I just finished reading a blog post that sent me into a song frenzy. EDW does a wonderful job of explaining “song crushes” and that moment when you hear a song for the first time that just speaks to you, and you instantly have to find out how to get your hands on it and listen to it over and over again. She asked everyone to name song crushes they have had, which of course sent me straight to iTunes where I started pouring over playlists to share some of my favorite tunes.
The great thing about a great song is that it can stop you in your tracks. It can make you remember exactly who you were were at that moment in time that the song meant something to you.
Depending on the song, I can be 13 years old, laying in bed staring at the ceiling and listening to the song on the Gin Blossoms song on the mixed tape I made from the radio, being careful to try to cut off the recording before the DJ started speaking. I can be 7 years old, listening to my parents’ records and dancing in the living room with wood-paneled walls and linoleum floors, wondering how in the world it can rain on a sunny day. … I can be in college, hanging out with my sorority sisters and crooning along about how “everyone here / is wondering what it’s like to be with somebody else …” . In an instant, I’m there, wherever there is.
So what “song crushes” have I had? I mentioned a few in the comments of EDW’s blog. One of them was “The Captain” by Kasey Chambers. I, like most others who know this tune, heard it first at the end of The Sopranos, right after Tony’s girfriend committed suicide. The lyric that spoke to me was, “You’ll be the captain/and I’ll be no one …” How tragic and beautiful.
Another great one is “Delicate” by Damian Rice. I don’t remember when I first heard this song. Probably after I heard “Blower’s Daughter” on the movie “Closer” (“Blower’s Daughter” is another great one to check out if you don’t know it.) I love the lyrics “And why do you sing Hallelujah / If it means nothing to you / Why do you sing with me at all?”
The last song I’ll mention is “Pirate on the Run” by Pat Monahan. I heard this song at a party and instantly had to text Chris to get him to download it for me. I love the lyrics. I love the uncertainty: “Maybe they’ll meet / Maybe they won’t / Maybe they love each other and … / Maybe they don’t” … also “I was perfect for her soul / I was perfect for his heart / and together we are perfect apart / Back when it was only you and me / Baby we were gonna be fine/ Oh, then reality made sure that you never be mine”
All the videos I found were crappy live performances but listen to it here.
What songs have spoken to you that way? Thanks EDW for the great blog topic, and for getting my creative spirits thinking – I feel like maybe I should be writing some poetry today!