Entertainment

Playlist: Summer 2008

I used to be THE master of playlists. The last couple years of high school and first couple of college, I could pump out a killer mix in a matter of minutes. Somewhere along the road, I just stopped making them. I guess I figured the shuffle feature in iTunes or on my iPod was good enough.

However, several months ago — after I came to the realization of how my music listening habits changed immensely as the weather changed — I thought it’d be cool to start putting together playlists of my favorite music I listened to in any given season.

The unforeseen consequence/benefit of this is a way for me to look into a mirror and see a reflection of where I am now, and where I was spiritually, mentally, socially in any given season.

I say all this to set up the following: My summer has been bookended by the two toughest weeks of my life. The months in the middle were a struggle I’m still not sure how I got through. The summer of 2008 has by far been the toughest period of my life. As I write this I’m more physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted then I’ve ever been.

Which gets us to the point… while listening to my Summer 2008 playlist — which now consists of 18 songs — at least 10 are love or breakup songs.

A couple, that were added to the playlist early on dealt with the hope of love remaining; For instance, “Gotta Have You” by the Weepies. Then, as the weeks went on, the songs I chose to add dealt with loss, like Relient K’s “There Was No Thief” which has lyrics that read…

For a time I thought there was a thief among us 
I thought I’d track him down but prior to my pursuit 
The smoke it cleared into my disbelief 
There was no theif 
‘Cuz it was me that lost you 

Or, Bloc Party’s “Trojan Horse,”

You used to take your watch off before we made love
You didn’t want to share our time with anyone
You used to close your eyes when we kissed goodbye
You didn’t want to see me draped in sadness

And now there’s nothing here, now there’s nothing here at all

And finally, The Weepies “World Spins Madly On,”

Woke up and wished that I was dead
With an aching in my head 
I lay motionless in bed
I thought of you and where you’d gone
and let the world spin madly on

Then there’s the fun, nostalgic song that got added to the mix when I was crushing on a girl who helped me through the toughest part of the break-up: Hootie & the Blowfish’s “Hold my Hand.”

There’s also the political, “Handlebars” by the Flobots and “Hero’s Song,” by Brenden James, which could go down as the greatest (Iraq) war protest song I’ve heard… why it’s not more popular, I’ll never know.

I started out with a simple plan
And a locket in my hand
But the sun is so unforgiving
And the wind so hard to stand

Fall out, fall out
With the rest of your brothers
With the rest of your sisters
Heroes on the line

Carry out what your leader says
For what his leader says
Is that his leader says
This is right for the people

No one will ever understand *why*
Thousands of beautiful healthy young statues must fall
Smoke and explosions surround me
A flood of hate, it drowns me
I cannot live this way
No I cannot live with
Doubt and confusion
They find me
They run up right behind me
I cannot die this way
No, I cannot die this way

In the water, in the sand
Is the blood of a culture
Is the blood of an ancient people
In whose holy war I stand

Finally, there was the inspirational music that I needed to help lift my spirits: Like Josh Groban’s “Don’t Give Up” and my recent discovery of Brandon Heath’s “Sunrise” which prefectly describes where I am today,

You want to sound off 
But you can’t find the words to
Nothing makes sense in the way that it used to
Can’t find the plus in the positive thinking
The well’s run dry and your not done drinking

Clouds start coming and the sky will fall
Clock ticks back from the bedroom wall
Now your breathing just to make it through the night

All you need is the sunrise
Just a moment of dawn
If your lost in the twilight
Close your eyes and move on
When your tired in the waiting
Even though its going to take you a little more time
Just a little more time 
The sun’s going to find you

The entire playlist, with several full-length tracks thanks to Last.fm, can be found here. I obviously believe that you can read a lot into a person’s soul by the music they choose to surround themselves with, so here’s a glance into mine. I hope you enjoy my Summer 2008 playlist.

Tags: music, playlist