My Top 10 Songs That Makes Me Think

Music is an overall release for me, the remedy to hardships in my life, and there is heart in practically all genres, which is what I look for, heart. I am what some people would call young, and with my love and for old hits, some people tend to stare at me, gawking, like "how you know those kinds of songs?". Music can be found anywhere, and with the age of technology, music and all the old songs people wonder about, is right at your fingertips. In this piece though, I am going to touch on just a few that makes me really think, and of course, they are favorites of mine. I don't think though that I can post all my favorites, don't mean to brag but I'm well versed in the art of music.

Let's jump right into it:

Drops of Jupiter - Train

Lets start with the title of that song, 'Drops of Jupiter', I still cant figure out why that's the title. I admit there are many instances where the writer drops in phrases about outer space, milky way, the sun, a shooting star and such the like. But the song writer is talking about a woman, likening her to the changes of the seasons and features of outer space. Many of these inferences are so spot on about how a woman's mood swings and her behavioral patterns, as well as her continued search for something better or more romance. I'm almost sorry for the song writer who seems to have waited for the woman to have gone to enjoy herself for so long, hoping that she would eventually see that, that is not what she wants and being with him is better. The constant refrain of "tell me", gets me all the time.

Sugar We're Going Down - Fall Out Boy

"Am I more than you bargained for yet, I've been dying to tell you everything, that you wanna hear, Cause that's just who I am this week". This is not a particularly mellow song, and it does remind me of war, but the first verse of the song has grabbed me and haven't let me go. I believe this is how almost every relationship begins, we slowly ease our partners into our craziness, and see how much they can take. Most times we give them a touch of our craziness and the reaction helps us to see where to draw back or how much further we can go. There's also the concern of, making time to just tell them some things they wanna hear, not entirely the truth. Of course, there is the need to stop doing that if you want the relationship to work, but until one is sure about where one wants the relationship to go, then the classic 'sweet nothings' are definitely gonna be at play. If I should analyze this song using all its lyrics, I will need to do a full blog on it. I must admit though, that I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I love it, and its a good song to go slightly crazy on.

Breakeven - The Script

This is the break up song of the century. I don't believe I have ever heard about a break up with so much accuracy before, and if everyone has not felt it this way then I can say that I have felt the exact same way. One person is always hurting more over the break up than the other and there always seems to be this juxtaposition where 'One' is feeling good then 'Two' is feeling bad, then when 'Two' is feeling good then 'One' is feeling bad. It seems to be a never ending cycle until both of them are over each other, which, might take years. "When a heart breaks, it don't break even"

Sound of Silence - Pentatonix

Now I know this song was originally a song by Simon and Garfunkel, however, I was introduced to the song by my favorite acapella singers Pentatonix. Now usually the original versions of songs are too good and people cant replicate them well enough but I found myself to have loved this version better and the contrast in voices that sings each part really gives it....something. Now, personifying the concepts of darkness and silence are ingenious to me, and I think it makes this song over all very timeless, as those are things that we will never be rid of in this world. The emotion in this song, not just how it is sung, but the words themselves convey such that you know exactly how silence and darkness feels, it takes you right there and explain your feelings and reactions.

Say Something - Justin Timberlake ft Chris Stapleton

I love country music, so I would listen to Chris at any time, even if he hadn't teamed up with Justin. But this song hits differently with the melodies and the contrast of the pop and country feel. On the surface, I'm not entirely sure if this song has a subject, something definite one is talking about but it has a refrain of two of the most profound refrains that makes it stand out. These are "Maybe I'm looking for something I can't have" and "Sometimes the greatest way to say something is to say nothing at all". The official video adds to the feel of the song a lot though, it makes you feel they have a concept and something to say by having Justin and Chris walking independently upstairs, downstairs and across the hall until they meet and there seems to be a crescendo of voices, so good.

Take Me To Church - Hozier

This song is by far one of the most controversial, in that it plays on everything that might be seen as wrong and sinful and adds it to the church and the Christian God. I've always thought this song is about sex, I haven't totally changed my mind yet but you can try to present your arguments and we compare. Sex can be seen as an act of worship on the body and the song does say worship in the bedroom. In some contexts, sex can be seen as a gentle sin, as many tend to make cases around fornication or even adultery, that it isn't a major sin, or that in this day and age God expects that we will taste before marriage. Above all though, what is this deathless death, an orgasm? At least, that's what I think it is. I mean there might be more things at play in the song, but I think its mainly laden with subtle sexual innuendos. Just remember, not because it says take me to church and says amen, does not mean its a gospel song.

Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley

Here is another songs that is often confused as a gospel, but it is not one. This song was apparently written and performed by Leonard Cohen but was made more popular later by Jeff Buckley. I have heard it at churches, tailored a little to fit the expectation of the audience by leaving out some of the original version that would prove questionable in that setting. But it is in no way meant for the church. There are a few instances where things from the christian religion can be seen in it, the mention of David, the Samson and Delilah, cutting of hair saga, faith and a holy dove was also mentioned, but many songs have biblical allusions in them. I believe this song is really about the ups and downs of relationships. The songwriter seems to portray a lot of the negatives in the relationship, the fault depicted as the woman's, but I'm sure the women can also cry out a broken hallelujah.

I'm Alive - Sia

I'm going to jump to recent songs for little bit and talk about this song by Sia that holds such a boost to your need for survival. If you want to be reminded to keep pushing and that determination is your friend, then this song is what you need. The thing about this song though is that everything seems a bit opposite to what we believed would be a good norm. The singer said she 'wanted to go to a place where all the demons go, where the wind doesn't change and nothing in the ground can ever grow and where people cry in their pillows but she survived". This leaves me to assume that a lot of considerably good things were happening to the songwriter, which other people would enjoy, but because that is not what she wanted, it was something for her to endure. It is a very weird survival story, isn't it?

Someone You Loved - Lewis Capaldi

Now this song is definitely a love song and it laments the safety and complete abandon that the songwriter has with someone who is clearly a lover. The major conflict in the song, and this is something that happens in many of our relationships today, is this line, "I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug". This means that the person they felt so safe with and so utterly loved by just betrayed them out of no where, and truly when you are blissfully in love, you tend to ignore the signs that things aren't right, but, the signs are usually there. A major concern that comes out of not wanting to be blind-sided though is that, you can't also be going around looking for signs, that is going to cause a problem in your relationship too, so what you need to figure out is, "is there a middle ground?"

Love TKO - Teddy Pendergrass

Now, for all those who realized long before now, please don't laugh at me. I have only recently realized what the song was saying because I have always just been focusing on the way the singer was riding this rhythm and how everything just sounds so good and soulful. One day I started focusing on the whole TKO part, and I was like, wait a minute, 'TKO', as in 'Total Knock Out'? Is it the woman that is a total knock out? Then the singer said, "I'm tired of being beaten by love", OMG, he was fighting with love all this while, and then love knocked him out. I started to feel silly, how could I have not seen that, it became so obvious! And I call myself a music fanatic, shame on me. Since then, I could see how I could relate to this songwriter, after a while, fighting with love would prove futile and you would just have to give up, give love a chance to come to you openly and then maybe you wont have to fight with it.

These are just some of the songs that made me think. Let me know if you know them, did you pick up the same things from them that I did or you have other theories, I would love to hear from you.