Killer's Creek by Mason Jennings
When songs become biographical, it's always a weird sensation. What you're doing is using someone else's work and making it apart of your life. I'm not sure if this is fair, the artist did not write a song/book/movie with (in this case) me in mind. I'm just borrowing their words and art for my own personal purposes.
And currently, that's what I'm doing with this song. In fact, I find myself doing this with a lot of Mason songs. But right now these words stand out:
"Talk to me, please I beg you/I'm a wounded man/All is lost if trust is broken/Help me understand/Promise me that you won't let me go/If you fail me please don't fail me now"
Pretty much this is my current person life. Two people are in love, trust is broken, they break up, but the love still burns... talking between the two people is limited, at times frustrating, and all you want is for the other person to hold you, even though you DON'T want them to hold you at the same time. And in the end, you don't want them(her) to fail you. And yet she does. Even though the love still burns inside of both of you and you both admit as much to each other.
So what happens to love unrealized? What happens to that burning love? Is it real? Do we lie to ourselves until it goes away over time? Do we find distractions to take our mind off of what is real? Is this a healthy thing? And do we all do it because we don't want to face the facts? Or do we distract ourselves to make the pain go away just a little bit?
Over the course of our lives we all make decisions—some good some bad. What motivates us for each and everyone of those decisions is different. Why we do what we do is a mystery to those around us and often is a mystery to ourselves. Why am I here typing away about this? What am I getting out of this and why even bother because odds are no one is reading this?
I'm not sure... that's the mystery. Knowing ourselves is hard, if not impossible, in fact I would say knowing oneself is the hardest thing to do. So why do we even bother trying to figure out why others do (or don't do) what they do if it's so hard to know ourselves?
Too often I think we forget what matters and what should guide us. I think the answer is simple, and Victor Frankl summed it up perfectly—love. I guess we can all hope that in the end, love will win the day. And if that happens, then does anything else really matter?
Monday, June 16, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Mrs. Potter's Lullaby
Mrs. Potter's Lullaby by Counting Crows
When I was a senior in high school, this song was near perfect. For those hot, humid nights of a Chicago summer, when you're tired more from the heat than life... this song was just right. And that's still true today. It's a pretty song, but not overly pretty in the 'drop everything you're doing' kind of way. It just sums up a night.
I'm taken back to the porch at MEW's house in Oak Park. We would sit there, in her hammock, and talk about life and the future. Neither of us knew what we wanted, but we knew that we wanted something. We knew that we were supposed to want something, we set out to find what that was. And so we would sit there, talking about friends, family, and the world. We were innocent in most ways, probably overly optimistic, and yet to be beaten down by the fact that we were young. We were wise enough to realize that there was so much life to live, but since we had yet to see anything on our own, it was hard for us to imagine what the world was actually like. To us, love was what our parents shared, relationships were not complicated, and excuses were something only adults made. Like every teenager, we weren't going to be like other adults, we were going to tell it as it was (well, me at least).
Those were such nice nights, never perfect, but nice. No night was more memorable than any other. And that's okay, it's nice to have memories like that, were no night is so much better than any other. Once in a while we might walk around Oak Park, but for the most part we would take our place on the porch. We would spend hours changeling each others minds.
I miss that.
When I was a senior in high school, this song was near perfect. For those hot, humid nights of a Chicago summer, when you're tired more from the heat than life... this song was just right. And that's still true today. It's a pretty song, but not overly pretty in the 'drop everything you're doing' kind of way. It just sums up a night.
I'm taken back to the porch at MEW's house in Oak Park. We would sit there, in her hammock, and talk about life and the future. Neither of us knew what we wanted, but we knew that we wanted something. We knew that we were supposed to want something, we set out to find what that was. And so we would sit there, talking about friends, family, and the world. We were innocent in most ways, probably overly optimistic, and yet to be beaten down by the fact that we were young. We were wise enough to realize that there was so much life to live, but since we had yet to see anything on our own, it was hard for us to imagine what the world was actually like. To us, love was what our parents shared, relationships were not complicated, and excuses were something only adults made. Like every teenager, we weren't going to be like other adults, we were going to tell it as it was (well, me at least).
Those were such nice nights, never perfect, but nice. No night was more memorable than any other. And that's okay, it's nice to have memories like that, were no night is so much better than any other. Once in a while we might walk around Oak Park, but for the most part we would take our place on the porch. We would spend hours changeling each others minds.
I miss that.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Hold My Hand
Hold My Hand by Hootie and the Blowfish
I bet you read that and either smiled or laughed. Oh, he’s being ironic.
Well you’re wrong. This song is FANNNN-TASTIC on it’s own right.
When you get down to all time great pop songs, this song is on the short list. Hootie and his Blowfish friends nail this song. The verse is just good enough to keep you around. And then the pre-chorus/bridge, with an all time great hook “cause Ive got a hand for you/cause I wanna run with you”. And then the chorus and the hold my hand stuff.
The song even has a needless guitar solo.
Look there are two songs about hand holding – the Beatles “I Wanta Hold Your Hand” and Hootie and the Blowfish’s “Hold My Hand”. They’re both fantastic pop songs and a ton of fun to listen too. Just like holding someone’s hand.
I bet you read that and either smiled or laughed. Oh, he’s being ironic.
Well you’re wrong. This song is FANNNN-TASTIC on it’s own right.
When you get down to all time great pop songs, this song is on the short list. Hootie and his Blowfish friends nail this song. The verse is just good enough to keep you around. And then the pre-chorus/bridge, with an all time great hook “cause Ive got a hand for you/cause I wanna run with you”. And then the chorus and the hold my hand stuff.
The song even has a needless guitar solo.
Look there are two songs about hand holding – the Beatles “I Wanta Hold Your Hand” and Hootie and the Blowfish’s “Hold My Hand”. They’re both fantastic pop songs and a ton of fun to listen too. Just like holding someone’s hand.
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