For what its worth

Music is a powerful medium for evoking an emotional response.  Although I”m always looking for a way to use music effectively in trial, I haven’t been able to find a way to make it fit yet.  I’ll keep trying.

One thing that I can do is find a song that fits my case or that fits my client, and listen to it before trial.  I can keep that song on my ipod and listen to it as I arrive at the courthouse, or when I’m leaving the courthouse, and I can hear it in my head as I am trying the case.  I hear the music as I am delivering my opening statement or taking my client through direct examination.

It does help, when preparing for trial, to find the right spot emotionally as I am working on my opening or closing, and to stay in the moment of the key parts of my client’s story.

The hard part is finding the right song that works for the case.  One that works perfectly for several of my cases is “for what it’s worth,” by Buffalo Springfield – an associate at my office has also decided that it is our theme song.  Maybe so.

There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down

There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, now, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down