the way you sounded when you told me you didn't know what I should do

A few days ago, at 5:30 in the morning, I listened to this song four times in a row as I sat alone in an airport, watching the sun rise through the plate glass window.  This song meant a lot to me a year ago. And now here I am, relating to it again. The light may even seem a little dimmer, a little farther, than it did then.

And I know you are a cynic but I think I can convince you, yeah, cause broken people can get better if they really want to. Or at least that's what I have to tell myself if I am hoping to survive.

12 pm and my dusty telephone rings

While I was gone, I was music-free for two weeks. And often when I'd wake up, this song would be running through my head, even though I hadn't heard it in a year. Maybe that says something. I don't know.

11 AM – Incubus

a forgotten happiness

I had forgotten this song existed until Youtube recommended it for me, but this is the JAM.

Two Princes — Spin Doctors

the same song, again and again

My current driving jam.

Tell me what the matter is, little man
I have a pretty face and I wear a nice dress
Why can't I keep you?

Wild Belle—Keep You

I'd give about anything to hear that song again

"That's the first time I noticed
That I was slowly
But surely
Coming back together."

The meaning of this song to me has changed since I first heard it. Now it's quiet humming across the parking lot, Friday evening, orange setting sun. Freedom.
My heart is my own.

Falling in Love with your Best Friend - Paul Baribeau

I still sing for you

This is a song that makes me a little bit sorry. It's four thirty and the sun is setting and the two gold, sad feelings match.

A Part of Me by Neck Deep

a weakness

One of my fears is that one day, some boy will discover my inherent weakness for sweetly sappy love songs and use it against me. But until then: this is one of my favorites.


Someday Some Morning Sometime - Billy Bragg and Wilco

The Finals Song

I've been listening to this song every morning as I get ready for school. It feels like a kick in the pants and a hug at the same time, which is what I need right now.


The Competition - Kimya Dawson

are you gone and on to someone new?

I've got another confession, my friend
I'm your fool
I'm getting tired of starting again
Somewhere new.

Is someone getting the best of you?

This one too.

I'll be the one free of jealousy.

My words are stuck and my camera is broken, but hey, the music's still here.

I love you, and I miss you. What else is there to say?

{Far More ~ The Honorary Title}

the fighter

Jerry Douglas - The Boxer (featuring Mumford & Sons and Paul Simon)

I am leaving, 

I am leaving, 

but the fighter still remains.

through chaos as it swirls

This song helped me through many of the dark days of last fall, and as autumn creeps up again I find myself gravitating toward it once more. It's rain-hearted music.


This tightrope that I'm walking just sways and ties
   The devil as he's talking with those angel's eyes,
      And I just want to be there when the lightning strikes
         And the saints go marching in. 


My heart's a bit of a mess right now. Maybe that's what it is.

last-week-of-spring music

Watching You Watch Him ~ Eric Hutchinson [Jangly, jaunty and bittersweet. "I love you like a broken record plays, but I'm a windowpane, a phantom limb, when I'm watching you watch him."]

Emmylou ~ First Aid Kit [Dreamy and poetic. This is bliss-out music. "Now so much I know: that things just don't grow if you don't bless them with your patience."]

See the World ~ Gomez [This is a road trip, lemonade in the summertime kind of song. Probably my favorite, at the moment. "The answer's still the same: See the world, find an old-fashioned girl, And when all's been said and done, The things that are given, not won, Are the things that you earn."]

Motorcycle Drive By ~ Third Eye Blind [Old song, of course. But it's the kind of song that can break your heart, and heal it at the same time. It's poetry.]

Clark Gable ~ Postal Service ["I kissed you in a style Clark Gable would have admired. I thought it classic. I want so badly to believe that there is truth, that love is real."

To the Dogs or Whoever ~ Josh Ritter [I adore this man. He always sings like he's having such a good time."I thought I heard somebody calling in the dark, I thought I heard somebody call."]

Transition songs, for the gap between spring and summer. Mostly bittersweet, moving-on songs. Ah, there's so much good music out there! It excites me. :)

guilty pleasure

Don't judge me for loving this song. Give it a shot. It had to grow on me, too. But now? Now it gets stuck in my head on a bouncy, everlasting loop and it's all I can do not to start singing out loud in the grocery store and dancing my converse across the parking lot.

:)

Skin & Bones - Romance on a Rocketship

Baby, don't worry about a thing,

'Cause every little thing

Gonna be all right. 

there'll be sun

This song has been making me consistently happy for about three weeks now, beyond all logic and despite endless repeats.  It's sunny. It's catchy. It's the best.

ballads

'I'm yours and that's it, whatever.'

the sum

I'm sick; I'm not doing well.
I'm writing home because
I need your help.
Living the dream ain't so dreamy, darling.
Living the dream ain't me.
'Cause I can't kill this animal between my ears,
and I can't stop feeding it what I've fed it for years.
Can you restore what's been taken?
Can you restore what's been given away?

What good is freedom if my heart's a slave to sin?
My allegiance lies with me.
Oh my pride is overwhelming!

My hands ready, my body poised for malevolence,
but I can't keep fighting it
and I can't swim through the tears.
Can you restore what's been taken?
Can you restore what's been given away?

I'd like a little of your blood, but that's all.
Just enough forgiveness to keep on being careless.
Am I more than the sum of the things I have and haven't done?

How do we undo what's already been done?
With nothing to stand on we fall.
We've been falling before we first arrived.

Can you restore what's been taken?
Can you restore what's been given away?
Am I more than the sum of the things I have and haven't done?
Am I more?

~ Give and Take by Abandon Kansas

The most true and beautiful song on a stunning album.

I may be dreaming, but I'm longing to belong to you.

autumn music

Na Na Nothing - Mike Doughty  { Clever and a little angry. "You get na-na-nothing, I found out that I'm a chump and you were cold, cold hearted to me." }


You Got It (acoustic) - Family Force 5  { So catchy, so snappy. It just makes me grin. "Heaven must be shampoo." }


The Last Crusade - Sam Roberts Band  { "You play the king and you play the pawn, you give up and you soldier on." }


There She Goes - The La's  { You know this song. But it's time you were reacquainted. This song was my summer. "There...she...goes.... There she goes again..." } 


So Much Love - The Rocket Summer  { I frequently sing this at the top of my lungs when I'm alone. "I've never had this feeling; it feels like gold! You got so much love in you." }


Home - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros  { Learn it, love it, sing it forever. "Ohh home! let me go home. Home is wherever with you." }

A few dark songs, a few sunny songs. It's fall. This is how it goes.