“I hear your voice and it seems as if it was all a dream, I wish it was all a dream.”
Sitting cross-legged, cross-armed, cross-hearted on my bed, listening to this song on repeat and trying to stop it from meaning so much.
It’s been a long weekend, a long 6 months, a long existence. I’ve filled the past few hours with poetry and hardly-known songs in an attempt to feel less exhausted.
“Every time I hear another story
Oh the poor boy lost his head
Everybody feels a little crazy
But we go on living with it”
I am a melancholic, water-colour bullet shell. All my psychedelic shrapnel is lying at my feet – every piece of my cadmium soul has been swallowed and spit out by you. We exploded into a hurricane of colour and tones and this song is currently the only thing to make sense.
I love indie folk music. I love how nostalgic and dramatic it makes me feel- like I’m staring out of a train window with tears rolling down my face. My relatively tumultuous and over-thought soul needs it to survive. The sadder the lyrics, the more high-pitched warbling that occurs, the closest resemblance to Bon Iver, the better.
This one made me nostalgically happy. It made me miss snow and people I’ve never met before. Because I like to make my life as poetic as possible, I guess.
Everyone needs to have a rock ‘n roll phase. You can be certain your parents had one, yes, those lovely law-abiding, picket fenced, blue-jean, summer day folk you call “Mom and Dad” ,those guys were hardcore once upon a time. Gramps also rocked the sock hops in his day. It’s impossible not to have a rock ‘n roll phase, it doesn’t matter how long it ends, it could be a 2 hour gig-frenzy or a lifetime of headbanging- it’s just got to happen, the cycle of life depends on it.
My rock ‘n roll phase started rather abruptly, with half-price cocktails on a Monday and the commitment to introduce myself to our music-exhaling neighbours if I got home with enough Dutch Courage to spare. 10:30 pm and I’m yelling at the top of my lungs, trying to get the mysterious and edgy rock stars to come outside and let my roommates and I in. They obliged, and showed just how hardcore they are by promptly making us tea.
2 sugars and milk…how very Axl Rose.
Thus acquaintance was made with “JackValve”. A bunch of tea-drinking, video-game junkies who just so happen to know a lot about their craft as musicians. I’ve been sucked into my rock ‘n roll phase with the sudden appearance of gig invitations on my Facebook events and the sounds of Monday and Wednesday band practice making their way onto my front porch. The fact that I’m dating the lead singer means I get acoustic concerts in my bedroom and,upon occasion, get threatened to be attacked with drumsticks if I “become Yoko”.
Playing Blink-182 is also taboo in the JackValve house.
Their latest single “Baby Blue” is apparently a tribute to me. I am skeptical as it was written and recorded months before my existence was even known, but the sentiment is sweet. Every groupie wants to pretend a song is about them, I get the privilege of bragging about this one:
I might even say I find it better than Blink-182…but don’t tell them that.
I can’t remember who introduced me to good music but whoever it was I owe them big time, especially as my youth was spent listening to the soundtrack of Disney’s Tarzan and Britney Spears’ early albums. I was lost in a world I knew nothing about and thank that Jesus guy that I was pulled to safety through the discovery of some rocking tunes. My iPod and taste is now significantly better. I want to pay this forward, ensure all lost souls out there will peace in their playlists. These are my basics, the top 10 songs I won’t go without, the anti-80’s cheese to my cracker.
10. Freaks and Geeks- Childish Gambino
I’ve inherited my mother’s love for puns and if you were to mix it with my underlying secret sass, you get “Freaks and Geeks”. It’s rude and derogatory like most rap songs but the cleverness of Gambino’s lyrics makes it refreshingly funny.
Whenever I feel particularly nostalgic or dorky I listen to “Birds”. Kate Nash has an unusual talent of stringing words together in a playful, almost childish way that makes me wish I was 15 and still receiving that awkward first kiss with the boy I sort of liked in the middle of a scary movie that wasn’t all that scary.
8. I’m Still Here- Goo Goo Dolls
I find melodramatic moments of pure teenage angst deserve a good theme song. “I am a question to the world” must be the greatest line for describing the emotions of the seemingly misunderstood.
7. The Most Beautiful Girl (in the room)- Flight of The Conchords
I’m a bit of a sucker for comedy bands, I find them delightful. The satire of Flight of The Conchords is one of my favourite things about them. They’ve taken the clichéd ballad with its sweeping overdone statements of universally beautiful girls and made it a bit more realistic. I laugh every time.
6. Baby Blue- JackValve
Old school rock ‘n roll seems to be rock ‘n rolling into oblivion these days. Electric guitars have been replaced with banjos and the deep growling lead vocals are now whiny, soft and significantly more girly. JackValve have made it their mission to resurrect old school rock, and are doing it incredibly well with “Baby Blue”. I love the rough masculinity of the vocals and the obvious talent behind that sick electric guitar.
5. A Poem on The Underground Wall- Simon and Garfunkel.
This song is just magical. If anyone can take the simple and frowned upon act of vandalising a subway station advertisement and turn it into 2 minutes of the sweetest music and verse known to man, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel can.
4. She’s Electric- Oasis
I’ve made this my alarm tone; it’s the best motivational song especially if you consider it to be self-prophesising. I like to think I’m being electric, and listening to the sweet lilting voices of Noel and Ian Gallagher encouraging me to be so makes my day a little more epic.
3. Bikini Weather- Shortstraw
In a country as hot and bright as South Africa, every day is “Bikini Weather”, Shortstraw is probably one of the most internally successful South African bands, with a beautifully patriotic sound and good beat, Bikini Weather is my favourite sunny day song.
2. First Day of My Life- Bright Eyes
What the lead singer of Bright Eyes lacks in vocals, he makes up for in the way he writes. “This is The First Day of My Life” has me weeping like an over-emotional yuppie every time I listen to it. I find it raw, soul-revealing and exceptionally soppy.
1. Spark-Amber Run
Every once in a while I find a song that makes me want to scream with happiness. It’s like the music fills me up and the only thing that can release it is if I dance and yell like it’s made me wild. Some songs can make you wild with emotion, they can strip you down to your very basic animal instinct and tap into your sense of control. Some songs destroy your control for a little while. This is Spark by Amber Run.
Dalliance 