I mentioned my Spotify playlist, "Life," in another article.
Musically, the songs on this playlist are all over the map, from electronica to classical.
The idea behind the playlist is a range of songs that all (some musically and some lyrically) have a reflective nature to them. These songs — at least for me — all express what it means to live, to feel time pass, and to experience great change.
I may be biased because a lot of these songs are also some of my all time favorites — songs that bring me back to certain times in my life; bands and artists that I'll always have a soft spot for.
But putting my bias aside, I think these songs, in lyric, melody, and instrumentation all express what it means to live, and to appreciate this world we're lucky enough to walk around in for some 80 years.
I'd like to share some of my favorite stand out quotes from songs on this playlist.
When I was seventeen,
my mother said to me
Don't stop imagining. The day that you do is the day that you die.
- Youth Lagoon, "17"
17 is an important age: finishing junior year and starting your final year of high school, the bridge between the early driving years and turning 18 (the real first adulthood milestone). 17 is the peak of teen hood.
I believe it's one of the crucial transition ages in one's life.
This dream isn't feeling sweet.
We're reeling through the midnight streets.
And I've never felt more alone,
It feels so scary, getting old.
- Lorde, "Ribs"
Getting old is offing terrifying... but in the best way possible.
They made the sunrise for people like us,
so we have an excuse as to why we're still up.
- Family of the Year, "The Stairs"
Each time I find myself flat on my face,
I pick myself up and get back in the race.
- Frank Sinatra, "That's Life"
Knowing Sinatra's struggle with bipolar disorder makes these lyrics that much more heart wrenching, and yet, inspiring.
I wouldn't trade one stupid decision
for another five years of life.
- LCD Soundsystem, "All My Friends"
Dumb decisions are a huge part of life. Learn from them, but you shouldn't have any regrets because it was, and is, your life.
And one day, the world will see another man replacing me.
That's the way its gotta be. It's always been that way.
- Chris Staples, "Dark Side of the Moon"
And after all we're only ordinary men.
Me, and you.
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do.
- Pink Floyd, "Us and Them"
I'm so gifted at findin' what I don't like the most.
So I think it's time for us to have a toast.
- Kanye West , "Runaway"
He's talking about never being satisfied; the idea that the grass is always greener on the other side. It's so important to not take the good things for granted.
But I don't want to cry my whole life through.
Yeah, I want to do some laughing too.
So come on, come on, come on,
come on and laugh with me.
- Girls, "Hellhole Ratrace"
The biggest group of friends the world has ever seen.
Jumping and laughing… forever.
It would be great, right?
- M83, "Raconte De Un Histoire"
A brilliant narrative about a "very special frog" from the perspective of a naive child who already knows what life's all about.
There was a dream, and one day I could see it.
Like a bird in a cage I broke in and demanded that somebody free it...
- The Avett Brothers, "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promises"
Always remember there was nothing worth sharing
Like the love that let us share our name.
- The Avett Brothers, "Murder in the City"
Family is everything.
But if the world could remain within a frame like a painting on a wall.
Then I think we would see the beauty.
Then, we would stand staring in awe at our still lives posed like a bowl of oranges,
like a story told by the fault lines and the soil.
- Bright Eyes, "Bowl of Oranges"
We must hang up in the belfry.
Where the bats and moonlight laugh.
We must stare into a crystal ball and only see the past.
And in the caverns of tomorrow,
With just our flashlights and our love,
We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge.
- Bright Eyes, "At The Bottom of Everything"
Possibly the most brilliant verse I've heard in a folk tune.
Well now we're kicking back and we're sipping beers.
And there's a man telling stories about his inner fears.
We was all choked up and too close to tears.
- O.A.R., "About and Hour Ago"
This song creates such a unique, feel good energy that makes me want to live the simple life.
Well some say life will beat you down.
Break your heart, steal your crown.
So I've started out for God knows where,
I guess I'll know when I get there.
- Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, "Learnin' to Fly"
This was my high school freshman retreat song. My first true spiritual experience.
Oh and the answer, well who would have guessed,
Could be something as simple as this?
Something as simple as this.
- Jake Bugg, "Simple as This"
We all want to help one another.
Human beings are like that.
We want to live by each others' happiness, not by each other's misery.
We don't want to hate and despise one another.
- Jacoo, "World of Peace"
A creative electronic instrumental with a moving speech by actor, Charlie Chaplin, in The Great Dictator.
And one day we will die,
And our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea.
But for now we are young,
Let us lay in the sun,
And count every beautiful thing we can see.
- Neutral Milk Hotel, "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea"
When we're young, we see the world through a brighter, more colorful lens. If we're not careful, this lens may dim with age.
It's songs like this that can bring you back.
The whole world is watching.
You haven't come this far
To fall off the earth
- Jack's Mannequin, "Swim"
This dude almost lost a battle to Leukemia; this song is about his fight.
I wish we could open our eyes,
To see in all directions at the same time.
Oh what a beautiful view,
If you were never aware of what was around you.
- Death Cab For Cutie, "Marching Bands of Manhattan"
Seeing the "beautiful view" is so important.
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be on your own,
With no direction home.
Like a complete unknown,
Like a rolling stone?
- Bob Dylan, "Like a Rolling Stone"
I'm looking in on the good life I might be doomed never to find.
Without a trust or flaming fields am I too dumb to refine?
The Shins, "New Slang"
My, my, my it's a beautiful world,
I like swimming in the sea.
- Colin Hay, "Beautiful World"
Hay captures the greatest moments of life in such simplistic form.
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small,
That we can never get away from the sprawl.
- Arcade Fire, "Sprawl II"
Sometimes it feels like we're just going from one bubble-like community to another. Coming from a tight nit, private high school, and now at the end of my junior year at a small university, these lyrics hold true for me.
If I know only one thing, it's that everything that I see,
Of the world outside is so inconceivable often I barely can speak.
- Fleet Foxes, "Helplessness Blues"
Love is tough
Time is rough,
Love is tough,
Time is rough on me.
And it's one life,
And it's this life,
And it's beautiful.
- First Aid Kit, "Hard Believer"
Life is tough... but Love, Time and Beauty -- the ultimate triad that makes it all worth while.
