jessie's soundtrack of a lifetime
For this week's blog post, our assignment was to compile a playlist that essentially explains your life. Morals, milestones, memories, whatever we wanted. So, I picked some songs that represent me. Maybe the way they make me feel, maybe some misty eyes, we'll probably do a little walk down memory lane, too. Enjoy!
Wake Me Up - Avicii
I chose Wake Me up because it was my unit's theme song at camp. By theme song, I mean that whenever we were waiting for something to start, we listened to it. And when we were eating breakfast, we listened to it. And when we were walking somewhere, we listened to it. And guess what we did during dinner? Before bed? Brushing our teeth? We listened to this song. All the time, 24/7, everywhere. We even came up with a set of hand motions to go with it. It never got old.
On our last Shabbat, at around midnight after dancing, all 95 of us sat squashed together like sardines on our platform/meeting place/I don't even know it was just our general place to gather, and when the counselors held their speakers high in the air, we knew. Sure enough, Wake Me Up blared throughout the platform, daring to wake up the younger units just down the road. We all put our hands up, waiting for the first line, and screamed along as Aloe Blacc sang, "Feeling my way through the darkness...". It was different than the dozens of other times we sang it throughout those 4 weeks, though. There was something in the air that night. It was our last Friday at camp. We all sang our hearts out for one of the last times together, just there existing at midnight on that concrete platform we called home. I've never been happier than I was that night, and that's why this song is on my playlist.
New Religion - The Heydaze
I don't remember the first time I listened to this one, but I think I was still in my "I wear chokers and listen to 'obscure' music" phase (by obscure I mean Panic! At the Disco and other bands that literally half the population of melodramatic teens listen to. No shade to P!ATD though, Brendon's got some chops.). All I remember was feeling so happy. Like, can't-contain-your-smile, I've-been-breathing-in-laughing-gas-and-I-can't-contain-the-giggles kind of happy. Like in the movie when the gorgeous girl runs through a field and spins around in circles with her arms spread wide and her head up to the sky, as if she's trying to get God's attention, as if she's on top of the whole entire world. I love that feeling, like when you dance like nobody's watching and you don't care and you're just so beautifully, wonderfully, fantastically happy.
Cigarette Daydreams - Cage the Elephant
OK, there's a story to this one, too, so get comfy. When I was in 7th grade, my friend Gabby and I did a volleyball clinic at the park district. We would walk there every Thursday from school and hang out on a deck overlooking this area that I think was supposed to be a garden maybe? (It definitely wasn't, the only things growing were weeds.) Anyways, Gabby would bring her speaker, and so for the two hours before volleyball, we would just lie there listening to music. One day, we were just chilling there, and Cigarette Daydreams came on. I felt something. Not just a, "Oh, I like this song" feeling; it was like "I want to soak this whole song up, I want to feel nothing but this song." Is that even possible? For a song to be a feeling? Not for it to give you a feeling, that's different; but for a song to literally be a feeling.
I felt that song with all of my heart. It felt like you do when you watch a sunset, or just sit on the porch and breathe in the summer. It felt like no boundaries, screaming at the sky, I am free and amazing and me and no one else. It felt like complete and utter zen-ness. I put this on my playlist because I hope that there's a lot more of that feeling as my life goes on; that feeling of, I never ever want this moment to end.
Taxi Cab - twenty one pilots
6th grade was a really hard year for me. I just had some personal demons that I needed help fighting, and it doesn't matter now because I'm OK, but I thought I would give a nod to 6th grade Jessie. I really fell in love with twenty one pilots that summer, and stayed in love with them for the next year. I chose this song because it was one of my favorites of theirs. It just spoke to me, I guess, and that's what I needed; I needed to know that there were other people who felt the same things that I did, that I wasn't alone.
You Are My Sunshine - Johnny Cash
I chose this song because my mom used to sing it to me every night before I went to sleep. There wasn't even one night that she didn't come in and sing it to me before she tucked me in. It was our thing, I was her sunshine. When my moms got divorced, I would sing it to myself every night that I was at my Ema's house. I still listen to it every night, and I have a painting of the chorus hanging on my wall. I'll never let go of that song, as long as I live.
OK, that's all for now folks. I hope y'all got a little nostalgia, I sure did. And without further ado, you guys know the drill. Stay lovely, lovelies.
Wake Me Up - Avicii
I chose Wake Me up because it was my unit's theme song at camp. By theme song, I mean that whenever we were waiting for something to start, we listened to it. And when we were eating breakfast, we listened to it. And when we were walking somewhere, we listened to it. And guess what we did during dinner? Before bed? Brushing our teeth? We listened to this song. All the time, 24/7, everywhere. We even came up with a set of hand motions to go with it. It never got old.On our last Shabbat, at around midnight after dancing, all 95 of us sat squashed together like sardines on our platform/meeting place/I don't even know it was just our general place to gather, and when the counselors held their speakers high in the air, we knew. Sure enough, Wake Me Up blared throughout the platform, daring to wake up the younger units just down the road. We all put our hands up, waiting for the first line, and screamed along as Aloe Blacc sang, "Feeling my way through the darkness...". It was different than the dozens of other times we sang it throughout those 4 weeks, though. There was something in the air that night. It was our last Friday at camp. We all sang our hearts out for one of the last times together, just there existing at midnight on that concrete platform we called home. I've never been happier than I was that night, and that's why this song is on my playlist.
New Religion - The Heydaze
I don't remember the first time I listened to this one, but I think I was still in my "I wear chokers and listen to 'obscure' music" phase (by obscure I mean Panic! At the Disco and other bands that literally half the population of melodramatic teens listen to. No shade to P!ATD though, Brendon's got some chops.). All I remember was feeling so happy. Like, can't-contain-your-smile, I've-been-breathing-in-laughing-gas-and-I-can't-contain-the-giggles kind of happy. Like in the movie when the gorgeous girl runs through a field and spins around in circles with her arms spread wide and her head up to the sky, as if she's trying to get God's attention, as if she's on top of the whole entire world. I love that feeling, like when you dance like nobody's watching and you don't care and you're just so beautifully, wonderfully, fantastically happy. Cigarette Daydreams - Cage the Elephant
OK, there's a story to this one, too, so get comfy. When I was in 7th grade, my friend Gabby and I did a volleyball clinic at the park district. We would walk there every Thursday from school and hang out on a deck overlooking this area that I think was supposed to be a garden maybe? (It definitely wasn't, the only things growing were weeds.) Anyways, Gabby would bring her speaker, and so for the two hours before volleyball, we would just lie there listening to music. One day, we were just chilling there, and Cigarette Daydreams came on. I felt something. Not just a, "Oh, I like this song" feeling; it was like "I want to soak this whole song up, I want to feel nothing but this song." Is that even possible? For a song to be a feeling? Not for it to give you a feeling, that's different; but for a song to literally be a feeling.
I felt that song with all of my heart. It felt like you do when you watch a sunset, or just sit on the porch and breathe in the summer. It felt like no boundaries, screaming at the sky, I am free and amazing and me and no one else. It felt like complete and utter zen-ness. I put this on my playlist because I hope that there's a lot more of that feeling as my life goes on; that feeling of, I never ever want this moment to end.
Taxi Cab - twenty one pilots
6th grade was a really hard year for me. I just had some personal demons that I needed help fighting, and it doesn't matter now because I'm OK, but I thought I would give a nod to 6th grade Jessie. I really fell in love with twenty one pilots that summer, and stayed in love with them for the next year. I chose this song because it was one of my favorites of theirs. It just spoke to me, I guess, and that's what I needed; I needed to know that there were other people who felt the same things that I did, that I wasn't alone. You Are My Sunshine - Johnny Cash
I chose this song because my mom used to sing it to me every night before I went to sleep. There wasn't even one night that she didn't come in and sing it to me before she tucked me in. It was our thing, I was her sunshine. When my moms got divorced, I would sing it to myself every night that I was at my Ema's house. I still listen to it every night, and I have a painting of the chorus hanging on my wall. I'll never let go of that song, as long as I live.
OK, that's all for now folks. I hope y'all got a little nostalgia, I sure did. And without further ado, you guys know the drill. Stay lovely, lovelies.
Jess. Your writing is yummy.
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