Music That Speaks To You

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by thestrangequark, Jul 28, 2016.

  1. HaventGotALife

    HaventGotALife Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    The house I grew up in,
    the home where I learned how to walk,
    the home where I drew "Zorro" on the walls,
    the home where I went to school for the first time,
    had my cherished memories around Christmas,
    watched "Star Trek" with my nuclear family for the first time,
    where I drank "Vernors," as if it were champagne (the little bubbles) while my Dad sang around his stereo,
    the place where I first saw "Star Wars" and "Knight Rider" and "Lady and the Tramp,"
    the place where I first listened to "I Get Around" and "Knights in White Satin"
    the place that housed me where I bathed,
    and where I slept,
    where had my finest moments of laughter, outside,
    playing in dirt or a sprinkler,
    with my brother, the hero,
    where my mother filled the house with aromas of freshly-baked apple pies,
    and where we hosted Christmas and New Year's parties,
    where my parents fought
    and I had to stand in the corner because of doing something wrong,
    where I learned not to hit when I was angry,
    and revealed my first crush on a classmate,
    where I was played with,
    and yelled at,
    and comforted,
    and where my family had been for 30 years,

    is dust.

    For the first seven years, the happiest of my parents' time together while I was on this earth, that house was THE place. It was where warmth and family and love and security for the tiny spec of dust on this earth, that is me, resided.

    It was a house in a dying community in a suburb of Detroit. It caught fire one night, and became kindling, blight, in a city that has too much of that, already. It was for-sale. Anyone with the talents to fix it, 1-dollar is all it took. But my father was not alive to start his reclamation project. The house he literally tore out walls and put them back together, where he gave my mother love through building her a kitchen. All gone. As if your favorite book, your favorite memento, your history and imprint on this world, is gone. I know, it's a building. But I can see it as clearly as day. But, it is gone.

    Anyway, all of that went through my head when I heard this song, recently. It's been 2 years since the house was destroyed. It's not a person, but it is history, as if I could walk through my childhood, if I ever saw it, again.

     
  2. Doom Shepherd

    Doom Shepherd Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    My upbringing was awesome. I had parents who were responsible, attentive, supportive, firm but fair, I wasn't coddled but I never went without.
    Not all children are so lucky.
    My wife (yeah, her again)* was horrifically abused as a child, by her own insane mother, and by others at her behest.
    Once she shared this Linda Eder song with me, not long after she told me her story. Ever since then it's been another easy waterworks trigger. There's no official video for the song that I'm aware of, so here's a fanvid someone made, but the video's less important than the lyrics.

    This song makes me want to burn the abusive and the cruel.
    Which is part of the dilemma.
    Because Dragons are the ones that burn.

    *I credit Jerry Doyle with saving my life. I credit my wife with saving what remains of my humanity.
     
  3. ITL

    ITL Vice Admiral Admiral

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    OH! Don't get me started on the 6th! Especially the first movement and later, the way that the melody gets stripped down until you're adding the missing notes in your head to complete it. Masterful. And as for Moonlight Sonata..... one day - and this day may never come - I will figure it out on guitar. You have to transpose it (I think it starts in Cb minor...), but there are YouTube videos to learn from. One day. :)
     
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  4. SPCTRE

    SPCTRE Badass Admiral

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    music that speaks to you is called rap

    (diss me if old)
     
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  5. ITL

    ITL Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I will diss you. So, think on.
     
  6. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    This cover by Melissa Etheridge is one of my favourite ever songs.. but only the Melissa version :lol: Definitely my greatest ever cover.

     
  7. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    We've talked about a lot of heavy shit in here. On a lighter note, this song. It came out in 99, but I didn't hear it until a couple years later. I identified with it straight away as a young woman trying out Grown Up Relationships. It still hits the mark: Let me go and I will want you more.

     
  8. Doom Shepherd

    Doom Shepherd Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I also will depart from the "heavy stuff" for some music that speaks to me in a different way. I way I cannot sufficiently explain.

    There are certain songs that have a strange effect on me, in that they give me a strong sense of familiarity, a sort of deja vu feeling, and sometimes this "tingling" sensation in the back of my neck that may be something like ASMR, but that I have also heard described by other people as "the calling of the blood." I don't want to impart some kind of mystical properties - especially since I don't believe in those - to it, but.. there's something about it.

    Unfortunately, the video is not on YouTube, so I don't know if this will work:
    "The Old Ways" - Loreena McKennitt
     
  9. Australis

    Australis Writer - Australis Admiral

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    This has started me thinking about doing whatever the CD version of mixtapes are. One for each era of music I grew up with:
    1960 - 1972
    1972 - 1987
    1987 - 2001
    2001 - now

    They'd be MP3s and full of songs.
    Lifetrax, vols 1-4 :)
     
  10. HaventGotALife

    HaventGotALife Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I have done this With Spotify Premium, and the only songs I want on the list, that are not on the list, are Garth Brooks songs.

    Country 200 -- My favorite hits of all-time, starting with Jamey Johnson's "In Color," and ending with Sugarland's "Stand Back Up." I have about 160 songs on that list, so there is room to grow. Miranda Lambert's "Vice" was recently added to this list.
    Pop 100 -- My favorite hits of all-time. It starts with Blues Traveler's "Hook," all the way to Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come."
    Top 25 -- A list I posted on Facebook with a simple concept, from a conversation I had with friends: "If you had 25 songs to take with you, when stranded on a Island, no other music available, what would you take?"

    1984-2004 -- My first 20 years of music hits, in chronological order, in their impact on my life. It is heavy at 5-years-old (Christian music, Motown, and the Beach Boys), 8-years-old (My introduction to Country Music on my Aunt's radio), and 17-years-old (a lot of mixing of genres and musical history, probably because of Napster), for some reason. :)
    2005-2007 -- A list of mostly pop songs, as I was taking a break from Country music, it takes me back to the time when I was exploring my talent as a writer, reading voraciously, getting over my father's death, dating a tremendously important woman, and listening to VH1 in the mornings.
    2008-2009 -- My return to Country music, perhaps the last great year for the genre. What was popular, was great. It blows most other years out of the water.
    2010-2011 -- More Country, starting with "Turning Home" by David Nail, to "This" by Darius Rucker.
    2012-13 -- The shortest of the lists--about 15 songs--because I was immersed in "Smash," for those 2 years.
    2014 -- When I made all these lists, this is the year I made them. I couldn't just turn on the radio and be entertained. Country had change a lot, and I had to save my favorites. From Kacey Musgraves' "Another Trailer, Different Park" album, to Miranda Lambert's "Platinum" album, to Brandy Clark's "12 Stories," it's not exactly what is on the charts.
    2015 -- It opens with "Girl Crush," and ends with Maddie and Tae's "Start Here" album. Others include Kacey Musgraves' "Pageant Material," Kristian Bush's "Southern Gravity," Jason Isabell's "Something More than Free," and the Turnpike Troubadors' self-titled album.
    2016 -- A list in progress, I recently turned it into a playlist, as opposed to simply putting up a list of songs. I am listening to it right now. It opens with "Vice" and ends with Kenny Chesney's "Noise."
     
  11. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    @Australis , mixtapes were my life growing up, and that didn't stop when the transfer came to mix CDs.

    The greatest family tradition, and the one my mom, sisters, and I look forward to the most is just driving in the car together listening to music. I see them only once or twice a year and we spend that time collecting new music to share, or rearranging old favorites onto CDs to make the perfect mixes for our drives. A mixtape is an art, it has to tell a story. Every song has to flow aesthetically and narratively.

    I recently made one (well, two) for for my Sophia, a teenage girl I met in Eating Disorder treatment. We bonded instantly, and she's become a new little sister. This was the mix, carefully selected and ordered. It took me two days and I loved every minute. Some of these songs were special to both of us, some reminded me of her or I thought she'd like, a lot are songs that speak to me and I thought would speak to her too:
    1. Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
    2. D.W. Suite - Lindsay Buckingham
    3. And She Was - The Talking Heads
    4. Dreamer - Supertramp
    5. Dodo - StromaƩ
    6. Stella del mattino - Ludovico Einaudi
    7. Oh Very Young - Cat Stevens
    8. Before You Were Born - Toad The Wet Sprocket
    9. Papaoutai - StromaƩ
    10. Daughter - Pearl Jam
    11. When I Grow Up - Garbage
    12. Us Godless Teenagers - The Veils
    13. If - Pink Floyd
    14. In The Light - Led Zeppelin
    15. Gotta Knock A Little Harder - Seatbelts
    16. Galileo - Indigo Girls
    17. I Am a Scientist - Guided By Voices
    18. Turn Into Earth - Yardbirds
    19. Shelter from the Storm - Bob Dylan
    20. Just Because I'm a Woman - Dolly Parton
    21. Tampopo - Ayano Tsuji
    22. Father and Farther - Jim Boyd
    23. With a Little Help From My Friends - Joe Cocker
    24. Hold Your Head Up - Argent
    25. Q.U.E.E.N. - Janelle Monae
    26. Stand - R.E.M
    27. You'll Know You Were Loved - Lou Reed
    28. The Wind - Cat Stevens
    29. Not Perfect - Tim Minchin
    30. In Your Time - Bob Seger

    From those I think I'll share this one now:
     
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  12. MANT!

    MANT! Vice Admiral Admiral

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    When I think of some of my HS and service friends who are no longer with us..and all those who gave up their lives for freedom

    It's actually hard for me to listen to this song..too many memories..

    and one of my late son's favorites..
     
  13. M'Sharak

    M'Sharak Definitely Herbert. Maybe. Moderator

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    This is a piece I've liked practically forever. Grew up with the Minneapolis / Antal Dorati recording, later decided the 1972 New York Phil / Pierre Boulez was about the best I'd heard (but not finding that on YooToob, so here's Boulez with the Chicago Symphony instead):



    From a different part of the musical universe, this speaks to me also:

     
  14. HaventGotALife

    HaventGotALife Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    [​IMG]

    I struggled to find a way to make this point. I do not enjoy the glamorization of hook-ups, misogyny, and violence of popular music. Outside of taste, which is my love for organic instruments, it offends me that we equate a fun time with getting drunk (and trying, as a man, to get her drunk), and the vulgar way we treat women. As a feminist, I realize that everything from leering to hitting on a person (even after they say "no" to our advances), telling a woman to smile, can be scary. What comes next? Music, for me, is meant to inspire and express the inner-workings, especially emotionally, and this vulgarity is just an attempt to make money off the seediest sides of society. It is not limited to men. Women are subjected to this society as well, and from Meghan Trainor suggesting men want to hold more booty at night, to Nicki Minaj stating that she let him hit it to get some drugs, those societal standards of finding a man, and being used for sex, can lead to internalized standards from our society.

    That said, Country music has recently dipped its toes, scratch that, cannon-balled, into this realm of bad music. From Luke Bryan's "My Kind of Night," to Brett Eldridge's "Don't Ya," and Florida Georgia Line's "Sun Daze," these songs have permeated the last 5 years of Country music. "Bro Country," is what it has been termed. The lyrics are similar in each song, and they have been extremely effective at making money for the industry. It has led to a record executive calling men the lettuce, women artists, the tomatoes, in the salad of Country music. What's more offensive is that they copy-cats, have been incredibly poorly-structured lyrically. A song like Darius Rucker's "Homegrown Honey," a number-one hit, is just poorly written. Past that, they are pushing some very good music down-the-charts, and I am worried that, soon, it will cause some of my favorite artists to be unable to make music.

    I have been resistant to buy or listen to any of these songs, and it has made it almost impossible to listen to traditional radio. After a backlash that has put women back at the top of the charts (it had been 11 years of 3 women--Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and Miranda Lambert--domination of solo female artists and ZERO others. That streak was broken with Kelsea Ballerinini, shortly after Maddie and Tae's "Girl in a Country Song," which tells the story of the woman they are staring at, hit number-one), the long winter night has thawed. And I have enjoyed more hits in this year's catalog, then I have in the last 5 years. That's why my choices have been mostly songs written this year.

    To all musicians, please pay attention to this image, and remember what music is, not a way to make money off the worst impulses in our society.

    And with that, my favorite feminist anthem from all this nonsense:

     
  15. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    @HaventGotALife I've seen that vid before, and it's great fun. I agree with a lot of your overall sentiment where it covers misogyny in music. As a big fan of classic rock especially, I often have to tune out the misogyny to enjoy it (women are used to having to do this with music, TV, and movies, though). But this is nothing unique to modern music. As an aside, I'm curious as to what you're defining as "modern." It seems like you're talking about current music, but, each genre having their ups and downs, if you go back through the 00s, 90s, 80s, 70s, and 60s and all the way back through recorded history, music was just as graphic when it came to sex. I mean, look at the first lyrics of "Walk This Way"(1975):

    "Backstroke lover always hidin' 'neath the covers
    till I talked to your daddy, he say
    he said "you ain't seen nothin' till you're down on a muffin
    then you're sure to be a-changin' your ways"
    I met a cheerleader, was a real young bleeder
    oh, the times I could reminisce
    'cause the best things of lovin' with her sister and her cousin
    only started with a little kiss
    like this!

    seesaw swingin' with the boys in the school
    and your feet flyin' up in the air
    singin' "hey diddle diddle"
    with your kitty in the middle of the swing
    like you didn't care
    so I took a big chance at the high school dance
    with a missy who was ready to play
    wasn't me she was foolin'
    'cause she knew what she was doin'
    and I knowed love was here to stay
    when she told me to walk this way"


    And dude, have you listened to "Thank Heaven for Little Girls?" (1957) A.K.A. "The Pedophilia Jingle"?, famously from the musical Gigi. "Walk This Way" is raunchy, but at least it sounds consensual. If you haven't, it starts of with this:

    "Each time I see a little girl
    Of five or six or seven
    I can't resist a joyous urge
    To smile and say
    Thank heaven for little girls"

    So, not that bad, but...

    "So helpless and appealing
    When they were flashing
    Send you crashing
    Through the ceiling
    Thank heaven for little girls"

    [​IMG]

    Now, I listen to a lot of opera -- have you ever listened to Mozart? Actual lyric (1777):

    "Well, I wish you good night
    But first shit in your bed and make it burst.
    Sleep soundly, my love
    Into your mouth you'll shove."


    I mean, Mozart literally wrote a song titled "Lick My Ass Well And Clean".

    So, if by "modern" music, you mean music from recorded history, then...uh...sure?

    My favorite feminist anthem happens to be country too, though! :D
     
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2016
  16. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    Delightfully, I've discovered Mozart in fact had two songs about rimming:

    "Leck Mich Im Arsch" (Lick Me In The Arse) - K.231 for six voices (late 1780s) and
    "Lech mir den Arsch fein recht schon sauber" (Lick My Arse Right Well and Clean) K.233, lyrics, not music.
     
  17. HaventGotALife

    HaventGotALife Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    @thestrangequark

    "There is no present or future--only the past happening over and over again--now."

    Eugene O'Neill.

    I do not subscribe to the theory we are on a ascending plane towards a perfect society. I tend to think that the past informs the future, and when it doesn't, we are doomed to be in cycle of repeating patterns until it ends. I learned where the censorship laws came from when movies were forced back into the box, out of decency. I do not define "modern (a word I haven't used in that post, by the way)" as anything more than what I have experienced in my life. So, I will post an example, for comparisons sake, of what I am talking about:


    What I grew up with:


    What's popular today:


    Do you see the difference? One refers to her as the treasure he longed to find, and that he was loved by her. There is not a single mention of her body in the song. His love for her is timeless, and, therefore, hopefully, lasts. Thomas Rhett's version could lead to a man getting up one day, and because he can, searching for a new wife. Someone that makes him drop to his knees, again, over how she looks in a dress. He also fails to put down the superficial, the visiting Paris and building a mansion. Those are still goals, but if he doesn't achieve them, he has her. The love they share, from falling in-love myself, should make him not want the mansion as much as he wants her. It runs contrary to my experience, both in what I heard as a child, and what I experienced as a man when I fell in-love.

    So, to change the subject a little, I like the multi-cultural image of this video, and the reminder to all who listen, to be "Humble and Kind."

     
  18. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    Wait...are you actually arguing that there was less misogyny in the past?

    I think you may need to increase your sample size of two.
     
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  19. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Haventgota life...had to mention Collin Raye, did ya? Talk about songs that make me cry... :wah:



    In fact this song is so sad that I am gonna quote the damn LYRICS:

    -----

    I read a note my grandma wrote, back in 1923
    Grandpa kept it in his coat, and he showed it once to me
    He said 'Boy, you might not understand..but a long long time ago
    Grandma's daddy didn't like me none, but I loved your grandma so

    We had this crazy plan to meet and run away together
    Get married in the first town we came to, and live forever
    But nailed to the tree where we were supposed to meet, instead
    I found this letter...and this is what it said:'

    If you get there before I do, don't give up on me
    I'll meet you when my chores are through - I don't know how long I'll be
    But I'm not gonna let you down, darlin' wait and see
    So between now and then, till I see you again, I'll be loving you

    Love, Me


    I read the note just hours before my grandma passed away
    In the doorway of a church where me and Grandpa stopped to pray
    I know I'd never seen him cry, in all my 15 years
    But as he said these words to her, his eyes filled up with tears...

    If you get there before I do, don't give up on me
    I'll meet you when my chores are through - I don't know how long I'll be
    But I'm not gonna let you down, darlin' wait and see
    So between now and then, till I see you again, I'll be loving you

    Love, Me


    -----


    Shit, now I'm openly crying, right in front of everyone in the airport lounge. Well, fuck it. :wah:

    and that song sure as shit does speak to me because all my grandparents have passed on and I really miss 'em
     
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2016
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  20. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Country music has always vacillated between the sacred and the profane