DAY 30: Your Favorite Song at This Time Last Year
I have to dedicate this one to the Incept ‘10 family. Got us feeling good every morning; kept us going during those 80-hour weeks. I know every word. If the soulful sounds of this song don’t make you smile, you ain’t got no soul.
DAY 29: A Song From Your Childhood
I had a vivid and specific recurring dream for years as a kid, and this song was always playing. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.
DAY 28: A Song That Makes You Feel Guilty
On the grounds of this prompt’s inanity, I opted for “grab-bag” today. This fellow ATLien has redefined my boundaries of possibility for music made electronically.
Maybe, then, I felt subconsciously guilty I wasn’t giving the “inorganic” its fair shake.
DAY 27: A Song That You Wish You Could Play
There is no limit to a true bluesman’s power, because the blues, well, they come from some other place entirely. Jack White understands that place, where it’s not about the notes or the instrument or anything a human being can muster in order to make a noise, but about what happens in that lightning-rod moment when you manage to summon it from beyond.
DAY 26: A Song That You Can Play on an Instrument
E - A - B7 ad infinitum. One of the first songs I ever learned, and one of the only songs I can still play. “Steady like a train, sharp like a razor.”
DAY 24: A Song You Want To Play At Your Funeral
“Take your time, don’t live too fast. Troubles will come, and they will pass.”
While I don’t want any funeral service per se, I’ve always said this would be the song that I’d want played. My father sat me down at a very young age and said, “Son, any wisdom I could ever want to impart to you is in this song.” It’s still probably the best and most lasting piece of advice he - or anyone else - has ever given me, and I try to carry the song’s words with me every day.
DAY 23: A Song You Want To Play At Your Wedding
Now, let me first concede that it would be, suffice to say, pretty unique for little ol’ me to have a mariachi tune be my wedding song. This is an inclusion in principles, not in and of itself - this sort of musical purpose should be a highly personal and intimately special between the two saying “I do.” For that reason, I could never impress my own ideas upon this sort of prompt. This song just has that sort of resonance, in its own way. It’s poignant and poetic; written exactly as a love letter should be.
DAY 22: A Song That You Listen To When You’re Sad
The song? Gorgeous, simple, tender, moving. The story? Best told in person.
DAY 21: A Song You Listen To When You’re Happy
When I first moved to the city, I needed little pick-me-ups to stay invigorated and inspired. I started rising with the sun and having a period of quiet meditation and solitary reflection on the rooftop. This song always went well with the sunrise, and the effects of classical conditioning have done the rest. Any warm, sunny day, my natural instinct is to play this song and let my love light shine.
