What Music Influenced me Growing Up, And What was my Theme Song for a Major Part of my Life?
Wow, that's a tough one. Well, not really; I've been surrounded by music most of my life growing up. It helps if your dad is a musician and makes you go to his gigs every now and then, and at the time they played things from contemporary pop to classic rock. There's even a small, poignant picture of me playing with my toy guitar alongside my dad as he was practicing jazz tunes.
Oddly enough, that's not what really influenced me growing up, though it certainly pushed my musical tastes towards one direction. For most of my adolecent life, I was exposed to the wave of Filipino alternative rock bands that swept most of the 90's. Their songs touched on things from a romance with a errant girl who loved to dance but ended up dead in an alley from a car accident after giving birth to her child, to how hard school life was and the fun you have with your friends when you can get away from it. This comes from a culture that treasures the value of education to the point of doing all they can to keep their kids in school, to the point that, well, it becomes obsessive in a way. Americans still balk at me when I mention that I took 21 units in the Philippines - in this case, seven subjects. That's like four per day, if I'm lucky. I don't even think that counts the mandatory ROTC training on Satrudays.
But it was the love songs that hit me the most. I hate to admit this, but I'm a hopeless romantic. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), that chapter has been forcibly shoved out of my life, even abhorred, because of recent events with a significant other. Now I hate anything that celebrates love. It's all bullshit, I tell you. Sometimes music doesn't truly reflect our real-life experiences.
Or maybe I'm just biased. Blah.
For the moment, this is my theme song. I am totally not looking forward to when we discuss love songs. I may even go absent for that. (Oh crap. She reads this. !*(@&(*!@!@%^%$%^$@# nevermind.)
Sting - Inside
Inside the doors are sealed to love
Inside my heart is sleeping
Inside the fingers of my glove
Inside the bones of my right hand
Inside it's colder than the stars
Inside the dogs are weeping
Inside the circus of the wind
Inside the clocks are filled with sand
Inside she'll never hurt me
Inside the winter's creeping
Inside the compass of the night
Inside the folding of the land
Outside the stars are turning
Outside the world's still burning
Inside my head's a box of stars I never dared to open
Inside the wounded hide their scars, inside this lonesome sparrow's fall
Inside the songs of our defeat, they sing of treaties broken
Inside this army's in retreat, we hide beneath the thunder's call
Outside the rain keeps falling
Outside the drums are calling
Outside the flood won't wait
Outside they're hammering down the gate
Love is the child of an endless war
Love is an open wound still raw
Love is a shameless banner unfurled
Love's an explosion,
Love is the fire of the world
Love is a violent star
A tide of destruction
Love is an angry scar
A violation, a mutilation, capitulation, love is annihilation.
Inside the failures of the light, the night is wrapped around me
Inside my eyes deny their sight, you'd never find me in this place
Inside we're hidden from the moonlight, we shift between the shadows
Inside the compass of the night, inside the memory of your face
Outside the walls are shaking
Inside the dogs are waking
Outside the hurricane won't wait
Inside they're howling down the gate
Love is the child of an endless war
Love is an open wound still raw
Love is a shameless banner unfurled
Love's an explosion,
Love is the fire at the end of the world
Love is a violent star
A tide of destruction
Love is an angry scar
The pain of instruction
Love is a violation, a mutilation, capitulation,
Love is annihilation.
I climb this tower inside my head
A spiral stair above my bed
I dream the stairs don't ask me why,
I throw myself into the sky
Love me like a baby, love me like an only child
Love me like an ocean; love me like a mother mild
Love me like a father, love me like a prodigal son
Love me like a sister, love me like the world has just begun
Love me like a prodigy, love me like an idiot boy,
Love me like an innocent, love me like your favorite toy
Love me like a virgin, love me like a courtesan,
Love me like a sinner, love me like a dying man.
Annihilate me, infiltrate me, incinerate me, accelerate me, mutilate me, inundate me, violate me, implicate me, vindicate me, devastate me
Love me like a parasite, love me like a dying sun
Love me like a criminal, love me like a man on the run
Radiate me, subjugate me, incubate me, recreate me, demarcate me, educate me, punctuate me, evaluate me, conjugate me, impregnate me, designate me, humiliate me, segregate me, opiate me, calibrate me, replicate me
Oddly enough, that's not what really influenced me growing up, though it certainly pushed my musical tastes towards one direction. For most of my adolecent life, I was exposed to the wave of Filipino alternative rock bands that swept most of the 90's. Their songs touched on things from a romance with a errant girl who loved to dance but ended up dead in an alley from a car accident after giving birth to her child, to how hard school life was and the fun you have with your friends when you can get away from it. This comes from a culture that treasures the value of education to the point of doing all they can to keep their kids in school, to the point that, well, it becomes obsessive in a way. Americans still balk at me when I mention that I took 21 units in the Philippines - in this case, seven subjects. That's like four per day, if I'm lucky. I don't even think that counts the mandatory ROTC training on Satrudays.
But it was the love songs that hit me the most. I hate to admit this, but I'm a hopeless romantic. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), that chapter has been forcibly shoved out of my life, even abhorred, because of recent events with a significant other. Now I hate anything that celebrates love. It's all bullshit, I tell you. Sometimes music doesn't truly reflect our real-life experiences.
Or maybe I'm just biased. Blah.
For the moment, this is my theme song. I am totally not looking forward to when we discuss love songs. I may even go absent for that. (Oh crap. She reads this. !*(@&(*!@!@%^%$%^$@# nevermind.)
Sting - Inside
Inside the doors are sealed to love
Inside my heart is sleeping
Inside the fingers of my glove
Inside the bones of my right hand
Inside it's colder than the stars
Inside the dogs are weeping
Inside the circus of the wind
Inside the clocks are filled with sand
Inside she'll never hurt me
Inside the winter's creeping
Inside the compass of the night
Inside the folding of the land
Outside the stars are turning
Outside the world's still burning
Inside my head's a box of stars I never dared to open
Inside the wounded hide their scars, inside this lonesome sparrow's fall
Inside the songs of our defeat, they sing of treaties broken
Inside this army's in retreat, we hide beneath the thunder's call
Outside the rain keeps falling
Outside the drums are calling
Outside the flood won't wait
Outside they're hammering down the gate
Love is the child of an endless war
Love is an open wound still raw
Love is a shameless banner unfurled
Love's an explosion,
Love is the fire of the world
Love is a violent star
A tide of destruction
Love is an angry scar
A violation, a mutilation, capitulation, love is annihilation.
Inside the failures of the light, the night is wrapped around me
Inside my eyes deny their sight, you'd never find me in this place
Inside we're hidden from the moonlight, we shift between the shadows
Inside the compass of the night, inside the memory of your face
Outside the walls are shaking
Inside the dogs are waking
Outside the hurricane won't wait
Inside they're howling down the gate
Love is the child of an endless war
Love is an open wound still raw
Love is a shameless banner unfurled
Love's an explosion,
Love is the fire at the end of the world
Love is a violent star
A tide of destruction
Love is an angry scar
The pain of instruction
Love is a violation, a mutilation, capitulation,
Love is annihilation.
I climb this tower inside my head
A spiral stair above my bed
I dream the stairs don't ask me why,
I throw myself into the sky
Love me like a baby, love me like an only child
Love me like an ocean; love me like a mother mild
Love me like a father, love me like a prodigal son
Love me like a sister, love me like the world has just begun
Love me like a prodigy, love me like an idiot boy,
Love me like an innocent, love me like your favorite toy
Love me like a virgin, love me like a courtesan,
Love me like a sinner, love me like a dying man.
Annihilate me, infiltrate me, incinerate me, accelerate me, mutilate me, inundate me, violate me, implicate me, vindicate me, devastate me
Love me like a parasite, love me like a dying sun
Love me like a criminal, love me like a man on the run
Radiate me, subjugate me, incubate me, recreate me, demarcate me, educate me, punctuate me, evaluate me, conjugate me, impregnate me, designate me, humiliate me, segregate me, opiate me, calibrate me, replicate me