Writer's Block: Top ten playlist
What is your top-ten song list? What was it when you were a kid? Is there any overlap?
View 404 Answers
Alright, I did decide to so this because Candace did, but also because A) I haven't written anything on here in a good long while and B) I have a new active goal to write every day (as opposed to the flimsy notion of a goal before), and this will help me accomplish that until I choose to actually work on my last essay.
While telling you all my top ten songs, I'm going to pull directly from the “Top 25 Most Played” list on my iTunes, not only because it's easy, but also because it's pretty darn accurate. After all, 90% of the time I'm listening to my music, it's on my iPod or through iTunes. However, I do reserve the right to pick and choose according to current choices, versus all-time favorites.
10. Your Hands - JJ Heller
This song is a new discovery, thanks to Matt buying me her CD when she came to perform at UCLA a few weeks ago. JJ Heller and her husband travel around with their baby, singing and playing music all over the place. Some are love songs, one is written for their daughter (it's really sweet), and some are about God. This one happens to be the latter. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, it's just a simple, pretty-sounding song. JJ Heller has a pretty voice, and her husband's harmony is always great and understated. Looking at the lyrics, though, is the real reason this song is on my list. My spiritual life kind of flipped upside down lately, and to make a not-too-but-just-long-enough story short, it's a good reminder to hear a song about someone who doesn't understand the world, and prays for an easier burden, and deals with pain and broken hearts, and yet still has faith.
I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn't there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That You would take my pain away
9. Humble Me - Norah Jones
This song is the only song I've ever downloaded onto my phone (it costs money!), because it is always beautiful to me, always sad, and always the right amount of hopeful. If you haven't heard it, it's about a girl who's on her own, just her and her baby. The song is written to the baby's father, talking about how she never meant to hurt him, and is truly happy his life is good now, but is being humbled in her own life, asking for forgiveness. It's about leaving, running away and feeling sorry for it. That is something I've always been afraid I'm capable of doing, and this simple song is a reminder of the kind of broken-hearted sadness that can happen, even if you never meant to hurt someone. And you know the funny part? I don't think that this song is as sad as I'm making it sound.
What do you say when it's all gone away?
Baby I didn't mean to hurt you
Truth spoke in whispers will tear you apart
No matter how hard you resist it
It never rains when you want it to
8. Empty Days - Augustana
There is something about this song. What is it? I still couldn't tell you, but it's been played and played again ever since I happened to download it from Evin's computer. I'd never heard it before, and the first time it came on random on my iPod, I don't think I listened to another song all day. But guess what? It's another song about running away. That just hit me. Interesting pattern I'm coming across here... But really? I just love how this one sounds, and I could sing it in the car with the windows rolled down again and again. Simple guitar, that's all I need. Of course, the harmonica is a fun touch.
I tripped on these roads everyday
It seems like they never ever change
They don't know how I got here,
Oh, and neither do you
All these days they go so fast,
No they go so slow
All I know is won't you take me,
Won’t you take me, won't you take me away?
7. Question - Old 97’s
The message in this song is a corny one, but it’s cute; this description also applies to the memories I have associated with it. While reading the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, I would pay special attention to the quotes between each chapter, but of all four books of many, many quotes, one always stuck out to me: “Someday somebody’s gonna ask you a question that you should say yes to”. I even quoted it in my AIM profile, despite not knowing what “Old 97’s” was, and never hearing the song. Fast forward a few years, to a Scrubs episode. I heard a song I liked, and somehow felt it was familiar. I looked it up, and sure enough, it was this song. It’s been on my “Top 25 Most Played” for over a year now.
Someday, somebody's gonna ask you
A question that you should say yes to
Once in your life
Baby, tonight I've got a question for you
6. Ne Me Quitte Pas - Regina Spektor
If you’ve ever heard a Regina Spektor song, you know that she’s… strange. I love her for that, and this song is no exception. So why did I choose this song and not one of the other 62 songs of hers that I have? (That’s a semi-lie; I did choose another later on in the list, but shush). I chose this song because it reminds me of NaNoWriMo. That’s right, this song puts me right back into the place of many unedited words, all because of a failed write-in from my first successful NaNo-ing year (2007). I went to a little café, but found no other Novelers, despite my blatant sticker and NaNo t-shirt. However, I did get many words written in that comfy corner armchair, and got to appreciate the eclectic little coffeehouse as I typed. Part of its charm was a funky choice of music, which of course I loved instantly. I remember one song in particular, but had no access to the Internet, and therefore never was able to look it up. However, I was almost certain it was Regina Spektor, and spent the next couple days looking up songs of hers I hadn’t yet heard. Somehow, I landed on this one, and am almost positive (though with enough doubt to nag at me every so often) that it is the song I heard that day. It is forever on my noveling playlist, even if it puts my head back in San Diego.
Down in Paris they walk fast
That is unless they're walking slow
And in cafes they look away
That is unless they look right in
And in the gardens I get lost
That is unless I'm getting found
And if you are the ghost of New York City
Won't you stick around?
5. Hard Candy - Counting Crows
My list would not be complete without a Counting Crows song, and while it was difficult to choose, I think I made the right decision (contenders include “When I Dream of Michelangelo” and “A Murder of One”). This song makes me think of summer memories, which have always been the most vivid and usually the most important to me; my life is absolutely marked by summers. This song is a little bit sad, a little bit about a very different girl, and sounds a lot happier than it actually is. And on a side note, there always is something just a little bit strange in the way Adam Duritz (the lead singer) phrases things. It’s strange in a way that usually makes sense to me, and if it doesn’t, the flow of the mixed up words is all I need to hear anyway.
And in the evenings on Long Island
When the colors start to fade
She wears a silly yellow hat
That someone gave her when she stayed
I didn't think that she returned it
We left New York in a whirl
Time expands and then contracts
When you are spinning
In the grips of someone
Who is not an ordinary girl
4. Sunday Morning - Maroon 5
The funny thing about Maroon 5 is that I didn’t really become a fan until AFTER my mom dragged me to their concert. Funny how that works. Anyway, this song is really just about love in a busy life. It’s a very relatable song to listen to, especially given my go-go-go personality paired with those times I spend with Matt where I wish I could forego all responsibility and stay there for the rest of the week. It’s an interesting balance and this is a beautiful song. It’s also making me realize the musical simplicity of many of these songs.
But things just get so crazy living life gets hard to do
Sunday morning rain is falling and I’m calling out to you
Singing someday it’ll bring me back to you
Find a way to bring myself home to you
3. The Call - Regina Spektor
This is the final song in the second Narnia movie, which, by the way, I did recognize as Regina Spektor the first time I saw the movie. I might have been a tad too loud in my excitement in the otherwise quiet movie theater… Anyway, I downloaded it right away and Matt and I started listening to it-by the way, this was right before we actually started dating. Since then, it’s kind of been our unspoken song. It always makes me think of him (and okay, Narnia, too) and does that ever not bring a smile to my face?
It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word
And then that word grew louder and louder
'Til it was a battle cry
2. 3 AM - Matchbox Twenty
This song is an enigma to me. I will never, ever skip it if it comes on random, and often replay it when it does. I never get tired of it, I always love it, and it’s been on of my favorites since the day I heard it. The opening chords can still give me chills. And to put it quite simply, it’s about a dysfunctional couple. They’re lonely, they know it’s all going to end, they blame each other, she can’t sleep unless it rains, and yet there’s still love! -She hands him his raincoat because it’s cold outside. I don’t think I can describe how much I love this song. I listen to it all the way through all the time and I don’t think I love it any less than I ever have.
She believes that life is made up of all that you're used to
And the clock on the wall has been stuck at three for days, and days
She thinks that happiness is a mat that sits on her doorway
But outside, it's stopped raining
1. Boston - Augustana
And this song settles it. I have a thing for sad songs, apparently? Sad songs about leaving?!
Anyway, self-doubting crisis aside, this song is known among people like Matt, Elizabeth, and Austin for being one of my favorites. I rarely skip this one, and I could never give just one reason why, but I can prove it to you: I have two versions of this song, and if you combine their play counts, I’ve listened to it about 75 times more than any other song on my list. It’s on my “Top 25 Most Played” twice. This song is important to me because it’s beautiful. Because it talks about getting away, escaping this life, and creating a new beginning (which we know is clearly a theme here). Because it talks about Boston and about Spain and about California, and all three have meaning for me in some way or another. Because it’s different but it’s simple, with the first half of the song going without a chorus. It’s sung in two distinct parts, and isn’t that reason enough to love this song?
I think I'll go to Boston,
I think that I'm just tired
I think I need a new town, to leave this all behind.
I think I need a sunrise; I'm tired of the sunset,
I hear it's nice in the summer; some snow would be nice.
--
Can I just add how unsettling these unexpected themes are to me?