2017 in Music

Every year I keep an iTunes playlist going of songs I fall in love with. Full credit for the idea goes to my sister, whose yearly soundtracks I always enjoy. Here are some of the top songs for me this year.



"In The Blood", by John Mayer

"I can feel the love I want, I can feel the love I need
But it's never gonna come the way I am
Could I change it if I wanted, can I rise above the flood?
Will it wash out in the water, or is it always in the blood"

Recently I tried to answer the question, "Can people change?" I answered, "Yes, I hope so, or else I'm sad for myself." It's easy, I believe, both to feel stuck in one place or one mode of being and to be oblivious to the need for change. Plato quotes Socrates as stating that 'an unexamined life is not worth living'. This song resonated with me as a plea for change, a reminder that we can and should rise above even that which seems to be in our very blood if it is indeed worth doing.



"The Light", by Regina Spektor

"I know the morning is wiser than the evening
I know that all of life just happens in between
So many things I know, but they don't help me
Each day I open up my eyes and it begins"

Here, Spektor sings first with confusion and then a slowly dawning certainly about dreams and things feeling wrong, even when they're not, her songbird-like voice calling that 'the light comes shining in my eyes'. Hope and light amidst sadness and night.



"Liability", by Lord

"They say, "You're a little much for me
You're a liability
You're a little much for me"
So they pull back, make other plans
I understand, I'm a liability"

On her sophomore album, young British singer Lorde once again has upbeat songs with catchy hooks, yet it is the reflective and heartbroken song with stood out to me. Fame always has it's price, the same as giving your heart to someone is never a safe bet. No matter if someone says the classic, "It's not you, it's me," anyone who knows the sting of rejection feels that it must surely be them, after all. A liability: either too much or not enough. I've always felt as though I'm the latter, so maybe that's  one reason I'm drawn to this melancholy piece; I'll believe for once that I was too much instead of too little, and that for the right person I will be exactly enough.



"If We Were Vampires", by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

"If we were vampires and death was a joke
We'd go out on the sidewalk and smoke
Laugh at all the lovers and their plans
I wouldn't feel the need to hold your hand
Maybe time running out is a gift
I'll work hard till the end of my shift
And give you ever second I can find
And hope it isn't me who's left behind"


The song opens with the singer talking about his bride in her gown and why he loves her, but how what gets him right then is knowing that one day, one of them will have to live without the other, so they should make the most of the time they have. In a generations whose most popular fictitious stories deal with immortality, I love how Isbell sings that "maybe time running out is a gift". The silver lining to mortality is appreciating the time gifted to us before it's gone.



"Library Magic", by The Head And The Heart

"I'm drawn to that sorta library magic
Whisperin' through the dusty aisles ...
But I can see the sunshine's rays gleaming through the clear water
Telling me you gotta hop in for this chapter's ride
There will always be better days
There will always be better days"

Yes, there will be better days. Some people love to look to the past, remembering what they call "the good old days", their golden times of late. Though I love remembering stories of the past, I tend to look to the future, trying to plan it out, imagining just how it might be. Therefore I'm working on staying rooted in the present, taking in everything of the here and now rather than living in a future of my own dreaming. I'm not actually in control of it, after all. All I have is this moment in time and the choices made right now. Yet ... when things are heavy, I do hold onto hope for better days, and my bookish heart is unequivocally drawn to library magic and to narrating each chapter in my head as it unfolds.



Other song loves:

"Feel It Still", by Portugal. The Man
"Did You Really Say No", by Oren Lavie (featuring Vanessa Paradis)
"We Kept The Lights On", by Milo Greene
"Wish I Knew You", by Men Among Mountains
"Way Down We Go", by A / B
"Dodged A Bullet", by Greg Laswell
"Cold Little Heart", by Michael Kiwanuka
"Human", by Rag'n'Bone Man
"Shape Of You", by Ed Sheeran
"May You Be Well", by The Lone Bellow
"The Night We Met", by Lord Huron
"Mausoleum", by Seryn
"I Ain't The One", by Spoon
"You're Welcome", from the soundtrack of Moana
"The Middle Of The World", from the soundtrack of Moonlight
"Their First Time", from the soundtrack of The Handmaid's Tale
"Whole Wide World", cover by Cage The Elephant
"Don't Dream It's Over", cover by The Head And The Heart

and a few others on the list older than the past two years:

"Airwaves", by Ray LaMontagne
"Up&Up", by Coldplay
"Bust Your Kneecaps", by Pomplamoose
"Heart Of Glass (Crabtree Remix)", by Philip Glass
"Death With Dignity", by Sufjan Stevens