This has been such a good year for new music - particularly for several Australian artists.
I have so many favourite songs that have come out over the last 12 months but I thought I'd narrow it down to a list. These songs have significant meaning for me as they've helped me through some of the best times of 2011...and some of the worst.
Each song has my personal meaning to it explained.
I'll try to keep this in order of events as they happened throughout the year.
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March 2011
Foo Fighters - Rope.
"Choke! On a kiss. I thought I'd save my breath for you". Probably the most significant lyric of the song for me as it described how I (at the time) felt about someone I used to be very close with. I could (and still can) relate to this song due to it being quite descriptive of watching a very long friendship end. I was angry and hurt about what was happening, and because of that this song was music to my ears at the time.
Nicki Minaj - Moment For Life
I started exercising again for the first time since I became ill with Fibromyalgia in mid 2010. For those who know what Fibro is, you'll know exercise really isn't an option when you're suffering a Fibro flare. I was quite scared to start working out at first, I didn't want to bring on a flare or make the inflammation worse but I decided to give it a try as I didn't want to "become" my illness, I wanted to start kicking it's butt. I've been hooked on cycling ever since :) This song really describes what that incredible feeling of being able to MOVE again was like. Such an uplifting tune.
April 2011
The Script - If You Ever Come Back.
I'll never forget the time I first heard this song - the morning of Friday the 8th. Owen was asleep and it was about an hour after I found out that my beautiful, darling friend and her daughter had been in a terrible car accident. There was no news of either of their condition at this point. I was just sitting, staring at nothing and then this song came on TV.
"I'll leave the door on the latch if you ever come back. There'll be a light in the hall and a key under the mat if you ever come back. There'll be a smile on my face and the kettle on and it will be just like you were never gone.
There'll be a light in the hall and a key under the mat if you ever come back, come back now".
Those lyrics will always have a place in my heart. All I wanted was my friend back and I didn't know if she'd make it - but she did :) as did her amazing, inspirational, beautiful little girl and the tears I cry when I hear this song are no longer sad ones.
June 2011
Birds Of Tokyo - Circles.
This song has very similar meaning to both myself and my father. This song reminds him of me and what he saw me go through so many years ago, so it does have those dark undertones for me as well when I listen to it. However, I started listening to this song around one year after my Fibromyalgia diagnosis and at the time, another flare of my illness had just started.
"These dark days are getting harder, so will I sink or swim? Roll on, push a little further. I keep saying is this worth it, or should I just give in? I don't know. I don't know which way I'm supposed to spin in this circle...and I won't waste my time on your concern until it's over. I look back on a distant border, I fear I'm getting older. There's so much that I missed. Walk on following a faint line, see if I can define where I came undone".
Even reading those words without the music makes my heart sink. So I'll leave it there.
August 2011
Avril Lavigne - Wish You Were Here.
Lady Antebellum - Need You Now.
Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know.
Without going into too much detail (and keeping in mind that nobody's perfect), these songs are self-explanatory when it comes to why they appealed to me at the time with what was going on (my husband & friends know what this is about). VERY strange time in my life, that's for sure.
October & November 2011
Gotye - Heart's A Mess (3am Mix).
This song probably holds the most significant meaning of the list. It's not well known but is one of the most chilling, heartfelt songs I've ever heard. The feel of this song, the way it changes throughout it's 6 minutes, the way it progresses into different feelings - there's something spiritual about it.
As the last few posts of this blog indicate, October wasn't a good month for me. There were many, many sleepless nights where I was up alone - either in pain or just frightened. This song captures everything I felt during those long, drawn out 6 weeks. From the time the GP first felt something (ovarian cyst), to the many invasive tests that bought on post traumatic flashbacks of what happened to me when I was a teenager, to the blood tests that indicated possible ovarian cancer, to the heartbreak I felt every time I held my son & daughter, to the times I looked into my husbands & mothers eyes (who felt so very helpless). All of it. The nightmares, the tears, the times I would break down in exhaustion and frustration, the scans, the waiting - and waiting - and waiting. I've never had so much support in my life, but I've also never felt that alone in my life.
Foo Fighters - I Should Have Known.
This one's a little too painful to talk about in any great detail - even a decade after a friend's suicide. Let's just say I listened to this while having a few too many drinks on the 10 year anniversary of his death last month. One of those song's where one will never forget the first time they heard it.
December 2011
360 - Run Alone.
I absolutely adore this song - I heard this a couple of days after I was given the all clear from the doctors and it's impossible for me to listen to it without smiling :) Relief, joy, hope - happiness. That's the best way to describe this tune. I feel incredibly lucky every time I play this.
Lana Del Rey - Born To Die.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bag1gUxuU0g&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_887064
Even though I've revealed quite a lot about myself in my meanings behind these songs (really don't care what people think, I'm too old hehe) - I'd like to keep the meaning behind this one private. This woman's voice is incredible and her music makes the loss of Amy Winehouse a lot easier to deal with. Very refreshing and unique singer here.
Foster The People - Call It What You Want.
Having recently found out who counts and who doesn't ie - those who've been there for me the way I've been there for them and also having recently found out that 'backstabbing' and 'gossiping' aren't, apparently, just what high school students do...this song really speaks to me.
I know who I am, I love who I am and as one of the lyrics of this song states: "what I got can't be bought, so you can just call it what you want". I do have to admit, this is a song I find myself smirking at while I sing along to it. It's like my own upbeat, funky little "fuck you" to those who deserve it - but it also makes me feel more and more confident each time I listen to it. Ah, the power of music.
Gotye - I Feel Better.
This one's quite obvious, really :) I'm happy to admit that I belt this one out at the top of my lungs when nobody's home at the moment. Life's good, life's really good...and this song just makes it even better.
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