The Songs that Speak to Us ...

"Music has the power to cause emotions to well up within us. ... These feelings color our moods [and] affect our perceptions ... Music has the ability to tap the still, mysterious deep well of our emotions."

We live, and we love. We live, and we laugh. We live, and we sing. And ain't it just amazing? No matter the difference in creed, color, culture, or continent, we are all drawn to music. It's powerful, it's emotional, it's rather a lot like an addiction ... and we can't help but keep coming back for more.

I can't even begin to list (much less analyze) all the songs that have come, for one reason or another, to represent pieces of me and my life (some good ... and some not so much).

Of course, most of them are tied to love ... often the lack (or unrequited nature) thereof. And it makes sense, if you think about it. After all, love is one of the most powerful emotions out there. It controls our moods, our schedules, and even our eating habits (just try eating when you're pining away for that perfect someone ... tough going at best). Combine that with the fact that there are approximately 3.6 dekillion (10 to the power of 30) love songs out there and you're bound to find at least one that speaks to your heart (or the hole where it should be).

Even the toughest among us are prone to the love song jitters. Case in point: Have you ever seen Tommy Boy? Remember the scene where Chris Farley and David Spade are driving along and the radio begins playing "Superstar" by the Carpenters? Both Farley and Spade feign non-interest ... then we cut to the a scene where they are both singing at the top of their lungs weeping like fat Swedish school boys who've just lost their chocolate bars (I know, a Tommy Boy reference? Still, I think it proves the point).

Because of our different experiences, there are songs that speak to us more than others. There are those (often in the unrequited love category) who seem fairly drawn to stalker songs. For instance, I once knew a girl who, after realizing that the boy she loved wouldn't return the favor, clung like a life raft to the lyrics from Dido's "White Flag":

"I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be."

As far as I can tell, that's not typically the kind of song you'd want in your "it speaks to me" repertoire ... but sometimes, that's just the way we feel and there ain't nothing that's gonna change it. In truth, though, there are lots of songs like that ... one's we connect with but feel ashamed about.

Recently, the songs that have been speaking to me fit into that category. The "I'd rather not have those lyrics EVER describe any part of my life" category. (And they're all by Death Cab for Cutie). The music, per usual, is lovely ... but it's the lyrics that really seem to be making sense to me. See, these songs seem to reflect a rather sizable problem on my part in the realm of love ... and I'm only just realizing the full extent of that problem.

Even though I won't be going into why I've connected with these songs, I thought I'd finish this post off with the pertinent lyrics from two of them. So, without further ado, here they are ... for your viewing (and psychoanalytical) pleasure:

"I was Once a Loyal Lover"

I was once a loyal lover
Whose lips did never seek anothers
But now each love's more like a match
A blinding spark that burns out fast

And they all conclude with the same sentence:
"I've never met someone more self-centered
Who thinks that life with a nice girl's like
Waiting for a bus to work"

And you can't even begin to know
How many times I've told myself 'I told you so'

"A Diamond and a Tether"

Pity, take pity on me
Because I'm not the man that I should be
I'm always turning to run
From the people I should not be afraid of

And darling, you should know
That I have fantasies about being alone
It's like love is a lesson
That I can't learn
So I make the same mistakes at each familiar turn

I know you can't hold out forever
Waiting on a diamond and a tether
From a boy who won't swim
But who will dip his toe in
Just to keep you here with him

I've got this habit I abhor
When we go out, I'm always watching the door
As if there's someone I'm going to see
Who could out-do the things that you do to me

I know you can't hold out forever
Waiting on a diamond and a tether
From a boy who won't jump
When he falls in love
He just stands with his toes on the edge
And he waits for it to disappear again.