This morning I had to switch cars with my husband. His is, as I so lovingly put it, "A beater car," with an old 6-CD changer. So he has since raided our CD cases and snuck in some memorable classics for my commute.
Years ago for Valentine's day I made him a mix. That thing might be 14 years old but it has so many of "our songs." What's funny is just the other day I was listening to a song by Coldplay and was immediately taken back to sneaking out of the house for a "walk" with my walkman-discman thingy and going under this HUGE willow tree to sneak cigarettes when I was still living with my dad.
So when my husband perfectly planted this mix to play, I totally had all the flash backs and all the feels. Mostly because music is so versatile. If you put on an album you were obsessed with 15 years ago, I guarantee it will speak to new levels and old if you rock on with it today. Some things are timeless.
Now I'm also that person whose love for music is far more lyric-based than melody based. I legitimately feel that Simon and Garfunkel is serious poetry and, although I love the melody and beats also, the words are everything to me. This often gets me a bad rap for loving all the "sad" or "weird" songs.
As much as I wanted to be a Punk Rock Princess in my late teens, I was far too little to get beat up in the most pits and living in the Pacific Northwest at the time left me ripe for the Indie music scene. So, with my punk rock buddies and boyfriends, I was always the girl exposing the new indie talents to them, whether they liked it or not.
I made my then-boyfriend-now-husband appreciate Death Cab for Cutie on an entirely different level. To this day we still see them live and can always agree on listening to their albums if we can agree on nothing else that day. Our big wedding song was "I Will Follow You Into The Dark," most likely their most infamous hit.
Most people complain that this is a "depressing" song but hubby and I agreed it was darkly gorgeous, succinct and real. Both of us have struggled and will always struggle with our faith and to us, this song was just raw truth in love and partnership. Of course this song made the mix and I listened to it on the drive in this morning, singing right along.
Music will always be my most wonderful and faithful companion and spans so many genres for me. Hubby also unearthed an old mix from an ex-roommate and I instantly remembered the origin of it and how much I loved it from the moment when it was burned onto that CD.
Among other CDs available for me to listen were Matchbook Romance, which made me want my old pink "Chucks" on, and the soundtrack to Across The Universe, an epic movie set to Beatles Music, followed by the ever amazing band, Cake.
It's so wonderfully funny when you hear certain music and think "I completely forgot about this band, song, album, mix, etc!" I slowed down and just remembered all the moments associated with the tunes and felt grateful for the soundtrack.
Hubby and I have the 10 year mark looming for our engagement and wedding anniversary, but I'm not going to sit here and act like it's been cupcakes and rainbows. Sometimes it's music like the songs on the mix that remind you of how far we've come and what we can push through. Musical reminders are super important, in my humble opinion.
There are some tried and true musicians that have kept me sane over the years, no doubt about that, but any band that I love is definitely part of my life's soundtrack, my story and probably contributed some kind of theme song to my days.
I have made friends through music in more ways than one. I have kept close friendships through music as well and I seriously wish I could be a professional concert-goer and make money from it. One of the best times of my life was writing reviews for Creative Loafing and getting to go to free shows. I saw so many bands I would have never been able to afford and had a blast taking it all in.
For me, music is the soundtrack of my life through the good memories and the bad. It has gotten me through the best of times and the worst of times and is an epic anti-depressant, therapeutic healer, and friend for the lonely times. I'll probably write about this over and over, but to me, it cannot be stressed, exclaimed and explained enough! Rock on, readers!
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