read this, I can’t listen to your song anymore.

But, my mom still loves it to this day.