littlest things: for nostalgia's sake
012 i like it all that way
this mix is a lot more personal, and each song comes with notes for why it's on here rather than lyrics.
there are some periods of time that stick out in your mind, moments that you always come back to when you're feeling a bit blue, that stay rose-tinted no matter what actually happened. fall and winter of 2007 was like that for me. i was fifteen, i lived in england, and it was amazing. i fell in love many, many times, and all at once: with the english son of my parents' antique dealer (above picture is actually in his back garden); with my brilliant history teacher; with my friends; with michel faber's book the crimson petal and the white; with the rush of goosebumps when you come into a chilly building after it's been raining; with the fact that i will never, ever be able to play tennis well; with painting t-shirts on the locker room floor; with kisses taste like caramel apple pops; with antiquing, and the fact that a good snog is always better against an eighteenth century wardrobe; and with so much music. that year, i absolutely lived on music (and lemonade and milka choco-swing bars from the shop down the way from school), and i think a lot of my current musical views stem from discoveries i made during this time. much of this has been taken from what was big in the UK during this time; songs like "patience" were played over and over and over again on the radio for months on end. also, one of my closest friends made me an amazing mix cd in mid september of 2007, and it became my internal soundtrack; a lot of what's on the mix has been lifted straight from there. i've been feeling a lot nostalgic for that time, and i think music is the best way to relive those moments. so, without further ado, come with me on a stroll down memory lane. some songs have notes, if there's something pertinent i'd like to say about a specific song.
littlest things: a nostalgic mix for fall/winter 2007 (norfolk, england)
i. wonderful world...james morrison
(huge huge huge on the UK charts. also, it get's stuck in your head like nobody's business.)
ii. lover's spit (featuring feist)...broken social scene
(off the mix cd of epicness. i'll let you guess at what it's about. it was funny, cos my fifteen year old self wasn't nearly so aware as i am now.)
iii. all the way...indigo girls
(i've loved indigo girls my whole life. this is from one of their newer albums, which i usually don't like as much, not having grown up with it, but i adored despite our differences, and i listened to this album all the time, especially while driving to places like bath.)
iv. what sarah said...death cab for cutie
(off the mix cd of epicness, and the first death cab song i fell absolutely head over ass for. it still remains my favorite, actually, about a bagillion other songs later.)
v. five minutes to midnight...boys like girls
(on new years eve that year, my boyfriend and best friend jess came over and we all played wii while listening to music. this song came on at the eerily appropriate time, and at midnight, we went out and banged pots and shouted, and devon kissed me in the loveliest way, all comfy and chilly and soft.)
vi. littlest things...lily allen
(i love lily allen. and as much as i adore her snotty songs, i love it when she's being sweet and wistful even more. when we'd drive places, i used to sit and hope this song would come on the radio two so i could hear it and be happy, even though it was on my ipod, too.)
vii. set fire to the third bar (featuring martha wainwright)...snow patrol
(i have clear, distinct memory of being on the bus home from school with my ipod in, and this song playing was playing as we dropped off one of my friends. the stop was at a pub called the saxon, and there was post office, and a spar right next to it.)
viii. whistle for the choir...the fratellis
(ohhhh, the fratellis. ohsigh. they're awesome. this song is all acoustic and lovely, and pretty much the exact opposite of "chelsea dagger". i think i like this one more, though, for all it's tenderness.)
ix. sewn...the feeling
(this song was HUGE. i used to watch MTV at the weekends, because they still play music on english MTV, and i'd have to look away from the screen because the video totally weirds me the fuck out, but i love the song, so i would never change it. the lyrics are completely amazing. you've got my heart in a headlock, you stopped the blood and made my head soft, and god knows, you've got me sewn. totally my life then, applying to so many people. and also, the lead singer? dan gillespie sells? i love him.)
x. patience...take that
(what can i say about this song, except for that it was played constantly constantly constantly, even in tesco's, and i still love it. really. i feel like that's a ringing endorsement.)
xi. we are mice...azure ray
(of the mix cd of epicness. this cd was my first introduction to azure ray, and i fell in love. this song is so haunting, and truthful, it gets me every time. i did a lot of listening to it on the bus ride (it was an hour, twice a day, five days a week, so there was lots of time). the route went down all sorts of really narrow lanes, through thetford forest and other east anglia countryside , and i'd listen to this song and just stare out the window at the scenery.)
xii. don't stand so close to me '86...the police
(it was world history, with a focus on europe. his name was william. i spent so many lunch blocks in his room, with us just sipping at something warm (him, sweet black coffee; me, earl grey with milk and sugar, he kept it for me.), listening to mozart, chatting about religion, or politics, or music, and arguing over henry the eighth's wives. it's strange, how natural and easy it was, but it was just as effortless as it was with devon, even though it probably shouldn't have been. nothing happened, except i learnt just how salty he likes his popcorn, and where exactly he keeps whatever it is he's looking for, and his views on everything, and the story behind his tattoo, and enough about his vocabulary to supply the word he was looking for when it escaped him during lectures. he learnt enough about me to be able to tell with a look just what what was wrong, and how i take my tea, and when i'd like a book, and that botticelli is my favorite high renaissance painter (his too), and that i'm his go-to girl when it comes to social history and he's looking for the word "shift" to describe women's undergarments, but doesn't know that yet. he watched marie antoinette after i told him all about it, and the next day we talked about it, and he stole a guitar and sang me a song about louis the sixteenth's deformed genitalia. it was absolutely nothing, except that it was.)
xiii. starlight...muse
(this song was everywhere. while we were there, we had a forest green renault, and i'd sit in the passenger's seat on a trip to tesco's with my feet on the dash, while this song would play and i'd sing along with the radio. i'd then get pissed when the people would talk over the end of the song, like they often do.)
xiv. if you're feeling sinister...belle & sebastian
(if you can actually believe it (i can't), there was actually a me who didn't know who the fuck belle & sebastian even were. this is off the mix cd of epicness, and it was the very first time i'd ever heard stuart murdoch's sweet voice and poetic lyrics. this song is pure genius, lyric's wise, which was the first thing that drew me into the cult of B & S. it's soft, and the melody is lovely, and stuart murdoch. i can't even. there aren't words to describe my love, and it was instant, from the moment i heard this song.)
xv. starz in their eyes...just jack
(i quite love just jack, he makes me happy, and this was the first song of his i heard. i used to dance around to it in my little bedroom that overlooked the cemetery. also, british rap? so much better, in my opinion, than american hip hop. i LOVE british rap.)
xvi. america...razorlight
(for a long time, you couldn't turn on the radio or MTV without hearing this song. as an american living in england when it came out, it was a bit weird, and i can still recall the knotty feeling i got in the pit of my stomach when trying to dissect this song after hearing it for the first time. i still am a bit hazy about how i'd like to interpret it, but i love it nonetheless.)
xvii. foundations...kate nash
(i want to be kate nash. pretty much end of story. i love her to absolute bits.)
xviii. echo...the hush sound
(for history's sake would you please take notice? see above rant about history teacher. i can't exactly pinpoint when i realized i loved the hush sound; it was almost as if suddenly, i had both their albums and was listening to them nonstop. their third album, goodbye blues, was released later that year, and was the soundtrack to my spring.)
xix. i luv u...the ordinary boys
(i walked around for months, months, singing i love you, you know that, don't you? to everyone i met. people actually started to hate me for it. i can't help that it's catchy, though.)
xx. last request...paolo nutini
(my best friend hates this song, she says it's been overplayed. which it think is a bit odd, because surely the airplay it got here in the states was absolutely nothing compared to what it got back in the UK. like many before it, this song was everywhere, all the time. there was a boy called eric who used to practice soccer/football (i'm so conflicted over this) while we were at tennis practice, and he looked almost exactly like paolo nutini. he also had sexy hands. we used to sing this while playing air guitar with our racquets, cos we were never very good tennis players.)
xxi. courage, robert...meg & dia
(i had a friend who i managed the basketball team with, and she loved meg & dia. she made me a cd of her favorite songs of theirs, and now i love them. when i went to florence for my birthday that year, i had this cd playing in my head everywhere: the uffizi, the mercado, the ponte vecchio, the lantern of filippo brunelleschi's duomo. every time i listen to those songs now, i see images of that trip, with the city all rainy and wet and lovely.)
xxii. lover i don't have to love...bright eyes
(off the mix cd of epicness, and my favorite song of conor oberst in all his forms. it's so...truthful, and i think that's what gets me. i wouldn't actually classify that year as an awakening of the spring sort, but it was the first time i'd been in any sort of really serious relationship. we weren't like this, of course, but there's something intensely sensual about this song, lyrics aside, which harkens back to snogging against washing machines, or trees, or just about everywhere else.)
xxiii. when you were young...the killers
(i love the killers. i always have, and i really identified with this song when it came out. and, i've only just thought of it, but it also fits with how nostalgic i'm feeling now, and the theme of this mix. lovely!)
xxiv. beautiful boyz...cocorosie
(off the mix cd of epicness. this one grew on me, but it's so haunting, i couldn't not love it. once, while in a shop in lavenham, i bought some bath bombs that were shaped like mini gâteaux, and smelt of lavender and rose. i took them home, popped them in the tub, and sat in there for hours, listening to this song.
xxv. grace kelly...mika
(my happy song, even still! kaching! it is impossible for me to sing along with this without simpering at some point. impossible.)
littlest things
(link should be working!)
~comments are ♥!
~image above is mine! if you want, please credit.
~all other images belong to respective sites.
~join the community if you like, we do fun things!