I may have promised to write about my favourite tracks of all time but never really got around to it. So, as I’m supposed to be blogging about favourites, this playlist is composed of the six tracks I can’t live without! =)
ALL. TIME.
I don’t think there’s any other song that makes me feel the way I do each time I hear this track.
U2 - With or Without You
from Jens E. on Vimeo
I was rummaging through my cousin‘s cassette tape collection, in search of serious old love songs, when I chanced on U2’s The Joshua Tree. The album is one of the band’s finest but this was the only track that clung to me with such profundity. I’ve imagined this in the soundtrack of my life and I once wrote:
The Right One will sing this to me, making me feel a million times luckier than the girl Bono handpicked and sang to because even if he can’t sing like a million quid I know that he will mean every word, and that out of the six billion people in the world he will always, always choose me.
How apt. I found the right one, and he can’t sing.
Radiohead - High and Dry
from gustavo gonzalez on Vimeo.
If there was a song that precisely defined a wee chunk of my teenage years, this would be it. Long before manliner streaked and emopunk bands came to scene, this song painted the mood. It spoke volumes on how I used to see life which was “Always, almost. Almost always.” It also kind of saved me though. It was pretty instrumental in making that huge decision of coming to the UK.
Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life
This song reminds me of high school where my friends and I witnessed and lived through the first few punches of life. It never fails to elevate my mood, reminding me how easy it is to build dreams when you grasp optimism and embrace your potential. “I believe in the faith that grows.” Oh yes. And those four right chords can still make me cry. In a very good way.
Nitin Sawhney - Immigrant
Best stress-release song in the world. I deal with stress and anger intimately because confrontation is not my cup of tea. So I have an imaginary record player in my head with this track on, waiting to be played when the need calls for it. Takes me back to all the calming spots I know: down the beach, my parents’ home, in the arms of the ones I love.
Van Morrison - Sweet Thing
from S E Hall on Vimeo
My dad used to play old songs during road trips and I remember hoarding batteries so I can listen to my own walkman and not be exposed to his preferred tunes. One time, I ran out of batteries and had to sit eight hours on the road without a choice. I remember hearing this song, not understanding Van Morrison’s growl and only really hearing the words “I will never grow so old again.“
WORD.
And because this almost, almost, almost made Top 6… I’m adding it too.
Madonna - What It Feels Like For A Girl
Those spoken words, taken from that film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s The Cement Garden (one of the few novels that really made me cringe), resonate to me. Every now and again friends and colleagues would tell me “You’re such a boy!” because I have low EQ. What they don’t know is that I’m really a girl! Haha. I have feelings too albeit abnormal. No seriously. If you boys only knew what it really feels like to be a girl, I reckon it would definitely be a better world.
