Curious 9 (What's that one song--that just gets you when you hear it?)

[samkfj]

Everyone has a song that just--hits them in the feels. It can be for any reason. It might not even be something tangible--but it does. Could be one, could be multiple.

I think for me... that song would have to be Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams.

See--everyone has that one... person. I still remember like it was yesterday... walked into my very first class at my new college late. Professor asked me my name, I said "I'm late, nice to meet ya." Everyone chuckled--but one person in the front row just... smiled. Strawberry blonde, steel blue eyes. I had to sit near her. Struck up a conversation, she was from Brighton, England. We became friends quick. Asked her out on a date, and she threw herself at the idea.

Haha--one day, she was hungry, as she was at school all day and had no money. I, however, always came prepared. Always had a raw potato and beef jerky. Went to the cafeteria and microwaved the potato for her; stole some butter and sour cream from the meal cart and surprised her for lunch--and she was mine. She wasn't my first, but I was hers. I wish--wish, I would have waited. Hindsight is always 20/20... but if I ever had even the slightest glimpse into the future; I would have waited just for her.

She used to just sit--and watch me play guitar, she would clap and give me a huge kiss every time, even if I messed up. Would watch anime all day long together--would steal my words and repeat them in her beautiful accent. She called her mom and had my absolute favorite album (Get Ready by New Order) shipped to my apartment, pressed and labeled in the UK--delivered just for me. Surprised me at work once; she took the bus and waited hours just to find me, just so she could kiss me and say happy birthday. She was always with me, and she eventually started moving things into my apartment. It was a dream come true; I was happy, I was in love.

But--nothing lasts forever. One day--I came home from work... found her crying her beautiful blue eyes out.

She missed home, she missed her mama... she missed her country. She was an only child, and never knew her father. Her mama wasn't well, and she felt that she had to return--as much as it hurt her... she did what she had to do.

The hardest thing I ever had to do--was let her go. We spent our last three months happy, and not thinking about what was soon to come. Then the day came--

I drove her to the airport, spent the day with her--cried in each other's arms. She said I was her "favorite person." That she would do anything for me, that I had her heart. She hated America, but the only thing she loved--was me.

I watched her disappear into the crowd... I don't think--I ever cried so much.

Came back to a now empty apartment... what was full of love... was now just broken. I never truly healed, even to this day.

I don't watch anime anymore, haven't really much since... and I only recently just picked up my guitar again. I still have that record too, it's my most cherished record of all. Even if my house was on fire, it would be the only thing I'd run back in for.

People may ask--but aren't you happy with the person you're with now? Well of course I am.

We move on--we find other people to fall in love with. We live on, we grow, we learn... but try as you might--ya just can't forget the first one that stole your heart.

So whenever I hear this song--it reminds me of her. A time where youth and love turned me from a kid, into a man. Whenever I see a redhead--I just smile and reminisce... and I'll always remember the time when a good 'ol Texan boy, fell for a girl across the pond.

Those were--the best days of my life.

 

[Matseb2611]

Man, that was a beautiful love story. Too bad that it had to end. I don't think I personally would've wanted to end something so good and would've found a way to be together with her despite her moving back home. Distance can always be overcome, but it requires persistence from both sides. Either way, thanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading it.

As for the song that gets me on a deeper emotional level, don't know if I'd be able to pick just one. Perhaps unusually enough, instrumental songs tend to attain that effect better than the ones with vocals. 'Epica' by Audiomachine and 'Reluctant Warrior' by Immediate Music are a couple of instrumental tracks that always make me feel emotional (I used to listen to them a lot in the past when my mind was in a dark place). Another song that has always had a similar effect on me, but vocal one, is 'Candlelight Fantasia' by Symphony X. There might be some others I am forgetting, so perhaps I'll add them later.

 

[samkfj]

I was young, we had no money. Haha--I told her I'd sell everything I had and I'd get any job, even if it was picking up dog**** on the streets for pennies. She just smiled and kissed me. I just had to let her go, and if fate willed it, we'd meet again.

On my way home from celebrating New Years--I heard this song on the radio... I couldn't help but tear up. My girl asked me what was wrong--I just smiled at her and said "Memories." People might think it's disrespectful--but I love to remember my past, it doesn't hurt to visit it in my thoughts once in a while.

omg some ******* just walked by and threw water in my eyes... I can't see anything right now.

but--I know some of those songs! They're amazing. Epica for sure I know.

 

[LaFlibuste]

Yeah that's a nice story, I'm sorry for you, really.

But yeah if we're talking love songs, those are probably more my vibe:
The second one I wanted to share was Frank Zappa's Broken Hearts are for A**holes, but the lyrics are really not PG-13 so I'll let you search for it on youtube yourself
(No, I am not a very romantic/melancolic person)

Not to call you anything or insult you, really, that's not my intention at all. It's okay to reminisce, be sand and melancolic from time to time, even have regrets, it's part of life and it's not healthy to just deny and burry those feelings, it can even be beautiful in its own way. But yeah I'm more of the school of thought that wallowing in sadness is one's own decision, that happiness is something you decide and make for yourself in your own mind (again, not that I'm saying it's not your case, we're just discussing here). Personally, I don't really have any regrets, mostly because I believe it's pointless and toxic. I just don't really focus on that stuff. And also live my live in the present in a way to minimise regrets and assume my choices.

 

[samkfj]

I like this song! ROFL. I'll have to check out the Frank Zappa one.

Yeah I know what you mean, but to be honest--it's not something I always think of; nor something I think of with sadness. I think if it was--I'd be a wreck! Just a nostalgic memory of a time I cherish.

but I'll tell ya this--I wouldn't trade all the happiness in the world for those memories. As sad as I can get when I remember--I find myself laughing and smiling more often than not about it.

 

[1ce]

There are many songs I could use to reflect my obsession with DDR back in the day, but this one sticks in my head whenever I think of it. It's a beast of a song on the hardest difficulty.

 

[bgillisp]

It was my first crush of high school, and I discovered this song around the same time thanks to that station that still was playing it years after it came out. I always am reminded of her whenever I hear this one.

 

[artoni]

There's just something that chills me with this one.

 

[Finnuval]

Nothing as romantic on my side lol
I've been confronted with death often since i was real young. Had a lot of people die around me and nearly died several times throughout the 40 years of my life so I've grown to see death in a different light then a lot of folks therefor my song is this :

I know, not what you might expect but just listen to the lyrics and tell me it doesn't fit

 

[trouble time]

Hunting High qnd Low by Stratovarius is a big one.
As long as its not about love, hungry for heaven, and Egypt by Dio.
Superheroes, Vainglory Opera, and Speedhoven by Edguy.

Black Sheep of the Family, self portrait, catch the raonbow, stargazer, light in the black, snake charmer, tarot woman, Temple of the King, and many more from the early Rainbow albums (When ronnie james dio provided the vocals)

 

[kaukusaki]

Telstar by tornados (a British band)
I first heard the sci-fi pop instrumental in an old junk shop in montana (or was it idaho? I travelled a lot when i went west to find myself. It's fuzzy...) anyways, i pulled a fonz on a jukebox that was supposedly nonworking and that record dropped and played.
It gave me chills :3
I was instantly inspired and as an interesting thought experiment i wrote a story about aliens responding to the signals of our communication satellites and the possible consequences...

 

[bgillisp]

Here's another one. This was the first song I ever owned...on tape. Back in those days. And the song is 30 years old this year. Man I feel old:

 

[synchronicity]

I have two songs, one from the past, and one I discovered recently, so I thought I'd share those.


This song came out in 2001, but back in 2004 my one brother was obsessing over it. I don't know if he'd just discovered it, or what, but it was his favourite song and he was always listening to it when he'd come over to our house. (Technically, he and my other brother are my half-brother's because I have a different dad, so I lived with our mom and my dad, while they lived with their dad growing up.) Anyway, he passed away in March of that year in a house fire, just over a month after his 17th birthday, and we ended up playing this song at his funeral. I was just shy of my 13th birthday myself, but I remember it very vividly and will probably always think of it when I hear this song. The lyrics just became really relevant after that, because even though the situations for each of the verses were different, it was all ultimately about life cut too short and never knowing when the last day of your life will actually be. For a long time I'd hear the opening of that song and have to shut it off, but it's not as heavy for me to listen to as it used to be, and as horrible as it was what happened, it was a reminder that we never know how much time we have with the people we love, and that today's argument could be tomorrow's regret. I'd like to say I learned from all that and never take people for granted, but that's not really realistic. I do try, though.



This is a song that I just discovered a month ago by a band that only has a few tracks out so far, but it really hit me hard the first time I heard it. To make a long story short, after a childhood and adolescence of traumatic losses like the one mentioned above, and not properly dealing with any of it, my mental health was pretty shot and I struggled a lot with anxiety (specifically death and illness anxiety, and was close to becoming agoraphobic and never leaving the house) and depression. It was like... being afraid of dying, but also afraid of living, so trying to exist in this bubble where time wasn't passing but not being able to ignore the fact that it actually was no matter how much you try to shut out the proof of it. So everything just hurt, all the time, and sometimes you'd be totally fine and other times you'd be crying over something not-sad-at-all in a show you were watching. Like, sometimes it was the happy stuff in the show that made you feel terrible, because it was a reminder of what you were missing out on (and I knew I was doing a lot of it to myself but didn't really know how to stop either, so add in some frustration and anger at myself for not being able to figure that out when it felt like something simple).

I did work through it, thank god, but hearing this song just kind of reminded me a lot of how I felt at that time and I mean, there's lots of songs like it, it's not that this one is particularly special, but it's only been recently that I've kind of been looking back at that period of my life and realizing just how far I've come, so when I heard this song it was kind of another reminder of that.

As a generally emotionally repressed person (...thus the mental health issues lmao) music is a much needed outlet and a way of kind of figuring out my feelings. I've never really been good at expressing them and always felt awkward about it when I was in situations where it was expected. I wasn't really like that as a kid, so it's something that developed over time from my experiences. Anyway, because of that, whether the lyrics themselves resonate or not, songs stand out to me based on how they make me feel or what they make me think of when I hear them, even if what I feel or hear is different from what the artist was trying to convey.

 

[samkfj]

@synchronicity That's terrible very sad to read what happened to your brother. You're too right--you just never know how much time there is. All anyone can really do is really just hold on to those good moments of now--because they wont last forever. Memories do, but never the moment.

Glad to know you've worked through your troubles too. You're too right about music being a great outlet... it never leaves, it never ages and it's always happy to see you.