If you know me in real life, you'd know about my inconsistency. In Bisaya (my dialect), though not the direct translation, I like to call it being mapul-anon.
It means that I get bored with things easily. I am always looking for new things in order to keep my interest because if I can't keep myself interested, I give up on it eventually. I end up quitting. It is only so very rarely that I can keep my interest in certain things.
This is also the reason why, after all these years, I still only have 4 favorite books (I'll talk about that in a separate blog post) or or why my favorite movie will eternally be V for Vendetta or why my top 5 anime still remains the same in the past 4 years or why, of all the poems in the world and of all the poems my favorite poet (Neruda) had written, I still only have one favorite poem and it is not even by Neruda himself (hint: its title means "unconquered" or "unconquerable" in Latin) (I have this poem memorized by heart).
This is also the reason why I only have 9 favorite songs up to this day. Sure, I've added to them over the years, and I change my favorites occasionally, but none of those "occasional" favorites can ever amount to how much I love my Ultimate 9.
Those 9 will be the topic of this blog post because I realized that I never really shared to anyone why and how they became my favorite (mostly because I don't think anyone's interested, anyway, which is why it will be thoroughly explained in this blog post because nobody can contest it anymore) (haha).
In no particular order:
1. "My Friends" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (x)
from the album One Hot Minute
I heard a little girl
And what she said was something beautiful
"To give your love no matter what"
Is what she said
» I discovered this song back in 2010 through a YA novel my friend, Alexia, and I were crazy about. Needless to say, that book changed my life and is now in my Ultimate 4 for books (Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly). The part of the song above is the same part featured in the book. I wondered what song it was since, in the summer of 2011, my "angsty" phase began. It was also around that time I started being serious about learning guitar (although those lessons were completely moot, because I am shit at guitar).
Summer 2011 was a very sad time for me. I don't remember why now. I was turning 13 in August that year so maybe it was just the pre-pubescent vibes or something. But in May, something bad did happen so I guess that added to it.
This song saved my life. I can't exactly explain why. Maybe it was the sad first few notes or the even sadder first line, but when I first heard it, I instantly fell in love with it. I really don't understand how. And those lines above were what struck me the most.
It saved my life in the sense that it made me feel significantly less sad and that was an important thing for 12-turning-13-year-old back then.
Up to this day, my eyes still water whenever this song comes on shuffle. It is really good and I'm sure many people can connect to it the way I did. It's beautiful.
2. "Swim" by Jack's Mannequin (x)
from the album The Glass Passenger
Just find the horizon,
I promise you it's not as far as you think
The currents will drag us away from our love—
Just keep your head above.
» Anyone back then in the bandom of 2011 will tell you that this song is significant to them. I swear, everyone back then, when the bandom was at its peak and glory days, our glory days, loved this song to a certain degree. We were all, somehow, sad people back then, trying to find our place in the world through the worlds of Tumblr and Twitter, through the support of the same bands, where we made many friends that we intend to keep for life, despite the obvious distance.
It was this song that could define a portion of what we were feeling, if not all, especially when the third line goes, "Swim for the music that saves you when you're not so sure you'll survive". It made sense. Personally, it gave me hope that the sadness would eventually fade and that there was a brighter horizon ahead. I just needed to see past it.
3. "Take Your Time (Coming Home)" by fun. (x)
from the album aim and ignite.
For every love that's lost,
I heard a new one comes.
» This. This fucking song. Fucking hell of a song. 7 minutes and 53 seconds of pure beauty. I have yet to meet someone in real life who understands just how deeply ingrained this song is in me. The majority of my life's principles were sung by Nate Ruess in this song, written beautifully as well.
Examples would be: "Take your time coming home" meaning I was entitled to take all the time I needed to heal. "Forgive everyone" meaning that the first step to any type of healing is forgiveness—of self, of others. "It's a beautiful thing when you love somebody" is probably part of the reason why, with all I've been through, I can never renounce my belief that love can conquer all (amor vincit omnia). And lastly, "for every love that's lost, I heard a new one comes" is where all this roots from. This line has proven to me, time and time again, just how much I love the song altogether. It's also in what Rumi said, "Don't grieve; anything you lose comes round in another form." and as someone who fears losing people—losing love—this is very significant to me.
I discovered this song through a The Maine fan fiction entitled Take Your Time Coming Home on Mibba (2011 was also the year of beautiful fan fiction). I'm not sure if the author still has that fic up, but I can tell you that it was a thing of beauty. Well-written. Angst, check. John Cornelius O'Callaghan V—hell yes.
4. "The (After) Life of the Party" by Fall Out Boy (x)
from the album Infinity on High
From making it
And a scar away
From falling apart
» This song still makes my heart ache after all these years. I love this song partly because it's a common favorite with my brother, the one person who led me to the path of good music. I swear, we play this in the car every time he drives and we always—always—sing along at the top of our lungs.
I also love this song partly because I connect to it on a level I never thought I'd achieve. Look at those first few lines: "I'm a stitch away from making it and a scar away from falling apart." The life of a teenager simplified into one line. And when you hear the instruments just exploding by the time the chorus arrives—ready your tissues, friends. You're going to be a human waterfall when you get to the bridge.
This song should be a classic and it is really sad that it isn't as well-known as other Fall Out Boy songs. Then again, more for us, I guess? (Kidding.)
5. "Ruby" by Foster the People (x)
from the album Torches
She says, "Happiness ain't free.
Everybody fights just like me.
But I've given up the ability to retreat."
» Yet another song about not giving up. This song is the work of genius. Hell, the entire album is a work of genius. I heard this album for the first time and I fell in love with it immediately. It just struck to the heart, you know? How everything blended together. And this song was what I connected to the most. Mark Foster sings about a single mother trying to raise her children on her own and how she's trying to get up from bed everyday without rest just to give them the life she was deprived of.
And in the last part of the song, he sings, "All alone, rest your head on my lap when you're down. Ruby, don't cry." which kind of gives hope to anyone listening that, even with all the hardships, life does offer a few reprieves.
6. "Fighting for Nothing" by Meg & Dia (x)
from the album Here, Here and Here
to fight Vikings in the Cold War
With my arms out, in the front,
singing, "Dare me, dare me!"
» To anyone who thought I wouldn't have at least one Meg & Dia song on the list, shame on you. If you must know, 3 of the 9 are by Meg & Dia, which is understandable, considering they are my ultimate favorite band.
I could go on about this song for days, lyric-wise and music-wise. This song is a fine example of poetry in music. Also another song about not giving up, it affected my formative years greatly. It taught me to fight my demons no matter what and, with Dia Frampton's strong voice singing into my ears, I was converted real quick. And that guitar solo before the bridge is just [heart eyes emoji].
This is also a common favorite with my brother and my best friend, Johanna. We even made a video of us just singing this song and generally rocking out to it while my brother made a video of him playing it on guitar using power chords.
7. "Bandits" by Meg & Dia (x)
from the album Cocoon
But I awoke to blaring sirens
so I covered you with my jacket.
They bound my hand in metal bands
but I screamed to be distracting.
I drove away in their backseat,
saw your crying eyes behind the tumbleweeds.
When I get out, I'll come to find you
'cause you're my other half,
I never told you that, never told you that.
» This song is like the story of Bonnie and Clyde in music form, except I love it because I can see the Frampton sisters in it and how I see my own siblings in it. In a way, whenever I listen to this song, it's kind of like a letter to my siblings, of how I will never leave them behind, and how they will always come first for me. I would die for them. They are the only people I would die for. I mean it and they know it.
8. "Turning Page" by Sleeping At Last (x)
from the album The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 OST
I surrender who I've been
for who you are.
Nothing makes me stronger than
your fragile heart.
» Yes, okay, so I have the complete OST of all 5 Twilight movies.....can you really blame me.....it's good music....
And this song. Goddamn. I have been trying to learn this song on piano ever since I first heard it as a writing prompt in writeworld and, while it is relatively easy, I am shit at piano so I never got past the first 5 notes.
It should be known as the Ultimate Love Song because it is that good and the melody just makes you swoon then add in the poetic lyrics—god. The line "Nothing makes me stronger than / your fragile heart" is also something I connect to and why....I will never tell.
9. "Unsinkable Ships" by Meg & Dia (x)
from the album Cocoon
He taught me love and facts,
That we're not sinking,
we're just tumbling down
to a place that's out of reach
from all the sickness that covers everything.
That we're not sinking,
we're just tumbling down
to a place that's out of reach
from all the sickness that covers everything.
» Will the blog title suffice as explanation?
I'm kidding. But I do talk about this song in the Unsinkable tab on the upper right corner of this blog.
It's only about 2 minutes long, but it's enough to get the "I gave up on giving up on me" point across.
Keep in mind that I'm not really that picky with my music taste, just that there are 9 songs that have stood out to me. I will listen to anything, from any time and any genre, just as long as it makes me feel good or it makes me feel something. After all, isn't that what this is about?
Always,
Claire
BONUS: My ultimate favorite album is Meg & Dia's Cocoon (obviously, although The Maine's Pioneer is eternally battling for that position in my heart, and Foster the People's Supermodel and Fall Out Boy's Save Rock & Roll come REAAAALLYY close at second) and my ultimate favorite EP is Isles & Glacier's The Hearts of Lonely People (this supergroup has already broken up, but THLP lives on). The Maine, Urbandub, Mayday Parade, The Summer Set, Panic! At the Disco, and (of course) All Time Low made up most of my bandom years so they also mean a lot to me, even now that I've lost touch with the whole "fangirling" thing. Ah, those were the days.
