I got food poisoning and I was miserable. So when I was laying in my little room last night hoping that I wasn't actually dying since that is what I felt like, I listened to my ipod. And now, after a stressful day at work my fabulous co-worker Tom (who invited me to his family's cabin in Maine with some of my other fabulous co-workers) is playing calming music... and it is making me think about the songs that have gotten me through some hard times.
A love letter to various bits and pieces of my musical tastes....
"Paper Bag" by Fiona Apple - This song should just be called "The Theme Song of My Year at Parsons School of Design". I think there is literally a ridge in my copy of Fiona Apple's 2nd album from listening to this song too much. At eighteen, I was living in New York and I wanted to be strong but wounded, sophisticated and mysterious. I didn't accomplish any of these things, but I listened to this song a great deal and wished I could.
"Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service - I love everything about this song. I love the strange beginning, I love the lyrics...it is a song that I find comforting. It also makes me think of one of my best friends from college which is a plus. This was a friend that said to me once, "You were supposed to come to Carnegie Mellon so we would meet and be friends and that is that." The lyrics in the song that talk about symmetry between people and it being a sign makes me think about this friend.
"Happy Ending" by Mika - This song has such cheese potential - it sounds like the music video should be shot in a church with candles and a gospel choir, while a dreamy Mika sports a half unbuttoned white shirt and stares into the camera with moody but loveable eyes...(sigh he's gay I believe.) Remember when Uncle Jess on Full House makes a music video...it could be the prototype for the one I see in my head that makes me chuckle when I listen to this song sometimes. ANYWAYS, the point of my rambling is related to this lyric:
If anything should happen, I guess I wish you well
A little bit of heaven, but a little bit of hell.
Oh and this lyric too:
This is the way that we love,
Like it's forever.
Then live the rest of our life,
But not together.
This song was something I listened to for DAYS, literally days on end while going through a stupid break-up. In all its cheeseball glory, I found some beautiful simple little melodies and of course - the joy of gospel choirs when used in pop music.
"The Wood Song" by The Indigo Girls - This song is about high school. It's not really...but to me it is. Actually I feel like the Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco are about high school. I had the general teen angst and my friends and I liked to listen to this songs and drive through Birmingham, Royal Oak, and down to Detroit while listening to this songs with the windows down. These songs also remind me of the summers I spent working as a camp counselor.
"Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode - Again high school, but specifically my group of friends from my famous art history class. And my brother. He wasn't in the class...he just knew about the attraction of Depeche Mode.
"The Luckiest" by Ben Folds - When I dated my first serious boyfriend (oops, my only serious boyfriend) this was kind of "our song" and I had this idea that I would get the piano music for this song and play it for him and sing it as a present. Well, that's not going to happen and truly it's probably for the best. I really love this song - in fact said boy actually called me while he was at a Ben Folds concert and held up his phone so I could listen to Ben play the song. It was pretty awesome on that "My conceit of romance comes from movies either directed by John Hughes or starring John Cusack or both" level (FYI: Chuck Klosterman has an excellent essay about this subject...FYI the same aforementioned boyfriend refused to read anything by Chuck Klosterman...clearly he and I were not meant to be.) I can't really listen to this song all the way through anymore but I'm working on it.
"The First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes - This was the song I used when I was trying to define why moving across the ocean was a good idea. Although that whole thing didn't work out, I still really like this song. I really like the lyric "I'd rather be working for a paycheck, than trying to win the lottery" in reference to relationships....although this brings up the general question of how hard should love be? Hmmm.
"I Will Survive" by Cake - None of your pansy ass disco versions of this song compare. I once sang this song in the rain while drinking a bottle of wine...I think I was celebrating graduation? To be honest, I'm not really sure. I also once was at a concert in Ireland and a girl from South Africa fed me something strange (I thought it was a normal shot of vodka but it wasn't) and I ended up on a stage in front of hundreds of people dancing to Aretha Franklin's "Respect". Sigh...Ireland was fun and an integral part of my personal "John Hughes Should Direct My Coming of Age Story" movie moment.
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