Sometimes I feel like I don’t know where I’m going.
It’s kind of like that whole thing where you can feel alone even when you’re in a crowd. I have a general idea where my life is going. I’m lucky enough to be married and have a great job, which really brings a level of stability and predictability to life. But then things happen that remind you that all of the plans we make don't give us a true sense of direction.
It’s the things that you can’t control that throw your life off course, which are the most meaningful. If you really think about the moments that changed your life, it’s never things that you can predict or control. These moments are the sad ones like sickness and death but also the amazing ones like finding love and your wife getting pregnant.
These things are awesome and they make the world seem completely different but they also throw you off. Where do you find your point of orientation, how do keep on the path? For some people it’s God, for others it’s their family and for John Fogerty, it’s simply the light.
Fogerty’s music reflects life's journey. The music he did with Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a soloist speaks to finding peace and somewhere whether its’ out a back porch or simply in a sunny day.
“Long As I Can See The Light,” is a simple song. It only has one repeated section, there’s no bridge or chorus. Not very many artists can get away with this but the melody is beautifully crafter like Brandi Carlile’s “The Story,” that you don’t mind the repetitive nature of the song.
“The light,” can be interpreted literally as a bright window in the dark, but the song quickly hints at something deeper. Fogerty sings about an inevitable journey that will eventually bring him home. He sings about a need to go out, explore and travel but also the need for this light to direct his path.
What’s revelatory about this song is that even though there is this deep unknown, there is a certainty that he will come home. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t know where he is going, he’ll find his way home.
Too often in life we think about our journeys as going somewhere. Fogerty reminds us that while our paths take us to strange and foreign lands, at the end they lead us right back home.
That’s a comforting thought, because I know that no matter how lost and scared I feel, at the end, life will lead me back home to Diana. The light in my life is whatever force brought us together and continues to lead us to each other when life's journeys pull us apart.
Showing posts with label Male Artists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Male Artists. Show all posts
Monday, March 25, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) by Billy Joel
Almost ten years ago, Billy Joel released his last pop album, River Of Dreams. In the eleven albums leading up to River Of Dreams, Joel created an astonishing catalog of popular music and left and unforgettable mark on popular music.
Joel’s music grew out of his working class background and developed through the nostalgia he had of the 1960s, the cynicism of the 1970s and the complexities of the 1980s. When the 1990s hit, Joel’s artistic maturity hit a peak and we got some of his most powerful and personal works of his life.
Joel was no longer an angry young man or a piano lounge singer. He found himself in the 1990s a husband a father. To express this sentiment, he took a instrumental piano prelude that he developed into a Latin chant and turned it into one of the most famous lullabies in popular music.
Billy Joel often speaks of the influence of western classical art music on his compositions. This is very clear in this song with harmonies and piano writing that echoes the works of Beethoven and Chopin. He is writing in a monophonic style where most of the parts of moving together in the same rhythm as the harmonies progress.
Just listening to the piano part itself, it seems like an odd choice to put lullabye lyrics to it but this juxtaposition really works. The formality in character of the piano part presents these words from the perspective of an older generation. Having these tender and intimate lyrics come from a voice which does not normally express such sentiment makes the song feel that much more special.
The lyrics demonstrate the struggle of parenthood. In the first verse, he’s not able to answer all of her questions. In the second verse, he’s left with so many more things he wants to say. In his child, Joel realizes what he doesn’t understand and what he can’t explain. Instead of focusing on this failure, he reassures his daughter of his love.
Joel writes lyrics that when you first hear them have a clear meaning. Then later, other lyrics make those previous words in retrospect mean something very different. In the first verse he promises, “no matter where you are, I never will be far away. “ This seems like a comforting reassurance to a child that isn’t necessarily true in the literal sense. Then later in the song he sings, “someday your child may cry and if you sing this lullaby . . . there will always be a part of me.” Joel ends the song acknowledge that he will be gone and it is in the lullabye that they will be together.
I have so many questions about life. I know my son will have even more questions than I do, and there will probably be many times I will not have answers. "Lullabye" reminds us that this is okay. We don't have to always know what to say as long as we share our love with the angels in our lives.
Joel’s music grew out of his working class background and developed through the nostalgia he had of the 1960s, the cynicism of the 1970s and the complexities of the 1980s. When the 1990s hit, Joel’s artistic maturity hit a peak and we got some of his most powerful and personal works of his life.
Joel was no longer an angry young man or a piano lounge singer. He found himself in the 1990s a husband a father. To express this sentiment, he took a instrumental piano prelude that he developed into a Latin chant and turned it into one of the most famous lullabies in popular music.
Billy Joel often speaks of the influence of western classical art music on his compositions. This is very clear in this song with harmonies and piano writing that echoes the works of Beethoven and Chopin. He is writing in a monophonic style where most of the parts of moving together in the same rhythm as the harmonies progress.
Just listening to the piano part itself, it seems like an odd choice to put lullabye lyrics to it but this juxtaposition really works. The formality in character of the piano part presents these words from the perspective of an older generation. Having these tender and intimate lyrics come from a voice which does not normally express such sentiment makes the song feel that much more special.
The lyrics demonstrate the struggle of parenthood. In the first verse, he’s not able to answer all of her questions. In the second verse, he’s left with so many more things he wants to say. In his child, Joel realizes what he doesn’t understand and what he can’t explain. Instead of focusing on this failure, he reassures his daughter of his love.
Joel writes lyrics that when you first hear them have a clear meaning. Then later, other lyrics make those previous words in retrospect mean something very different. In the first verse he promises, “no matter where you are, I never will be far away. “ This seems like a comforting reassurance to a child that isn’t necessarily true in the literal sense. Then later in the song he sings, “someday your child may cry and if you sing this lullaby . . . there will always be a part of me.” Joel ends the song acknowledge that he will be gone and it is in the lullabye that they will be together.
I have so many questions about life. I know my son will have even more questions than I do, and there will probably be many times I will not have answers. "Lullabye" reminds us that this is okay. We don't have to always know what to say as long as we share our love with the angels in our lives.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Gettin' Jiggy Wit It by Will Smith
“That’s not really rap music. It doesn’t have any swearing.”My students seem to have the most misconceptions about the music they like the best. One of those genres that many of my students talk about with some authority is rap music. When I teach about rap music I usually open up the conversation to get some ideas about what kids think about rap music. Some common misconceptions they tell me are that rap artists are only men, all rap music is about being a" gangsta" and that all rap needs utlizes explicit language.
-8th grade student
I dispute all of these things and use The Beastie Boys to teach about rap (which I talk about in this post ). The thing that astounded me this year was that some of my students argued that The Beastie Boys were not actually performing rap music. I patiently explained to them the The Beastie Boys were in fact one of the most important and influential rap groups of all time, though I’m not sure they believed me.
I wonder what they would say if I told them about how Will Smith used to be the Fresh Prince and how he still rocks the mic with mad skills (while keeping it clean).
When teaching about rap music, I often consider using some of Will Smith’s works, but the problem is that he work is too complex. Unlike “Intergalactic,” Smith places his rhymes of different beats, changes rhymes schemes quickly and adjusts phrase lengths within verses. One great example of this is with his 1998 smash “Gettin' Jiggy wit It.”
He immediately his the first verse with a clever phrase with rhymes almost every other word.: “Let’s go, dance floor pro, I know, you know, I go psy-cho.” He throws the accents on the off beat and come out of this pattern as easily as he get into.
The beginning of the second stanza is just a slick:
Everybody lookin' at me,Instead of creating pauses when he hits a rhyme, he goes straight into the next line rapping between the phrases as opposed to simply landing on them. When you analyze the different ways he places rhymes on beats, it’s dizzying.
Glancin' the kid,
wishin' they was dancin' a jig
Here with this handsome kid
It’s amazing how well Will Smith performs. He’s moving around the stage with so much energy and personality. Smith is a rapper that makes what he does seem so easy, but when you try to do it just like him, you might fall trying to do what he did.
I grew up watching Will Smith on television and listening to him as a rap artist. I respect his success as a film actor, but I can’t wait for him to pick up the mic and return as rap’s most important royalty.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Mrs. Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel
“Mrs. Robinson” isn’t really about Mrs. Robinson.
The Graduate is one of the greatest films of all time. This film about a recent college graduate’s struggle to figure out his life reflects a shared experience and feeling that twenty-something's across generations experience.
Then of course there is Mrs. Robinson who seduces, the recent college graduate, Benjamin while he is going out with her daughter. The whole cross-generational affair is enough to cause controversy and interest in viewers, but it’s really not the point of the film. The point is . . . well. . . it’s complex and multilayered and you’re just going to have to watch it to figure it out for yourself.
Mike Nichols’ the director of The Graduate became obsessed with Simon & Garfunkel, and asked for three songs to be written for this film. Paul Simon came up with the shell of one about Mrs. Roosevelt, Joe DiMaggio and times past. After some lyric changes, a stripped down version without verse appeared in the film.
Later Simon & Garfunkel completed this song and released it on their 1968 album, Bookends. Along with “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” (which I discussed in this earlier post), “Mrs. Robinson” became one of Simon & Garfunkel’s signature songs and one of the most popular songs of the decade.
Now when I said that this song isn’t about Mrs. Robinson, it’s because, she’s really not a respected or heroic figure in the film. The lyrics of this song really don’t hold the depth that later Paul Simon songs do. He admitted that the Joe DiMaggio reference had more to do with syllables then meaning and also there’s the fact that it was originally Mrs. Roosevelt that he was singing about.
What we are left is really about gratitude, trying to convince someone how important and meaningful they are to the people around them. It’s a beautiful sentiment and every time the chorus rises, you feel a sense of warmth and love.
If you take this song as being separate from the film, it takes on a whole other level of meaning. It’s not about the loss and confusion of The Graduate, rather it’s a reassuring anthem to a person who doesn’t realize how special she is to the people in her life.
Watch The Graduate and sing along with “Mrs. Robinson.” Try not to get them mixed up with each other. Sometimes we find meaning when we put things together but other times we find even more meaning when we look at things separately.
The Graduate is one of the greatest films of all time. This film about a recent college graduate’s struggle to figure out his life reflects a shared experience and feeling that twenty-something's across generations experience.
Then of course there is Mrs. Robinson who seduces, the recent college graduate, Benjamin while he is going out with her daughter. The whole cross-generational affair is enough to cause controversy and interest in viewers, but it’s really not the point of the film. The point is . . . well. . . it’s complex and multilayered and you’re just going to have to watch it to figure it out for yourself.
Mike Nichols’ the director of The Graduate became obsessed with Simon & Garfunkel, and asked for three songs to be written for this film. Paul Simon came up with the shell of one about Mrs. Roosevelt, Joe DiMaggio and times past. After some lyric changes, a stripped down version without verse appeared in the film.
Later Simon & Garfunkel completed this song and released it on their 1968 album, Bookends. Along with “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” (which I discussed in this earlier post), “Mrs. Robinson” became one of Simon & Garfunkel’s signature songs and one of the most popular songs of the decade.
Now when I said that this song isn’t about Mrs. Robinson, it’s because, she’s really not a respected or heroic figure in the film. The lyrics of this song really don’t hold the depth that later Paul Simon songs do. He admitted that the Joe DiMaggio reference had more to do with syllables then meaning and also there’s the fact that it was originally Mrs. Roosevelt that he was singing about.
What we are left is really about gratitude, trying to convince someone how important and meaningful they are to the people around them. It’s a beautiful sentiment and every time the chorus rises, you feel a sense of warmth and love.
If you take this song as being separate from the film, it takes on a whole other level of meaning. It’s not about the loss and confusion of The Graduate, rather it’s a reassuring anthem to a person who doesn’t realize how special she is to the people in her life.
Watch The Graduate and sing along with “Mrs. Robinson.” Try not to get them mixed up with each other. Sometimes we find meaning when we put things together but other times we find even more meaning when we look at things separately.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Skipping by Eddie Vedder
I don’t know what it means to be a parent.
As a teacher I’m responsible for my “kids,” but at the end of the day, they go home to their parents and I go home to my wife and my dog.
I’ve talked to parents, read books about parents and I’m currently watching Parenthood on Netflix. Parenthood is something that is on my mind not only because of my profession but because it’s something that God-willing will be part of my future.
I first heard Eddie Vedder’s “Skipping,” in a funeral. Throughout the service stories of an 18-year old boy filled the church. A couple pews in front of me I could see between a mother’s grief as she listened to people talk about her son.
When I read in the program that an Eddie Vedder song would be played during the service, I was surprised. My exposure to Eddie Vedder was pretty limited and my main impression of him came from Pearl Jam’s controversial hit, “Jeremy.” But as the voice of a young girl squeaked out between a calming guitar line and Vedder’s distinctive baritone started, I realized I was listening to something very special.
Vedder wrote “Skipping,” for his daughter as part of the charity album, Every Mother Counts, dedicated to addressing the issue of maternal mortality during pregnancy. This song was one of the mother’s and the son’s favorites. As the song played, each lyrics seemed to be written about their relationship.
The simple act of holding hands, which we take for granted, was a central way that this mother and son communicated their love. Like the service, this song is full of thanksgiving and cherishing the moments that bring true meaning into life.
“Forever we’ll talk and forever we’ll drown in each other skipping around,” could not have meant more in that moment as we all sat there contemplating how forever could exist in the memories we hold in our hearts.
The most powerful story that was told during the service was about how the son would feel after surgery. This boy had to go through many difficult medical procedures in his life and he would wake up confused after the operations, not understanding what had happened or where he was. Then his mom would reach through the jungle of tubes and wires to hold his hand. He would know immediately that it was his mom and he would calm down. As Vedder sings, “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men,” could not keep this mom from holding her son’s hand.
This service and "Skipping," gave me a glimpse of the love between a mother and a child. More than that it made me realize how much I don't understand about the human heart. There's so much I have yet to experience in life and while that fact is intimidating, it's kind of exciting.
There's a lot of amazing things on this planet but I'm not sure I'll ever witness something quite as powerful and beautiful as the love I saw during that service of a parent for a child.
As a teacher I’m responsible for my “kids,” but at the end of the day, they go home to their parents and I go home to my wife and my dog.
I’ve talked to parents, read books about parents and I’m currently watching Parenthood on Netflix. Parenthood is something that is on my mind not only because of my profession but because it’s something that God-willing will be part of my future.
I first heard Eddie Vedder’s “Skipping,” in a funeral. Throughout the service stories of an 18-year old boy filled the church. A couple pews in front of me I could see between a mother’s grief as she listened to people talk about her son.
When I read in the program that an Eddie Vedder song would be played during the service, I was surprised. My exposure to Eddie Vedder was pretty limited and my main impression of him came from Pearl Jam’s controversial hit, “Jeremy.” But as the voice of a young girl squeaked out between a calming guitar line and Vedder’s distinctive baritone started, I realized I was listening to something very special.
Vedder wrote “Skipping,” for his daughter as part of the charity album, Every Mother Counts, dedicated to addressing the issue of maternal mortality during pregnancy. This song was one of the mother’s and the son’s favorites. As the song played, each lyrics seemed to be written about their relationship.
The simple act of holding hands, which we take for granted, was a central way that this mother and son communicated their love. Like the service, this song is full of thanksgiving and cherishing the moments that bring true meaning into life.
“Forever we’ll talk and forever we’ll drown in each other skipping around,” could not have meant more in that moment as we all sat there contemplating how forever could exist in the memories we hold in our hearts.
The most powerful story that was told during the service was about how the son would feel after surgery. This boy had to go through many difficult medical procedures in his life and he would wake up confused after the operations, not understanding what had happened or where he was. Then his mom would reach through the jungle of tubes and wires to hold his hand. He would know immediately that it was his mom and he would calm down. As Vedder sings, “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men,” could not keep this mom from holding her son’s hand.
This service and "Skipping," gave me a glimpse of the love between a mother and a child. More than that it made me realize how much I don't understand about the human heart. There's so much I have yet to experience in life and while that fact is intimidating, it's kind of exciting.
There's a lot of amazing things on this planet but I'm not sure I'll ever witness something quite as powerful and beautiful as the love I saw during that service of a parent for a child.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Badlands by Bruce Springsteen
One of my friends jokingly said that Springsteen doesn’t sing his own songs in his concerts because the audience sings along. People pay big bucks to go to his shows sing in a big group like a live Karaoke band.
Of course, I disagree with this. Springsteen works harder on stage than most musicians, half his age. But I didn't understand how meaningful his music really was until I heard "Badlands" at the end of a funeral service.
Singing along to music can mean very different things to different people. Sometimes it’s nostalgia and other times it’s just loosing yourself in music through euphoric joy. You can have a song that is not that deep or meaningful and sing-along with a stadium full of people and have fun. It’s an amazing thing. But with Bruce Springsteen, it’s more than that.
Imagine yourself at a Black Eyed Peas concert singing these lyrics along with the band:
Springsteen tells the story of a man who through struggles and hardships realizes some truths about life. The first verse talks about being in a figurative “head-on collision” and a “crossfire.” He’s fed up. He doesn’t care for the “same old played out scenes” and he wants something real. It’s the same fear and reservation that is expressed “Thunder Road,” of a life that may go to waste through inaction.
The chorus states that the sorrow and broken hearts of the past as a price that you have to pay to make these badlands, these rough times in our lives to “start treating us good.” The second verse continues these conclusion that the protagonist has made:
From the first opening riff, “Badlands,” is a celebration. The guitar solos and Clarence’s incredible saxophone solo are like the ending of “Thunder Road,” extended out into one amazing feeling of liberation.
Springsteen’s music and songs like “Badlands,” hold profound spiritual meaning for people. Singing along to these songs inspires people with strength and hope.
On my desk is a memorial card for a young man who died at the age of 18. On the front is his picture and on the back is information about the young man and the memorial service. About halfway down the back is a small cross and below the cross are these lyrics:
Of course, I disagree with this. Springsteen works harder on stage than most musicians, half his age. But I didn't understand how meaningful his music really was until I heard "Badlands" at the end of a funeral service.
Singing along to music can mean very different things to different people. Sometimes it’s nostalgia and other times it’s just loosing yourself in music through euphoric joy. You can have a song that is not that deep or meaningful and sing-along with a stadium full of people and have fun. It’s an amazing thing. But with Bruce Springsteen, it’s more than that.
Imagine yourself at a Black Eyed Peas concert singing these lyrics along with the band:
I gotta feeling...Now try to imagine singing these words along with Bruce and the E Street Band:
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good, good night!
Lights out tonight,I’m not making the argument that the Black Eyed Peas are an inferior band (I did that in this earlier post). But they are doing something very different and singing along to “I Gotta Feeling,” means something different than singing along to “Badlands.”
trouble in the heartland.
Got a head-on collision,
smashin' in my guts, man.
I'm caught in a crossfire,
that I don't understand.
Springsteen tells the story of a man who through struggles and hardships realizes some truths about life. The first verse talks about being in a figurative “head-on collision” and a “crossfire.” He’s fed up. He doesn’t care for the “same old played out scenes” and he wants something real. It’s the same fear and reservation that is expressed “Thunder Road,” of a life that may go to waste through inaction.
The chorus states that the sorrow and broken hearts of the past as a price that you have to pay to make these badlands, these rough times in our lives to “start treating us good.” The second verse continues these conclusion that the protagonist has made:
Poor man wanna be richThese are the truths about human nature and greed. In understanding these things we realize that it’s love, faith and hope as Springsteen sings that will raise us up, not wealth. The bridge is a stirring and proud declaration of unity and perseverance:
Rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied
Till he rules everything
For the ones who had a notion,"Badlands" symbolizes all of the people who try to keep us down and Springsteen stirs the spirit inside of us to throw those shackles aside, be glad that we’re alive and search for meaning in the relationships that truly matter.
A notion deep inside.
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive,
I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me,
I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these badlands.
From the first opening riff, “Badlands,” is a celebration. The guitar solos and Clarence’s incredible saxophone solo are like the ending of “Thunder Road,” extended out into one amazing feeling of liberation.
Springsteen’s music and songs like “Badlands,” hold profound spiritual meaning for people. Singing along to these songs inspires people with strength and hope.
On my desk is a memorial card for a young man who died at the age of 18. On the front is his picture and on the back is information about the young man and the memorial service. About halfway down the back is a small cross and below the cross are these lyrics:
Well, I believe in the love“Badlands,” isn’t just another pop song. Bruce Springsteen is not just another rock star. To this young man’s family, his words are an expression of what made this life that is now over, meaningful. As I sat there in the church I couldn't help but softly sing-along, closer to a prayer than a song with grace and thanksgiving.
that you gave me.
I believe in the faith
that could save me.
I believe in the hope and
I pray that some day,
It may raise me
above these Badlands . . .
Monday, January 7, 2013
8th Grade Playlist: 9 - Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift featuring Ed Sheeran
Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand and now there’s Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.
There’s this amazing tradition in popular music of artist joining together to do duets. It’s a dream team kind of idea where two people at the top of their game come together and create something amazing. Taylor Swift, a still rising pop star, and Ed Sheeran who recently broke big (I talked about him in this earlier post) are huge right now.
Taylor and Ed are the Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand of their generation. They are central figures in their genre representing the best in popular music right now.
No, they are not singing a break-up song about the lack of flowers in their lives (check out this post if you missed this reference). Instead they are singing about the beginning of a relationship, that special spark in “Everything Has Changed.”
Taylor and Ed lay down a peaceful and intimate track. The opening dialogue breaks down any sense of formality. You really feel like you are in a living room hearing them perform this song.
“Everything Has Changed” is a very gentle and unassuming song. It doesn’t really insist on a strong meaning or narrative. Instead it reflective and honest capturing a certain innocents that we sometimes overlook and forget about when we get to know the people around us.
The phrase “all I know,” appears throughout this song. This phrase expresses a sense of humility. They don’t fully understand their own feelings but they do know that they want to know each better.
There are beautiful and subtle descriptions as Ed sings about a wall painted blue coming down and Taylor’s butterflies in her stomach taking flight. These are the lines that really show the strength of these two song writers. They are short but meaningful and full of emotion.
There’s no turn around or twist in this song. Unlike other Taylor Swift songs like “Love Story,” this song is really about a single moment and not the way a relationship develops over time. It’s tough to have a song talk about such a small moment but this song does it really well.
Initially this song feels like teenagers singing about their first love. That mix of hormones and infatuation that rarely leads to a long-term relationship, but it's more than that. The older I get the more I realize how much I need people in my life and how much of the meaning in my life lies I share my life with others.
When I first met Diana everything in my life didn't change, but it felt like it did because my perspective changed. Every person you meet changes the way you look at the world sometimes in very small ways but in other times in very significant ways.
When you meet that person and all you want to do is get to know them better you're entering a journey that leads you to truly know yourself. This is what life is really about.
There’s this amazing tradition in popular music of artist joining together to do duets. It’s a dream team kind of idea where two people at the top of their game come together and create something amazing. Taylor Swift, a still rising pop star, and Ed Sheeran who recently broke big (I talked about him in this earlier post) are huge right now.
Taylor and Ed are the Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand of their generation. They are central figures in their genre representing the best in popular music right now.
No, they are not singing a break-up song about the lack of flowers in their lives (check out this post if you missed this reference). Instead they are singing about the beginning of a relationship, that special spark in “Everything Has Changed.”
Taylor and Ed lay down a peaceful and intimate track. The opening dialogue breaks down any sense of formality. You really feel like you are in a living room hearing them perform this song.
“Everything Has Changed” is a very gentle and unassuming song. It doesn’t really insist on a strong meaning or narrative. Instead it reflective and honest capturing a certain innocents that we sometimes overlook and forget about when we get to know the people around us.
The phrase “all I know,” appears throughout this song. This phrase expresses a sense of humility. They don’t fully understand their own feelings but they do know that they want to know each better.
There are beautiful and subtle descriptions as Ed sings about a wall painted blue coming down and Taylor’s butterflies in her stomach taking flight. These are the lines that really show the strength of these two song writers. They are short but meaningful and full of emotion.
There’s no turn around or twist in this song. Unlike other Taylor Swift songs like “Love Story,” this song is really about a single moment and not the way a relationship develops over time. It’s tough to have a song talk about such a small moment but this song does it really well.
Initially this song feels like teenagers singing about their first love. That mix of hormones and infatuation that rarely leads to a long-term relationship, but it's more than that. The older I get the more I realize how much I need people in my life and how much of the meaning in my life lies I share my life with others.
When I first met Diana everything in my life didn't change, but it felt like it did because my perspective changed. Every person you meet changes the way you look at the world sometimes in very small ways but in other times in very significant ways.
When you meet that person and all you want to do is get to know them better you're entering a journey that leads you to truly know yourself. This is what life is really about.
Monday, December 17, 2012
8th Grade Playlist: 8 - Hit The Road Jack by Ray Charles
There are a lot of songs that reflect on break-ups and tell the stories of relationships that ended. However there aren’t a lot of songs that put you right in the middle of a break-up while it’s happening. That doesn’t really seem like a fun place to be, but Ray Charles manages to make it entertaining.
“Hit The Road Jack” by Ray Charles is one of the most popular songs in the history of pop music. It was written by Percy Mayfield and released in 1961. This song is a conversation between a fed-up woman and a man she is trying to make leave. He tries to convince her to let him stay, but she stand her ground and demands that he “hits the road.”
This is a short song with only two alternating sections. The opening “Hit the road jack,” section sung by the Raylettes (Ray Charles’ female back-up singers) with interjections by Ray.
During Ray’s first response he lashes out, telling the woman she’s mean. But then he pulls back and states that if she says he has to go, then he’ll leave. It’s almost like he’s trying to play a sympathy card to change his mind. But then she snaps right back singing “that’s right.”
During the second verse Ray takes on a different strategy. He tries to convince her that he’ll get his act together. Then we hear one of the most powerful phrases in pop music, “don’t care!” These two words aren’t sung as much as they are growled. It’s full of attitude, strength and one of the greatest “oh, snap,” moments in the history of popular music.
The relationship dynamics portrayed in this song are fascinating. This was released in the early 1960s. The power in relationships was more often in the hands of men both legally and socially. So here’s a song about a girl dumping a guy. The guy is unable to convince her to let him stay and she proceeds to kick him out. Her reasoning is sound, he has no money and he’s no good.
Ray puts himself out there as the guy who gets dumped. This is the opposite of a rap star bragging about how much money he has or how many “ho’s in different area codes,” he “possesses.” It’s this willingness to be the man who gets dumped, the butt of the joke and that makes this song so much fun.
“Hit The Road Jack” is empowering to women and it’s a good lesson to men to remember get their act together before a girl gets fed up because there’s a good chance that if you don’t, you may be hitting the road.
“Hit The Road Jack” by Ray Charles is one of the most popular songs in the history of pop music. It was written by Percy Mayfield and released in 1961. This song is a conversation between a fed-up woman and a man she is trying to make leave. He tries to convince her to let him stay, but she stand her ground and demands that he “hits the road.”
This is a short song with only two alternating sections. The opening “Hit the road jack,” section sung by the Raylettes (Ray Charles’ female back-up singers) with interjections by Ray.
During Ray’s first response he lashes out, telling the woman she’s mean. But then he pulls back and states that if she says he has to go, then he’ll leave. It’s almost like he’s trying to play a sympathy card to change his mind. But then she snaps right back singing “that’s right.”
During the second verse Ray takes on a different strategy. He tries to convince her that he’ll get his act together. Then we hear one of the most powerful phrases in pop music, “don’t care!” These two words aren’t sung as much as they are growled. It’s full of attitude, strength and one of the greatest “oh, snap,” moments in the history of popular music.
The relationship dynamics portrayed in this song are fascinating. This was released in the early 1960s. The power in relationships was more often in the hands of men both legally and socially. So here’s a song about a girl dumping a guy. The guy is unable to convince her to let him stay and she proceeds to kick him out. Her reasoning is sound, he has no money and he’s no good.
Ray puts himself out there as the guy who gets dumped. This is the opposite of a rap star bragging about how much money he has or how many “ho’s in different area codes,” he “possesses.” It’s this willingness to be the man who gets dumped, the butt of the joke and that makes this song so much fun.
“Hit The Road Jack” is empowering to women and it’s a good lesson to men to remember get their act together before a girl gets fed up because there’s a good chance that if you don’t, you may be hitting the road.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Some Nights by Fun
Where did this guy learn his dance moves? From One Direction? And what is he wearing? Why is he wearing a woman's trench coat and why is he wearing riding pants? The rise is all wrong, it's like down to his knees. And his pants are way too short for his shoes.
- Diana (my wife)
I got to admit that their fashion also distracted me from the fact that they were performing “Some Nights,” a great pop song with some revealing and insightful lyrics set in a unique musical landscape.
“Some Nights,” describes a man lost in the circumstances that life has put him in. The title line, “some nights,” sets our minds somewhere between the magic in the night that can uplift us and the darkness that haunts us.
Fun tells the story of a man unsure of his life and his surroundings. “What do I stand for?” echoes through the song as he questions the world that he lives in, which encourages us to reexamine our own lives.
The opening call is a glorious and confident musical statement. It sounds like a call to action, a call to war. It’s starts the song as a chorus for all to sing along with but the lyrics present an unexpected banner to unite behind.
By “cashing in” his bad luck he is saying that he is giving up on fighting. Sometimes he thinks his lips, his words can build things up, but other times he wishes that he would loose the power of speech all together. He is haunted by a ghost of someone he cares about and ends declaring for the entire world to hear, that he doesn’t know what he stands for.
What we stand for comes from our beliefs. More often than not we declare what we would like to believe as opposed to what we actually believe. In a sense, this song is asking up what we truly believe in.
Fun takes us through some different settings to help us explore our own beliefs. There is the setting of war, declaring that he doesn’t believe hype and the pressures of his peers, “I try twice as hard and I’m half as liked.” He wishes that, “this all would end,”so he could find himself in his friends.
The most powerful line in the song is when he considers his nephew and the fact that this amazing life came from a “terrible night.” This line brings different situations into our mind but instead of dwelling on what happened, we are left we the question in our minds. What if what we stand for can result in an outcome that we don’t expect? What if we are wrong?
All of these questions are set against a mash of 1980s rock vocals, march like percussion and dance-pop sounds. It initially doesn’t make any sense how such existential lyrics fit such glorious sounding music.
If you believe that values are not to be questioned and that you stand, unwavering in your belief than this song doesn’t really work. However if you’ve been in the world and encountered the lives of others you realize that the journey of life is all about questioning who we are and what we believe in. This is not something to be ashamed of or feared because this is something we all share.
The days when the world makes perfect sense and you know for sure what you stand for come right before the nights when this all comes into question. Look forward to those nights because it is in those moments that you see the most amazing things.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Thunder Road - Part 3: Magic In The Night
There are things that haunt us in our lives. Regret chases away our dreams and petrifies our motions.
Throughout “Thunder Road,” we get a sense that Mary has some thing that is holding her back from joining the protagonist in his car but we aren’t sure what it is. While we never hear the details, the last part of “Thunder Road” focuses on how much bravery it takes to move beyond the ghosts of the past into the possibilities of the future.
Mary has made promises that she has broken. These boys that she has hurt and sent away haunt the “skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolet." Mary can’t escape all of the mistakes she has made, all the sins of her past and in the darkness of the night they overtake her. Her graduation gown, the symbol of what she worked so hard for, is in rags. What she thought would bring her liberation is just an illusion.
As the night ends, there is a “lonely cool before dawn.” The engines of the burned out Chevrolet's filled with her broken dreams, start to roar like an animal heading towards her soul. But when Mary steps out onto the porch and sees him standing there, all her regret and fears, disappear on the wind.
The perspective switches one more time and as Mary climbs in, he thinks, “it’s a town full of losers and I’m pulling out of here to win.” This line is about leaving everything behind, moving on with one’s life and taking a chance to make something happen. As Springsteen sings “win” we hear the music rev up like an engine and in the sailing saxophone line we see the car drive out onto thunder road.
“Thunder Road,” like many of Springsteen’s songs works through a simple arrangement of chord progressions. If you know the basic I-IV-V chords on a guitar you can work through most of this song. Combined with the harmonica at the beginning of the song has a folk-like sensibility. Springsteen mixes this with the grandeur of Phil Spector’s symphonic pop songs like “Unchained Melody.”
“Thunder Road,” lacks a clear verse and chorus structure. Instead it unravels with a stream of consciousness, slowly building and evolving across a musical landscape that reflects the nostalgia in all of our hearts.
When Springsteen broke into this song in the pouring rain at Wrigley Field, I pulled my wife close to me. As the harmonica line sailed into the night, I felt tears welling up. You could feel the entire stadium begin to sing with Bruce. Then Bruce put his mic down and let the audience sing “ . . . young anymore, show a little faith, there’s magic in the night, you ain’t a beauty but hey you’re alright.”
Then Bruce responded approvingly “well, that’s all right with me.”
With these words, the audience is singing about Springsteen himself. He’s not the twenty-something he was when he first sang “Born To Run,” but he’s still our man. These lines are about what is the most important things in life, faith, love and the belief that there is magic out there. There is wonder in the unknown and if we believe in something hard enough and take a chance, we can all find our own “Thunder Road.”
Throughout “Thunder Road,” we get a sense that Mary has some thing that is holding her back from joining the protagonist in his car but we aren’t sure what it is. While we never hear the details, the last part of “Thunder Road” focuses on how much bravery it takes to move beyond the ghosts of the past into the possibilities of the future.
Mary has made promises that she has broken. These boys that she has hurt and sent away haunt the “skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolet." Mary can’t escape all of the mistakes she has made, all the sins of her past and in the darkness of the night they overtake her. Her graduation gown, the symbol of what she worked so hard for, is in rags. What she thought would bring her liberation is just an illusion.
As the night ends, there is a “lonely cool before dawn.” The engines of the burned out Chevrolet's filled with her broken dreams, start to roar like an animal heading towards her soul. But when Mary steps out onto the porch and sees him standing there, all her regret and fears, disappear on the wind.
The perspective switches one more time and as Mary climbs in, he thinks, “it’s a town full of losers and I’m pulling out of here to win.” This line is about leaving everything behind, moving on with one’s life and taking a chance to make something happen. As Springsteen sings “win” we hear the music rev up like an engine and in the sailing saxophone line we see the car drive out onto thunder road.
“Thunder Road,” like many of Springsteen’s songs works through a simple arrangement of chord progressions. If you know the basic I-IV-V chords on a guitar you can work through most of this song. Combined with the harmonica at the beginning of the song has a folk-like sensibility. Springsteen mixes this with the grandeur of Phil Spector’s symphonic pop songs like “Unchained Melody.”
“Thunder Road,” lacks a clear verse and chorus structure. Instead it unravels with a stream of consciousness, slowly building and evolving across a musical landscape that reflects the nostalgia in all of our hearts.
When Springsteen broke into this song in the pouring rain at Wrigley Field, I pulled my wife close to me. As the harmonica line sailed into the night, I felt tears welling up. You could feel the entire stadium begin to sing with Bruce. Then Bruce put his mic down and let the audience sing “ . . . young anymore, show a little faith, there’s magic in the night, you ain’t a beauty but hey you’re alright.”
Then Bruce responded approvingly “well, that’s all right with me.”
With these words, the audience is singing about Springsteen himself. He’s not the twenty-something he was when he first sang “Born To Run,” but he’s still our man. These lines are about what is the most important things in life, faith, love and the belief that there is magic out there. There is wonder in the unknown and if we believe in something hard enough and take a chance, we can all find our own “Thunder Road.”
Monday, December 3, 2012
8th Grade Playlist: 7 - The Scientist by Morgan Gold/Coldplay
Dear Morgan,
Musical heroes: Train, Taylor Swift The Black Keys, and you, Morgan Gold.
I’m a music teacher in Chicago. To get to know my 8th graders, I asked them to send me youtube clips of their musical heroes. A lot of the clips were what I expected, but there were some videos that were surprises like your performance of “The Scientist” by Coldplay.
I know this song well. “The Scientist” is the first Coldplay song that connected with me. The washed out production of "Clocks," while unique, didn’t really capture my imagination. It wasn’t until I saw Chris Martin perform this song that I got drawn into their world.
There is something magical about this song. It’s like a great novel. You know there’s a deeper story and instead of becoming frustrated that it’s not revealed, you are excited that you get a glimpse. This is a song about vulnerabilities, insecurities and hope.
If it’s possible to love a song because of one line, then I love this song because of “you don’t know how lovely you are.” It’s one of the most beautiful moments in music I’ve ever heard and the setting and arrangement of these words truly is beautiful.
This is what I brought with me when I watched your video for the first time, but there was something more than just the song itself that made this video powerful for me.
We so often focus on the worst of the Internet and how it enables bad behavior. Sometimes we forget the amazing connections that can be made because of technology. What you’ve done is a great example of what’s amazing about not only music but the internet itself.
Morgan, you were brave enough to put yourself out there and because of your courage you’ve inspired people and you are at least one person’s musical hero. That’s a big deal. Right now your video has 371 views. It doesn’t seem a lot when compared to the amount of views that popular videos get, but it’s still amazing when you try to imagine all of those people in one room.
We live in a world now where young people are empowered not only to create and share their art but to inspire other young people. I’m so excited for your generation to be able to have this exchange. I can’t think of a better song and performance than your rendition of “The Scientist,” to represent what that means.
There’s no irony, cynicism, or sarcasm in your performance. It’s devoid of everything that people who don’t know young people unfairly stereotype about people your age. And like the lyrics suggest, this performance gets back to the start: music's role in connecting us to other people through our shared humanity.
Keep creating Morgan, keep playing and keep singing.
-Kingsley
Musical heroes: Train, Taylor Swift The Black Keys, and you, Morgan Gold.
I’m a music teacher in Chicago. To get to know my 8th graders, I asked them to send me youtube clips of their musical heroes. A lot of the clips were what I expected, but there were some videos that were surprises like your performance of “The Scientist” by Coldplay.
I know this song well. “The Scientist” is the first Coldplay song that connected with me. The washed out production of "Clocks," while unique, didn’t really capture my imagination. It wasn’t until I saw Chris Martin perform this song that I got drawn into their world.
There is something magical about this song. It’s like a great novel. You know there’s a deeper story and instead of becoming frustrated that it’s not revealed, you are excited that you get a glimpse. This is a song about vulnerabilities, insecurities and hope.
If it’s possible to love a song because of one line, then I love this song because of “you don’t know how lovely you are.” It’s one of the most beautiful moments in music I’ve ever heard and the setting and arrangement of these words truly is beautiful.
This is what I brought with me when I watched your video for the first time, but there was something more than just the song itself that made this video powerful for me.
We so often focus on the worst of the Internet and how it enables bad behavior. Sometimes we forget the amazing connections that can be made because of technology. What you’ve done is a great example of what’s amazing about not only music but the internet itself.
Morgan, you were brave enough to put yourself out there and because of your courage you’ve inspired people and you are at least one person’s musical hero. That’s a big deal. Right now your video has 371 views. It doesn’t seem a lot when compared to the amount of views that popular videos get, but it’s still amazing when you try to imagine all of those people in one room.
We live in a world now where young people are empowered not only to create and share their art but to inspire other young people. I’m so excited for your generation to be able to have this exchange. I can’t think of a better song and performance than your rendition of “The Scientist,” to represent what that means.
There’s no irony, cynicism, or sarcasm in your performance. It’s devoid of everything that people who don’t know young people unfairly stereotype about people your age. And like the lyrics suggest, this performance gets back to the start: music's role in connecting us to other people through our shared humanity.
Keep creating Morgan, keep playing and keep singing.
-Kingsley
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Thunder Road - Part 2: What else can we do now?
Sometimes life answers our prayers in ways that we don’t expect.
Yes, Mary can hide from the world, throw down the gift of roses and push away the boys that have tried to comfort her. She can wait for some figure, some savior to appear. What Mary doesn’t realize is that the person she is looking for is right in front of her.
He knows he’s no hero. The only way he can bring her “redemption,” bring meaning to her sins and her heartache is ride out into the open road, to escape and find freedom.
He can’t offer her the world but he can help her find it. In the simple joy of feeling the wind in her hair, and the possibility of the open road there is liberation. There’s a sense that anything can happen. With uncertainty mixed with excitement, they’ve got one more chance to strip their wings, the angelic visions of their dreams, for the reality of these wheels that can drive them to everything and anywhere. It’s a transformation from the dreams you’ve prayed for to the blessings you’ve never imagined.
The name “Thunder Road,” an allusion to a Robert Mitchum film brings images of romance, the unknown and mystery. Like a “killer in the sun,” a criminal with no where to hide they can make it to this magical place, their own personal promised land, if they run.
What does he really have to offer her? In a moment of childlike excitement he describes his guitar. There’s a sense that he is trying to impress her but then he quickly pulls back. He knows that it truly is a long walk from her front porch to his front seat. He explains that the ride isn’t free because he knows that there are things that he is asking her to sacrifice.
There are words that she longs to hear from him that he can't speak. It’s in this acknowledgement that we realize that this is not the end of a journey but the beginning of one. He will eventually say these words she needs to hear as he promises that he can provide her freedom.
This part of the song is all about the things that we hope for coming true in ways that we never expect. Life doesn’t always have a sense of urgency because it all seems infinite but it’s not.
We need to trade in our illusions, face the possibilities in our life and take whatever path will make our dreams come true.
Yes, Mary can hide from the world, throw down the gift of roses and push away the boys that have tried to comfort her. She can wait for some figure, some savior to appear. What Mary doesn’t realize is that the person she is looking for is right in front of her.
He knows he’s no hero. The only way he can bring her “redemption,” bring meaning to her sins and her heartache is ride out into the open road, to escape and find freedom.
He can’t offer her the world but he can help her find it. In the simple joy of feeling the wind in her hair, and the possibility of the open road there is liberation. There’s a sense that anything can happen. With uncertainty mixed with excitement, they’ve got one more chance to strip their wings, the angelic visions of their dreams, for the reality of these wheels that can drive them to everything and anywhere. It’s a transformation from the dreams you’ve prayed for to the blessings you’ve never imagined.
The name “Thunder Road,” an allusion to a Robert Mitchum film brings images of romance, the unknown and mystery. Like a “killer in the sun,” a criminal with no where to hide they can make it to this magical place, their own personal promised land, if they run.
What does he really have to offer her? In a moment of childlike excitement he describes his guitar. There’s a sense that he is trying to impress her but then he quickly pulls back. He knows that it truly is a long walk from her front porch to his front seat. He explains that the ride isn’t free because he knows that there are things that he is asking her to sacrifice.
There are words that she longs to hear from him that he can't speak. It’s in this acknowledgement that we realize that this is not the end of a journey but the beginning of one. He will eventually say these words she needs to hear as he promises that he can provide her freedom.
This part of the song is all about the things that we hope for coming true in ways that we never expect. Life doesn’t always have a sense of urgency because it all seems infinite but it’s not.
We need to trade in our illusions, face the possibilities in our life and take whatever path will make our dreams come true.
Monday, November 26, 2012
8th Grade Playlist: 6. Dynamite by Taio Cruz
I don’t really like this song.
When one of my 8th graders submitted this song to me as one of his favorites, I groaned a little on the inside. Sometimes when things go “viral,” my reactions is negative. I still have a little of the “when something gets incredibly popular, I don’t want to go with the crowd,” thing in me. ( I didn’t actually watch Titanic until this last fall).
Honestly, I don’t really know this song that well and I don’t know a lot about Taio Cruz beyond what’s in his Wikipedia. As I listened to this song repeatedly on the way to work, I just didn’t find something in this song that I found that interesting. And then I watched this:
. . .and it reminded a lot of this:
I’m not saying that “Hungry Hearts,” is comparable to “Dynamite” on a musical level. They are very different songs, but both of them have inspired something similar, something truly amazing about music.
When you have an entire stadium full of people singing a song with complete joy, something is right about the music, something is really working. There’s objective arguments that one can make about the quality of a song but that’s not really relevant when you look at the way a whole crowd enjoys a song.
“Dynamite” is hooking into the singular theme that is present throughout all rock music: liberation. Rock and American pop music continues to inspire people through almost six decades, and each generation has different ways to express this idea feeling of liberation. For Taio Cruz, its going to a club and dancing, which really isn’t all that different than what the Beatles were singing about in “Twist and Shout.”
“Dynamite” doesn’t connect with me, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important, significant and meaningful to other people. It’s hard sometimes when you look at another generation’s music to make sense of it, but that’s okay. It doesn’t have to “work” for you. In the same way that younger people don’t get the music I love, I’m not going to love all of the music my students bring to me. What’s important is not that we convince each other of the quality of the music we like but rather what the music means to us. That’s where we find common ground.
The love of music is a beautiful thing. If you really love music, then rejoice in people’s love of music, even if that love is directed towards a song you don't like. This is something we should all celebrate as we live our lives, and if you are of a certain age, while singing “A-Yo.”
When one of my 8th graders submitted this song to me as one of his favorites, I groaned a little on the inside. Sometimes when things go “viral,” my reactions is negative. I still have a little of the “when something gets incredibly popular, I don’t want to go with the crowd,” thing in me. ( I didn’t actually watch Titanic until this last fall).
Honestly, I don’t really know this song that well and I don’t know a lot about Taio Cruz beyond what’s in his Wikipedia. As I listened to this song repeatedly on the way to work, I just didn’t find something in this song that I found that interesting. And then I watched this:
. . .and it reminded a lot of this:
I’m not saying that “Hungry Hearts,” is comparable to “Dynamite” on a musical level. They are very different songs, but both of them have inspired something similar, something truly amazing about music.
When you have an entire stadium full of people singing a song with complete joy, something is right about the music, something is really working. There’s objective arguments that one can make about the quality of a song but that’s not really relevant when you look at the way a whole crowd enjoys a song.
“Dynamite” is hooking into the singular theme that is present throughout all rock music: liberation. Rock and American pop music continues to inspire people through almost six decades, and each generation has different ways to express this idea feeling of liberation. For Taio Cruz, its going to a club and dancing, which really isn’t all that different than what the Beatles were singing about in “Twist and Shout.”
“Dynamite” doesn’t connect with me, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important, significant and meaningful to other people. It’s hard sometimes when you look at another generation’s music to make sense of it, but that’s okay. It doesn’t have to “work” for you. In the same way that younger people don’t get the music I love, I’m not going to love all of the music my students bring to me. What’s important is not that we convince each other of the quality of the music we like but rather what the music means to us. That’s where we find common ground.
The love of music is a beautiful thing. If you really love music, then rejoice in people’s love of music, even if that love is directed towards a song you don't like. This is something we should all celebrate as we live our lives, and if you are of a certain age, while singing “A-Yo.”
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Thunder Road - Part 1: Magic In The Night
To celebrate my 300th post on this blog I presented “Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen. I felt that post did this song justice embracing all of what this song meant to me by letting the song speak for itself.
Lately I’ve felt myself drawn to this song. It’s like I need this song in my life right now. Maybe it’s my grandmother dying, becoming comfortable being thirty, or the other changes in my life. I’m not sure. But I’m finding what I’m searching for in my life in this song now more than ever.
I have hesitated to write about this song because it so magical and I fear that I lack the skills to really articulate everything that this song is about. It’s time to not be afraid and to look deep within this song. To know what a song is about is to know what it means and it is within this meaning that we find ourselves.
It starts with an invitation, a guitar and piano ascending carefully, dancing and flowing in and out of each other. “Thunder Road’s” introduction is one of the most famous album openings. As the first track on Springsteen’s pivotal album Born To Run, “Thunder Road” was the entry point into a universe of characters that would encapsulate everything that is rock music.
With each line Springsteen paints a vivid picture. The sound of a screen door, the waving of a vision of grace as Mary comes into our world. Originally, this girl was Angelina and then Christina but in the end Springsteen settled on Mary. This name brings forth images of the innocent virgin carrying an unimaginable burden to the mother watching her only son suffer. These visions mix together with a girl standing nervously facing the road ahead.
One of the ways that you know that you are in love is when love songs begin to make sense. As our unnamed protagonist identifies with Orbison’s song for the lonely we know there is something immediate and powerful about his feelings. He begs for her not to leave him because he “can’t face myself alone again.” She’s turned him home and he’s tried to imagine his life without her that he can’t.
She has doubts. Maybe she’s not that young girl, the idea woman. He begs her to have faith and believe in him. When he says that she “ain’t a beauty,” he isn't saying that he doesn’t think she’s pretty. Instead he’s embracing what she is, not the woman she wishes she could be.
The song starts by setting a scene and switches perspectives through Orbison’s song to this man speaking to a girl. These words reveal a vulnerability and a passion. He’s trying to convince her to come with him because there is something that she brings to the way he sees himself that he can’t live without. Also, he believes there is something that he can give her that no one else can.
In the opening of "Thunder Road," our main character embraces everything that this girl is, her doubts and her fears because he has faith. He knows that there is something there between them and that there is magic in the night.
Lately I’ve felt myself drawn to this song. It’s like I need this song in my life right now. Maybe it’s my grandmother dying, becoming comfortable being thirty, or the other changes in my life. I’m not sure. But I’m finding what I’m searching for in my life in this song now more than ever.
I have hesitated to write about this song because it so magical and I fear that I lack the skills to really articulate everything that this song is about. It’s time to not be afraid and to look deep within this song. To know what a song is about is to know what it means and it is within this meaning that we find ourselves.
It starts with an invitation, a guitar and piano ascending carefully, dancing and flowing in and out of each other. “Thunder Road’s” introduction is one of the most famous album openings. As the first track on Springsteen’s pivotal album Born To Run, “Thunder Road” was the entry point into a universe of characters that would encapsulate everything that is rock music.
With each line Springsteen paints a vivid picture. The sound of a screen door, the waving of a vision of grace as Mary comes into our world. Originally, this girl was Angelina and then Christina but in the end Springsteen settled on Mary. This name brings forth images of the innocent virgin carrying an unimaginable burden to the mother watching her only son suffer. These visions mix together with a girl standing nervously facing the road ahead.
One of the ways that you know that you are in love is when love songs begin to make sense. As our unnamed protagonist identifies with Orbison’s song for the lonely we know there is something immediate and powerful about his feelings. He begs for her not to leave him because he “can’t face myself alone again.” She’s turned him home and he’s tried to imagine his life without her that he can’t.
She has doubts. Maybe she’s not that young girl, the idea woman. He begs her to have faith and believe in him. When he says that she “ain’t a beauty,” he isn't saying that he doesn’t think she’s pretty. Instead he’s embracing what she is, not the woman she wishes she could be.
The song starts by setting a scene and switches perspectives through Orbison’s song to this man speaking to a girl. These words reveal a vulnerability and a passion. He’s trying to convince her to come with him because there is something that she brings to the way he sees himself that he can’t live without. Also, he believes there is something that he can give her that no one else can.
In the opening of "Thunder Road," our main character embraces everything that this girl is, her doubts and her fears because he has faith. He knows that there is something there between them and that there is magic in the night.
Monday, November 12, 2012
8th Grade Playlist: #4. Lonely Boy by The Black Keys
Music is a conversation. One artist says something through a song and then a different artist responds with his or her own song. Sometimes the response brings in a fresh idea and other times the response is a restatement, an elaboration on the first idea.
When I state that “Lonely Boy” is the one of the greatest modern Rolling Stones' songs, it’s meant as a complement. The blues inspired rock of the Rolling Stones with their profound lyrics are a statement that has been screamed down the decades of pop music and that continue to engender responses. The Black Keys did an amazing job doing just that, elaborating on what the Rolling Stones said while bring a fresh perspective.
It starts with a riff, a short musical idea that is repeated. This three-note pattern gives way to another riff, with contrasting musical colors and an upbeat groove. Each layers that is added has a grit, a dirtiness, reminiscent of “Rocks Off.” Alone these elements would be a musical train wreck, but the fact that they are tied together with a tight an infectious grooves makes something that should feel so wrong, feel so right.
Like the lyrics of “Under My Thumb,” there is a deeper story that is being told in this song. While the musical landscape of this song is aggressive and full of bravado, the lyrics reveal a sense of sorrow and insecurity.
The opening line is about a guy being “above” a girl. Despite the fact that he is so much better than her, he falls in love her anyways. She hurts him, but he says that “I don’t mind bleeding.” If she was really that much below him than he wouldn’t be “bleeding,” and he definitely wouldn’t be waiting.
The second verse continues this insecurity as he insults her saying he should have left her like her dad did. This is a horribly mean thing to say but like the statement “Under My Thumb,” it is an overcompensating response. He has been hurt so badly by this girl that the only way he can try to save face is to go to extremes. This is not an abusive man but a scared, torn down soul.
There's heartbreak and a resignation by stating “I’m A Lonely Boy.” While he tries to embrace his reality but he is clearly in conflict. Even though there is a chorus of voices and a glorious rock sound, this is a break-up song. It’s a song about feeling tortured, and responding to these feeling through anger and bitterness while at the same time not being able to let go of love. This tension mirrors the messy riffs being held together tightly by the groove.
Why does this song make us feel so good? Because love, even when it drives people to dark places makes us feel alive.
When I state that “Lonely Boy” is the one of the greatest modern Rolling Stones' songs, it’s meant as a complement. The blues inspired rock of the Rolling Stones with their profound lyrics are a statement that has been screamed down the decades of pop music and that continue to engender responses. The Black Keys did an amazing job doing just that, elaborating on what the Rolling Stones said while bring a fresh perspective.
It starts with a riff, a short musical idea that is repeated. This three-note pattern gives way to another riff, with contrasting musical colors and an upbeat groove. Each layers that is added has a grit, a dirtiness, reminiscent of “Rocks Off.” Alone these elements would be a musical train wreck, but the fact that they are tied together with a tight an infectious grooves makes something that should feel so wrong, feel so right.
Like the lyrics of “Under My Thumb,” there is a deeper story that is being told in this song. While the musical landscape of this song is aggressive and full of bravado, the lyrics reveal a sense of sorrow and insecurity.
The opening line is about a guy being “above” a girl. Despite the fact that he is so much better than her, he falls in love her anyways. She hurts him, but he says that “I don’t mind bleeding.” If she was really that much below him than he wouldn’t be “bleeding,” and he definitely wouldn’t be waiting.
The second verse continues this insecurity as he insults her saying he should have left her like her dad did. This is a horribly mean thing to say but like the statement “Under My Thumb,” it is an overcompensating response. He has been hurt so badly by this girl that the only way he can try to save face is to go to extremes. This is not an abusive man but a scared, torn down soul.
There's heartbreak and a resignation by stating “I’m A Lonely Boy.” While he tries to embrace his reality but he is clearly in conflict. Even though there is a chorus of voices and a glorious rock sound, this is a break-up song. It’s a song about feeling tortured, and responding to these feeling through anger and bitterness while at the same time not being able to let go of love. This tension mirrors the messy riffs being held together tightly by the groove.
Why does this song make us feel so good? Because love, even when it drives people to dark places makes us feel alive.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
8th Grade Playlist: #3. West Coast by Coconut Records
When you think of great sing along songs, you think about songs of joy and hope. These are upbeat songs like “Sweet Caroline,” and “More Than A Feeling.” So when I heard Jason Schwartzman (yes, the actor) of Coconut Records urge us to sing-along to “West Coast” I wasn’t quite sure it made sense.
This is a song about a man missing someone in his life. We’re not sure whether it’s a girlfriend, friend or family member. The circumstances of the distance between them isn’t made clear. It could be a break-up or someone making a career move. It’s not clear who is to blame for the situation.
Does this sound like the kind of a song that works as a sing along? I wasn’t quite sure until I saw this video of Coconut Records performing live:
“West Coast” is a beautiful and intriguing song. It reminds me of “Wake Up” by Arcade Fire. Coconut Records has an indie rock flair mixed with a sense of story telling. “West Coast” is a song that takes us on a journey and brings us to a place we don't quite expect.
The song begins simple enough with a keyboard line, and then immediately draws us in with hints of a larger story told through fragments of thoughts. The verse is in 7/4, with the beat organized in a group of three and then a group of four. This metric pattern creates a subtle feeling of being unsettled as the melody doesn’t quite play out like you expect. The meter doesn’t bring attention to itself, rather it enforces the emotions of loss and longing in the lyrics.
After the second chorus, Jason calls to everybody to sing a soaring line that is sung over the verse music. There is a feeling of unity and freedom, almost a sense of flying as the words of the verse enter layering underneath. This section continues to build and then suddenly pulls back with the words “I miss you."
Music is about feeling comforted by knowing that there are other people in the world who share our emotions. When we sing along with a song we connect our own emotions with that song in an immediate and very real way. Sometimes those emotions are happy but other times they are not. “West Coast,” is a sad song but it reminds us that the feeling of missing someone is bittersweet. The only reason you miss someone is because of how great that person makes you feel and that is exactly what that soaring melody line is all about.
If you feel like singing along, than just sing along. It’s not about whether the song is happy or sad, it’s about the connection you feel with the artist. In that moment you are sharing an emotional world that transcends time and space that only music can create.
This is a song about a man missing someone in his life. We’re not sure whether it’s a girlfriend, friend or family member. The circumstances of the distance between them isn’t made clear. It could be a break-up or someone making a career move. It’s not clear who is to blame for the situation.
Does this sound like the kind of a song that works as a sing along? I wasn’t quite sure until I saw this video of Coconut Records performing live:
“West Coast” is a beautiful and intriguing song. It reminds me of “Wake Up” by Arcade Fire. Coconut Records has an indie rock flair mixed with a sense of story telling. “West Coast” is a song that takes us on a journey and brings us to a place we don't quite expect.
The song begins simple enough with a keyboard line, and then immediately draws us in with hints of a larger story told through fragments of thoughts. The verse is in 7/4, with the beat organized in a group of three and then a group of four. This metric pattern creates a subtle feeling of being unsettled as the melody doesn’t quite play out like you expect. The meter doesn’t bring attention to itself, rather it enforces the emotions of loss and longing in the lyrics.
After the second chorus, Jason calls to everybody to sing a soaring line that is sung over the verse music. There is a feeling of unity and freedom, almost a sense of flying as the words of the verse enter layering underneath. This section continues to build and then suddenly pulls back with the words “I miss you."
Music is about feeling comforted by knowing that there are other people in the world who share our emotions. When we sing along with a song we connect our own emotions with that song in an immediate and very real way. Sometimes those emotions are happy but other times they are not. “West Coast,” is a sad song but it reminds us that the feeling of missing someone is bittersweet. The only reason you miss someone is because of how great that person makes you feel and that is exactly what that soaring melody line is all about.
If you feel like singing along, than just sing along. It’s not about whether the song is happy or sad, it’s about the connection you feel with the artist. In that moment you are sharing an emotional world that transcends time and space that only music can create.
Monday, October 29, 2012
8th Grade Playlist: #2. 50 Ways To Say Goodbye by Train
I asked my 8th graders to share me songs by their music heroes. Here are my reactions to these songs.
Sometimes we forget that pop music can be funny. Growing up in the maelstrom of gangster rap and grundge music, I remember music getting really dark and serious. Even now, sometime it seems like pop musicians feel that the only way to be taken seriously is well to have music that is not all really all that much fun.
This is one of the reasons I love PSY's “Gangnum Style.”
People laugh at the ridiculousness of this music video and revel in it. It’s a breath of fresh air, but the thing is, most music videos of the 1980s were just as silly as this one and just as fun. Also “Gangnum Style,” is a great song.
When one of my 8th graders sent me “50 Ways To Say Goodbye” by Train, I was dreading having to listen to this song. Look, I acknowledge the catchiness of Train’s music but the nonsensical lyrics of “Hey, Soul Sister” drive me crazy (here is my post about that song). Well, my student made the effort to e-mail me about this song and it deserves my attention so here we go.
Wait a second, David Hasselhoff!! I LOVED this guy on Knight Rider. There’s a mariachi band and there’s lead singer Pat Monahan dropping any level of pretention and hamming it up for the camera! This is awesome AND the lyrics totally make sense.
Okay, the story is that a guy gets dumped and because of the shame and hurt, he can’t bear to tell his friends the truth so he makes up ridiculous explanations for his ex-girlfriend’s absence including being eaten by a lion and getting hit by a purple Scion.
Genius.
Look, this is exactly what great pop music is all about. Train is incorporating some cool sounds like a Mariachi band ala Johnny Cash’s “Ring Of Fire.” Then they took a very sad and difficult feeling of being rejected and turned in it into a hilarious anthem.
Sometimes the only way to deal with difficult emotions is to make a joke out of it and Train effectively does this helping us work through these emotions by reflecting the ridiculousness of this reaction. At the same time Train makes us feel better about the impulse of hiding the truth by letting us know that we are not crazy for feeling a need to hide being dumped from our friends.
Train, you totally redeemed the nonsense of “Hey soul sister, ain’t that mister mister” with “She'll think I'm Superman, Not super minivan.”
Nicely Done.
. . . but we still got some work to do to get passed "Meet Virginia."
Sometimes we forget that pop music can be funny. Growing up in the maelstrom of gangster rap and grundge music, I remember music getting really dark and serious. Even now, sometime it seems like pop musicians feel that the only way to be taken seriously is well to have music that is not all really all that much fun.
This is one of the reasons I love PSY's “Gangnum Style.”
People laugh at the ridiculousness of this music video and revel in it. It’s a breath of fresh air, but the thing is, most music videos of the 1980s were just as silly as this one and just as fun. Also “Gangnum Style,” is a great song.
When one of my 8th graders sent me “50 Ways To Say Goodbye” by Train, I was dreading having to listen to this song. Look, I acknowledge the catchiness of Train’s music but the nonsensical lyrics of “Hey, Soul Sister” drive me crazy (here is my post about that song). Well, my student made the effort to e-mail me about this song and it deserves my attention so here we go.
Wait a second, David Hasselhoff!! I LOVED this guy on Knight Rider. There’s a mariachi band and there’s lead singer Pat Monahan dropping any level of pretention and hamming it up for the camera! This is awesome AND the lyrics totally make sense.
Okay, the story is that a guy gets dumped and because of the shame and hurt, he can’t bear to tell his friends the truth so he makes up ridiculous explanations for his ex-girlfriend’s absence including being eaten by a lion and getting hit by a purple Scion.
Genius.
Look, this is exactly what great pop music is all about. Train is incorporating some cool sounds like a Mariachi band ala Johnny Cash’s “Ring Of Fire.” Then they took a very sad and difficult feeling of being rejected and turned in it into a hilarious anthem.
Sometimes the only way to deal with difficult emotions is to make a joke out of it and Train effectively does this helping us work through these emotions by reflecting the ridiculousness of this reaction. At the same time Train makes us feel better about the impulse of hiding the truth by letting us know that we are not crazy for feeling a need to hide being dumped from our friends.
Train, you totally redeemed the nonsense of “Hey soul sister, ain’t that mister mister” with “She'll think I'm Superman, Not super minivan.”
Nicely Done.
. . . but we still got some work to do to get passed "Meet Virginia."
Monday, October 22, 2012
8th Grade Playlist: #1. Give Me Love By Ed Sheeran
I asked my 8th graders to share me songs by their music heroes. Here are my reactions to these songs.
She really likes One Direction.
The first couple classes of this year she asked repeatedly if we could play a One Direction song. I have a suspicion that the One Direction photos that have cropped up around the middle school may have something to do with her. So when she mentioned that her musical hero was Ed Sheeran, an artist who co-wrote a One Direction song, I was expecting something similar to the One Direction songs that I knew (like this one I've wrote about earlier).
What I got was something very different.
Ed Sheeran is a English singer and songwriter. He is in his early twenties and had his breakthrough song with “The A Team,” which charted on the British charts giving Adele a run for her money. Like Adele, there’s a sense of musical tradition and authenticity in his music. Sheeran sets lyrics with an Elton John like ease with musical arrangements that sound comforting in their acoustic quality but surprisingly fresh.
“Give Me Love” like Spain’s “Spiritual,” is a heart wrenching song. The expression in this song has glimmers of hope but lives in a world full of sadness, regret, pain and desperation. Every way you could imagine someone expressing the words “give me love,” are revealed here in a musically simple but emotionally complex composition.
The song pulls no punches like Elton John’s “I Want Love.” The first verse sets the tone beautifully with the Bob Dylan-esque line “Paint splatted teardrops on my shirt.” He’s made a commitment to fight for a girl but this leaves him empty as he drowns his sorrows, simply wanting to hold this person that is beyond his grasp.
The sadness of the first verse is brushed aside as Sheeran tries to convince his love to give him some time or “burn this out.” He wants a chance to fix this relationship or he wants her to simply let it collapse in on himself. We get a sense that there is something unsettled in this relationship as he tries to “turn this around.” While there is hope in these words, in the second verse, he is taken back to the pain of how much he needs her.
Ed Sheeran ends the song boldly, repeating a statement of want. This is the kind of thing that is really tricky to pull off. Sheeran makes this work by going through a range of emotions by getting softer and then getting louder, growing in intensity. It almost becomes uncomfortable to at a certain point as he sings “love me” with a mix of rage and pain. Right when you feel like you can’t take it anymore he arrives at an optimistic almost spiritual singing of the words “give me love.”
The repetitions of the words give us musical space to think about what these words really mean not only to Sheeran but to all of us as the listener. This song is a reminder of how painful the want for love can be. More than that, what Sheeran expresses is that the want for love is only painful because of how great it can make us feel and how central it is to the human experience.
Don't judge a book by its cover and don't judge someone's musical taste on one song or artist that they like. Don't disregard someone's musical taste because you don't like one artist they are into. You never know what you will discover if you simply ask and listen.
She really likes One Direction.
The first couple classes of this year she asked repeatedly if we could play a One Direction song. I have a suspicion that the One Direction photos that have cropped up around the middle school may have something to do with her. So when she mentioned that her musical hero was Ed Sheeran, an artist who co-wrote a One Direction song, I was expecting something similar to the One Direction songs that I knew (like this one I've wrote about earlier).
What I got was something very different.
Ed Sheeran is a English singer and songwriter. He is in his early twenties and had his breakthrough song with “The A Team,” which charted on the British charts giving Adele a run for her money. Like Adele, there’s a sense of musical tradition and authenticity in his music. Sheeran sets lyrics with an Elton John like ease with musical arrangements that sound comforting in their acoustic quality but surprisingly fresh.
“Give Me Love” like Spain’s “Spiritual,” is a heart wrenching song. The expression in this song has glimmers of hope but lives in a world full of sadness, regret, pain and desperation. Every way you could imagine someone expressing the words “give me love,” are revealed here in a musically simple but emotionally complex composition.
The song pulls no punches like Elton John’s “I Want Love.” The first verse sets the tone beautifully with the Bob Dylan-esque line “Paint splatted teardrops on my shirt.” He’s made a commitment to fight for a girl but this leaves him empty as he drowns his sorrows, simply wanting to hold this person that is beyond his grasp.
The sadness of the first verse is brushed aside as Sheeran tries to convince his love to give him some time or “burn this out.” He wants a chance to fix this relationship or he wants her to simply let it collapse in on himself. We get a sense that there is something unsettled in this relationship as he tries to “turn this around.” While there is hope in these words, in the second verse, he is taken back to the pain of how much he needs her.
Ed Sheeran ends the song boldly, repeating a statement of want. This is the kind of thing that is really tricky to pull off. Sheeran makes this work by going through a range of emotions by getting softer and then getting louder, growing in intensity. It almost becomes uncomfortable to at a certain point as he sings “love me” with a mix of rage and pain. Right when you feel like you can’t take it anymore he arrives at an optimistic almost spiritual singing of the words “give me love.”
The repetitions of the words give us musical space to think about what these words really mean not only to Sheeran but to all of us as the listener. This song is a reminder of how painful the want for love can be. More than that, what Sheeran expresses is that the want for love is only painful because of how great it can make us feel and how central it is to the human experience.
Don't judge a book by its cover and don't judge someone's musical taste on one song or artist that they like. Don't disregard someone's musical taste because you don't like one artist they are into. You never know what you will discover if you simply ask and listen.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Waitin’ On A Sunny Day by Bruce Springsteen
One drop.
When it hit the top of my head, I ignored it thinking that it was just my imagination. But as Bruce continued to sing “Waitin’ On A Sunny Day” a fine mist blanketed Wrigley field.
I stood there Saturday in the second of two concerts Springsteen put on in Wrigley field. The concert had started with Springsteen laying into his harmonica blasting “Promised Land” across the city. He continued taking the audience on a journey that was the American experience.
We had seats on the field. The view of the stage was incredible but even better was the view of the stadium. You could turn around and see thousands of people rocking out in unison to the stories that Springsteen sang and the values that he preached.
I instantly recognized he opening chords to “Waitin’ On A Sunny Day.” I had played them countless times as I have made this song part of my 5th grade curriculum for the past two years.
“Waitin’ On A Sunny Day” came from Springsteen’s album The Rising. This album dealt directly with the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. This light hearted and hopeful song uses about rain as a metaphor for life’s difficulties and the hope that is a sunny day.
It wasn’t lost on Springsteen as he played this song that the rain got harder and harder. Instead of hesitating in the weather, he leaned in and gave the audience even more. He pulled a girl up on stage and gave her the microphone to sing once through the chorus and joyously ran around the stage getting soaked along with the rest of us.
Before transitioning into the next part of the concert he played a solo version of Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop The Rain.” This was the only song he played without the band, which means he probably decided to play at that very second.
As the entire stadium sang the chorus “yeah, I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop the rain,” it became clear that the rain may not stop and that wasn’t necessarily going to be a bad thing.
My wife and I found shelter in the back of the second deck of seats and watched Bruce perform the last half of the concert in the pouring rain. Rain has a way of dampening spirits and draining the energy out of a person but for Bruce it seemed to have a different effect. It was like the rain gave him even more energy and after and incredible twenty-seven song set, he left the audience with a renewed energy to believe.
Sometimes in life you can’t wait for a sunny day. Sometimes you just have to go out there and make the best of a rainy day. Bruce showed us all last Saturday, that the hard times can become the celebrations that make life worth living.
When it hit the top of my head, I ignored it thinking that it was just my imagination. But as Bruce continued to sing “Waitin’ On A Sunny Day” a fine mist blanketed Wrigley field.
I stood there Saturday in the second of two concerts Springsteen put on in Wrigley field. The concert had started with Springsteen laying into his harmonica blasting “Promised Land” across the city. He continued taking the audience on a journey that was the American experience.
We had seats on the field. The view of the stage was incredible but even better was the view of the stadium. You could turn around and see thousands of people rocking out in unison to the stories that Springsteen sang and the values that he preached.
I instantly recognized he opening chords to “Waitin’ On A Sunny Day.” I had played them countless times as I have made this song part of my 5th grade curriculum for the past two years.
“Waitin’ On A Sunny Day” came from Springsteen’s album The Rising. This album dealt directly with the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. This light hearted and hopeful song uses about rain as a metaphor for life’s difficulties and the hope that is a sunny day.
It wasn’t lost on Springsteen as he played this song that the rain got harder and harder. Instead of hesitating in the weather, he leaned in and gave the audience even more. He pulled a girl up on stage and gave her the microphone to sing once through the chorus and joyously ran around the stage getting soaked along with the rest of us.
Before transitioning into the next part of the concert he played a solo version of Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop The Rain.” This was the only song he played without the band, which means he probably decided to play at that very second.
As the entire stadium sang the chorus “yeah, I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop the rain,” it became clear that the rain may not stop and that wasn’t necessarily going to be a bad thing.
My wife and I found shelter in the back of the second deck of seats and watched Bruce perform the last half of the concert in the pouring rain. Rain has a way of dampening spirits and draining the energy out of a person but for Bruce it seemed to have a different effect. It was like the rain gave him even more energy and after and incredible twenty-seven song set, he left the audience with a renewed energy to believe.
Sometimes in life you can’t wait for a sunny day. Sometimes you just have to go out there and make the best of a rainy day. Bruce showed us all last Saturday, that the hard times can become the celebrations that make life worth living.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Dancing In The Dark by Bruce Springsteen
As I said goodbye to Allie, I tried to say something honest and real but instead all I could muster was awkward reassurances. Allie was moving away and like any big change in life, the feeling was bittersweet. There was the excitement of new opportunities mixed with letting go of the life that came before.
One of the things about going to a college that attracts people from all over the country is that you become friends with people who in the years after college move away. My late twenties seemed to be marked with having to say goodbye to friends.
Saying goodbye always feels unfinished. There is never enough time to say what you want. You tell yourself that it doesn’t matter if you get it all out because you'll "be in touch," however that's not always the case. As easy as a cell phone call or an e-mail can be, sometimes keeping in touch with those we care about fall to the corners of our lives.
While we said our goodbyes the silences between our words were filled with the joyous singing of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark.” Like a guiding spirit, his presence helped me get through that moment and listening to this song afterwards revealed to me feelings I always had but couldn't articulate.
“Dancing In The Dark,” is Springsteen’s most successful single that led to the sales of Born In The U.S.A. This song, packed with 1980s synthesizers feels completely different than the passionate and operatic rock of Born To Run. While people seemed to revel in this song, the happy melody and harmony juxtaposed against the disturbingly dark lyrics like “I want to change my clothes, my hair, my face,” never really made sense to me.
Something changed when I listened to this song and thought about Allie. The lines about the challenges of life seemed to take a back seat to the lyrics about hope:
In darkness, like in life there is much to fear. You can’t predict the future and it’s impossible to truly see what’s around you in the darkness. So you have a choice: you can sit in the darkness petrified by uncertainty or you can stand up and dance.
Allie chooses to dance.
None of this came out as I said goodbye because I didn’t really want to think about what it meant for Allie to move away. Now that I have, I think it’s okay that things were left unfinished. This friendship isn’t ending so why should a goodbye feel complete?
Allie, best of luck in your new place with your new job, I’ll see you in September when Bruce rocks Wrigley.
One of the things about going to a college that attracts people from all over the country is that you become friends with people who in the years after college move away. My late twenties seemed to be marked with having to say goodbye to friends.
Saying goodbye always feels unfinished. There is never enough time to say what you want. You tell yourself that it doesn’t matter if you get it all out because you'll "be in touch," however that's not always the case. As easy as a cell phone call or an e-mail can be, sometimes keeping in touch with those we care about fall to the corners of our lives.
While we said our goodbyes the silences between our words were filled with the joyous singing of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark.” Like a guiding spirit, his presence helped me get through that moment and listening to this song afterwards revealed to me feelings I always had but couldn't articulate.
“Dancing In The Dark,” is Springsteen’s most successful single that led to the sales of Born In The U.S.A. This song, packed with 1980s synthesizers feels completely different than the passionate and operatic rock of Born To Run. While people seemed to revel in this song, the happy melody and harmony juxtaposed against the disturbingly dark lyrics like “I want to change my clothes, my hair, my face,” never really made sense to me.
Something changed when I listened to this song and thought about Allie. The lines about the challenges of life seemed to take a back seat to the lyrics about hope:
Message keeps getting clearer . . .These lines reflect why I admire Allie and why I am proud to be her friend. While Allie has been blessed with a wonderful life, she has had challenges. When life has knocked her down, Allie gets right back up, and with a smile keeps on. Never a victim, Allie lives life with the wind on her back and the sun upon her face.
There’s something happening somewhere. . .
I’ll shake this world off my shoulders, come on baby this laughs on me.
In darkness, like in life there is much to fear. You can’t predict the future and it’s impossible to truly see what’s around you in the darkness. So you have a choice: you can sit in the darkness petrified by uncertainty or you can stand up and dance.
Allie chooses to dance.
None of this came out as I said goodbye because I didn’t really want to think about what it meant for Allie to move away. Now that I have, I think it’s okay that things were left unfinished. This friendship isn’t ending so why should a goodbye feel complete?
Allie, best of luck in your new place with your new job, I’ll see you in September when Bruce rocks Wrigley.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)