As I was sitting here listening to my favorite playlist in itunes and thinking about what to write, I started thinking about the playlist itself. It started out a few months ago as an attempt to capture in a playlist the songs that had most moved me over the years. The songs that not only had been my favorites, but the songs I had been OBSESSED with. Every now and then a song will come into my life that begs me to play it over and over and over again. The scenery has changed over the years, but the habit hasn't. As a teenager it was lying on my bed in my parent's house blasting Going to California on my record player or Good Feeling on my tape deck. In college it was lying on my single bolster bed in my dorm room blasting Live Forever or In Your Eyes on my CD jambox. There have been countless crappy apartments and many upgrades to the music format and equipment since then, but the formula stayed the same: play the same song repeatedly at the highest volume possible and preferably lying down with eyes closed.
So what's with this bizarre habit of mine? It suddenly struck me that this is my comfort music. This is the music that makes me feel good. With my eyes closed and the music blaring in my ears, it envelopes me like a cocoon, occupying all of my headspace and leaving room for nothing but comfort. And so it makes sense when I'm down or stressed or worn out that I turn to these songs to relax and revive me. And I never tire of them. Ever. Loving them as much 15 years later as I did when I was a teenager speaks volumes to their personal meaning.
My soul bared, here is my beloved playlist:
Bittersweet Symphony- The Verve
Laid- James
Good Dancers- The Sleepy Jackson
Get Miles- Gomez
Lonelily- Damien Rice
Sandusky- Uncle Tupelo
Going to California- Led Zeppelin
Golden Brown- The Stranglers
This Year's Love- David Gray
Intervention- The Arcade Fire
Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl- Broken Social Scene
The Scientist- Coldplay
Good Feeling- Violent Femmes
Classic Girl- Jane's Addiction
Live Forever- Oasis
In Your Eyes- Peter Gabriel
Readers, if you have songs with similar significance, I'd love to hear what they are!
With headphones on and headspace filled I cross off my list #57: Find a name for my favorite playlist (comfort music!).
5 comments:
hey man i would love to have a copy of your comfort music on cd...hint hint!!! :)
hmm, i think that could be arranged!
You forgot Unskinny Bop, by Poison.
Here's two revisions I might make for my list:
Wake Up - Arcade Fire
New Madrid - Uncle Tupelo
wake up is a phenomenal song. especially after seeing it played live. but something about intervention just kills me. in a good way. same with sandusky, i can't even begin to contemplate the complexity of the guitars. what else would be on your list?
...unskinny bop bop bop bop, all night and day, unskinny bop nothin more to say...
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