Car Playlist and other coping mechanisms

We have been spending a lot of time in the car lately.  A lot of time. Life has been hard lately.  A lot of challenges. Sorrow.  Grief. Stress. 

We survive...one day at a time.  And music helps. 

One thing that helps is music.  My daughter, Liz, has a playlist.  The other day, she explained that the "car playlist" contained many of our favorites...Adele, Jewel, Lady Gaga, Florence + the Machine, Panic! at the Disco, classics and others...angsty female singers, angry rock music and the like. Here are some of our favorites:

Shake it Out - Florence + The Machine

This is one of Liz's favorite songs - has been for quite some time.  I remember walking in on Liz practicing with our friend, Ashley, and hearing her sing and play this on the piano.  Simply beautiful.  I love listening to Liz sing...and this one hits every mark. The lyrics, well, they say everything.  And you're bound to feel a little cheered up by the Shake it out refrain!

And every demon wants his pound of flesh

But I like to keep some things to myself

I like to keep my issues drawn

It's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back

So shake him off, oh whoa

Heavydirtysoul - Twenty One Pilots

I hadn't really heard this song, that I can remember, before Liz played it in the car.  I liked it immediately.  It's a catchy tune.  If you have never heard it before, give a listen.  I am not sure I understand the lyrics, but I know I like the way the song switches pace. 

Car Radio - Twenty One Pilots

I ponder of something great
My lungs will fill and then deflate
They fill with fire
Exhale desire
I know it's dire
My time today

I have these thoughts
So often I ought
To replace that slot
With what I once bought
'Cause somebody stole
My car radio
And now I just sit in silence

Sometimes quiet is violent
I find it hard to hide it
My pride is no longer inside
It's on my sleeve
My skin will scream
Reminding me of
Who I killed inside my dream
I hate this car that I'm driving
There's no hiding for me
I'm forced to deal with what I feel
There is no distraction to mask what is real
I could pull the steering wheel

I have these thoughts
So often I ought
To replace that slot
With what I once bought
'Cause somebody stole
My car radio
And now I just sit in silence

I ponder of something terrifying
'Cause this time there's no sound to hide behind
I find over the course of our human existence
One thing consists of consistence
And it's that we're all battling fear
Oh dear, I don't know if we know why we're here
Oh my,
Too deep
Please stop thinking
I liked it better when my car had sound

There are things we can do
But from the things that work there are only two
And from the two that we choose to do
Peace will win
And fear will lose
There's faith and there's sleep
We need to pick one please because
Faith is to be awake
And to be awake is for us to think
And for us to think is to be alive
And I will try with every rhyme
To come across like I am dying
To let you know you need to try to think

I have these thoughts
So often I ought
To replace that slot
With what I once bought
'Cause somebody stole

My car radio
And now I just sit in silence

Okay, so I had to share a lot of the lyrics to this one.  I really find this song to be intriguing.  I love the beat, how it changes throughout the song (please excuse my lack of musical term knowledge) and then at the end, the "screamer part."  When this song comes on the playlist, we inevitably bob our heads to the beat...and sometimes, just sit in silence. 😉

I'm Sensitive - Jewel

This has been a long time favorite of mine and thankfully, Liz enjoys Jewel too.  I have often turned to Jewel's music in times of need - need of inspiration, dark times, emotional times, times when I need a good cry.  Did you know Jewel was homeless for a time - and living in her car?  As I recall the story, her boss was sexually harassing her, and rather than tolerate that, she quit her job - and ended up homeless.  Well, we know how her story ends, but a lot of people don't know how the story began.  Isn't that the way a lot of time?  We look at someone and see their successes, their possessions, their "apparent" happiness, and we assume life has always been kind.  Honestly, this song makes me think about Liz. When she was younger, many people told me she shouldn't be so sensitive.  I happen to think the world needs more sensitive people in it.  But hey, thanks for the great advice.  Smh...

Loser - Beck

I am pleased to tell you that I introduced Liz to Beck and she views him as a musical genius.  Well, yeah.  Aside from being a musical genius, Beck sings the song which contains one of my favorite lyric lines of all time.  Are you ready?  "In the time of chimpanzees, I was a monkey".  Hmm....love it.  How many others feel like a monkey in the time of chimpanzees?  So close, yet so far away.  Then, when it comes to lyrics that just make you want to shake your head, Beck comes out with:

Soy un perdedor

I'm a loser baby so why don't you kill me?

(Get crazy with the Cheeze Whiz)

Anyone want to hazard a guess about what "soy un perdedor" means?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Okay - it means...drum roll please....I'm a loser, in Spanish.  Muy divertido.

Beck is another musician who was homeless, worked menial jobs to get by and then came out with wacky lyrics during gigs at coffee shops when he felt the patrons weren't paying attention.  This is one of the ways Loser was conceived.   He also plays 12 musical instruments.  Loser, huh?  Maybe only if you are Kanye West - who indicated Beck wasn't a "real artist" after he won big at the Grammy's. We can't all come out with such ground-breaking lyrics as "uh huh, honey." 😕 But, hey, Kanye, you do you.

Supermassive Black Hole - Muse

During stressful summers at my publishing company job of many years, I would take a break, jump in my car and drive for coffee with this song playing as loud as I could tolerate it.  There is just something about the beat of this song, the lyrics, the way the singer whispers "supermassive black hole" that just did the trick for me, and still does. 

I thought I was a fool for no one

Oh baby, I'm a fool for you

You're the queen of the superficial

And how long before you tell the truth?

Yep, how can you not love lyrics like that?  Anyone know someone worthy of the title, "queen of the superficial"?  The fact that my daughter gets me and puts this song on our "car playlist" is just one of many, many reasons why I love the girl so intensely! :) Supermassive black hole....

Even Flow - Pearl Jam

Kneelin' looking through the paper though he doesn't know to read

Oh, prayin', now to something that has never showed him anything

Oh, feelin', understands the weather or that winters on its way, yeah

Oh, ceilings, few and far between all the legal halls of shame

Even flow

Thoughts arrive like butterflies

Oh, he don't know

So he chases them away

Liz likes this song. I mean, she really, really likes this song.  And that makes me smile. Pearl Jam vocalist Eddie Vedder wrote this song and his guitarist wrote the music.  Vedder is a talented musician who has contributed to many soundtracks for various well-know films like Dead Man Walking and Into the Wild.  In addition to being a musician and song-writer, Vedder is an activist.  He played an original song at a 9/11 tribute concert, helped to create a non-profit organization, co-founded a research organization and provided support to the West Memphis Three.  If you haven't heard of the West Memphis Three, it's a case about three young men who were outcasts and from poor families who were convicted of killing three young boys in West Memphis in 1993.  Vedder was dedicated to the cause of exposing their innocence and was instrumental in raising awareness and funds as well as providing support to Damien Echols, who spent more than 18 years on death row for this crime before being released in 2011, along with Baldwin and Misskelly.  After watching HBO Documentaries made about this case, Liz and I became more aware of Vedder and his activism. 

Miss Jackson - Panic! At the Disco

This is one of Liz's favorite Panic! At the Disco songs. She was lucky enough to see the group this past summer with her cousin, Ivory.  As Ivory explained to me after the concert, "I really enjoyed the concert! But Liz, she really, really, really enjoyed the concert!"  Cool.  It's a good song; it's catchy and it's a nice addition to our car playlist. And the song refers to Janet Jackson's song, Nasty, so it's a great throwback to my younger days!

Bohemian Rapsody - Queen

Okay, so if you are in a bad mood, and you put this song on and start to sing along, please tell me how you can manage to stay in that bad mood!  It's impossible.  Liz and I can belt this one out with the best of them!  I feel a little like Wayne and Garth in Wayne's World when we sing along to this song in the car! I had to show the clip to Liz; it was a little before her time! How can you stay upset when singing:

I see a little silhouetto of a man,

Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?

Thunderbolt and lightning,

Very, very frightening me.

(Galileo) Galileo.

(Galileo) Galileo,

Galileo Figaro

Magnifico-o-o-o-o

Have You Ever Seen The Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Again, I realize I sound like a broken record, but this is the type of thing that makes me enjoy my time with Liz so much!  CCR is on our car playlist! She is cool...really cool! 

Someone told me long ago There's a calm before the storm,I know; It's been comin' for some time.When it's over, so they say, It'll rain a sunny day,I know; Shinin' down like water.

So, I want to know, have you ever seen the rain? If you haven't, you clearly haven't been in New Hampshire the past few weeks!  But truly, I am guessing the question is more figurative than literal; but honestly, I can't imagine too many people haven't seen the rain figuratively.  Hmm...anyway, it's a great song.  

All I Ask - Adele

What a beautiful song this is.  Adele is one talented lady.  I wish that I had a talent like this, but alas, the only singing I do takes place in the car and the shower.  When I am alone in the car and singing, I turn the volume up so that I can't hear my own voice. But when Liz is with me in the car and we are singing, I edge the volume down, because I want to hear her voice.  It's an amazing voice and this is one of my favorite songs to hear her sing.  Like so much of what Adele puts out, it's emotional, it's vulnerable, it's soulful and the lyrics are just sort of...hauntingly beautiful. If you're not familiar with it...and your tear ducts are clogged...have a listen.

I don't need your honesty

It's already in your eyes

And I'm sure my eyes, they speak for me

No one knows me like you do

And since you're the only one that matters

Tell me who do I run to?

Million Reasons - Lady Gaga

This is one we listen to almost every time we are in the car, and that is a lot.  I love Lady Gaga, but it was Liz that really brought this song to the forefront.  It's a really beautiful song and quickly became one of my favorites. No mystery here. No need for explanation.  I have no doubt we have all been in a situation, or in a season in our lives, where it would be easier to walk away.  It's a power anthem in our car playlist...an anthem for strength and inspiration.  Because when times get tough, you have only a couple options.  Walking away seems easy for some; I have watched many go. But truly, I want my Liz to know that I've got a hundred million reasons to walk away, but I just need one good one to stay.  She is a spectacular reason.  I am sure you all have your reasons. But, if times get hard, I recommend a car playlist...one that highlights your moods, frustration, has a sense of humor, and reduces your stress level.  Maybe, if you are lucky, you have someone to ride along and sing along with you.  

I bow down to pray

I try to make the worst seem better

Lord, show me the way

To cut through all this worn out leather

I've got a hundred million reasons to walk away

But baby, I just need one good one to stay