ALLLLAAAA-Bama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut...
You're welcome. Anyone who knows that will be singing it all day. You probably haven't since you were a kid in school, but that song never really can be forgotten.
What I think some people don't realize is that we identify with songs singing about something trying or something bad happening moreso than the others most times, and I truly think this is because we get the most and feel the most when we are on a downswing. Adele has had many serious hits as the woman scorned, country songs are often singing about love lost, even the Biebs sings about it (much to my dismay that he sings in general mind you)...
I really don't know what rappers sing about...I really can't understand them most times.
Regardless, we learn the most from the times that hurt. I am not saying we don't learn anything when our life is going good...but sometimes we get so complacent when it is that we stop trying as hard as we were or we are just content to let things be as they are instead of trying to make ourselves or our situation better or even the people around us better.
Even in "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" it sounds like he is living a mediocre life, but he clearly up and left for the other side of the country because he was trying to escape something, and now his loneliness is still all around him while he is on that dock. That's a mighty big change, and he probably should have just faced his issues, although I do appreciate the song itself.
We are shaped most by adversity. When you are faced with a problem, you can either be "Sittin on the Dock of the Bay" or you can instead choose to "Set Fire to the Rain". You can either run, or you can face life head on. No one promises that life will be easy, but you can rest assured that everything happens for a reason. Most of the people around you that you feel are "strong" have hit the lowest points of brokenness in their life.
Their husband committed suicide, their house got repossed, their marriage of 40 years ended, they lost a child in an accident...
There are millions of people in this country with really big problems. Some will take the weak way out, hop on the nearest bar stool and do their best to avoid it. Others will pick themselves up and choose to face life head-on.
Only one of those ways fixes the problem.
The songs we identify with the most are often representatitve of all we have been through in life. So think about it, what is the soundtrack to your life? Mine won't be completely in order...
My Hypothetical Soundtrack to My Not So Hypothetical Existence
- I'm A Survivor, Reba (I wasn't really supposed to be born, different story different day!)
- John Deere Green (I think I have loved this song my entire life, and love green)
- Iris, Goo Goo Dolls
- Vienna, Billy Joel
- Rumor Has It, Adele
- Midnight Train to Georgia, Gladys Knight (I always randomly burst out into this)
- Going Away to College, Blink 182
- Set Fire to the Rain, Adele
- Turning Tables, Adele (these two are back to back for a reason)
- Gives You Hell, All American Rejects
- Misery, Maroon 5
- Daniel, Dia Frampton
- It Happens, Sugarland
- Haley, Needtobreathe
- Drive By, Train (if I fall fast it scares the daylights out of me most times)
- The Outsiders, Needtobreathe
- Hell On the Heart, Eric Church (I think this may have been written about me)
- Stronger, Kelly Clarkson (It may be overplayed, but the message holds true)
- Payphone (I am aware it is really new but the feeling is not, haha)
- Red High Heels, Kelli Pickler
A lot of these are on my all time favorite song's list, though not all. Like I said, we identify a lot with songs that have to do with pivotal moments in our life where we picked up the pieces or jumped into the unknown. Those are the times that teach us the most. You might look at this list and seeing a woman scorned or a broken heart, I look at it and see a learning experience and confidence I may never have found if I hadn't hit rock bottom.
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