Going To California

The song "Going to California" by Led Zeppelin has profoundly changed my emotions.  I first got into Led Zeppelin my junior year when I was looking for colleges.  This was a pretty stressful time in my life because I was tired of my hometown and wanted a change, but was still afraid of leaving and choosing a path.  When I heard this song it evoked strong emotions in me, particularly because the style and lyrics really spoke to me at the time.
The song begins with a finger-picked acoustic guitar, which acted as an icon because it reminded me of my own guitar playing.  I play mainly acoustic guitar and finger picking is my favorite style, so this reminder had the effect of making the song seem more personal--almost like the song was written for me.  Because of the style, I instantly felt closer to the song and was more open to being affected by the message.
The lyrics of the song became both a symbol and an icon.  They were symbolic because they used words to talk about ideas and were iconic because they called to mind other ideas.  For example, the lyrics are sometimes kind of cryptic and poetic; he sings, "The mountains and the canyons started to tremble and shake/As the children of the sun began to awake."  At the time, the unclear but beautiful and dreamy lyrics sort of reminded me of a fairytale--which made me feel nostalgic in a way.  I think this evoked a (subconscious) longing for the past in me.
The song not only made me feel nostalgic but it also made me feel more hopeful for the future.  Robert Plant's voice strains as the song escalates, which makes it sound like he is struggling or trying to escape.  His voice, the icon, evokes a desire for resolution or peace, the object.  Because I listened to the song at the same time I was looking for schools, it helped me feel more hopeful and optimistic about the future.  It didn't completely allay my fears of finding a college but it definitely caused me to feel more at peace with the fact that I was leaving.
Both the sense of nostalgia and the optimism for the future this song evoked in me illustrate the importance of the possible and actual in art.  I felt a comforting sense of past and present in the song, while the straining and desire for resolution incorporated the future.  Turino mentions that good art has a good mix of both.  This song definitely has a combination of both actual and possible, which is part of the reason why it evoked so much emotion in me.