Today’s Top 5 Music Obsessions are a mix of tracks I’ve been listening to this morning and early afternoon. One is from this week’s Spotify Discover Weekly playlist, two are from this week’s Spotify Daily Mix #1, one is a song my love sent me, and the first track is from a song that I sent to him – a song that we’ve both sent each other at least once before, I believe.

Top 5 Music Obsessions – Monday, August 27, 2018

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We’ve been trading music with each other, Chris and I since the first day we started texting each other. It was one of our first connections to each other. Or, maybe it was the first connection. I love that we still do it. Trade songs back-and-forth when we aren’t together. It is still one of my favorite things about us.

One of our unique things (unique vs. crazy) is that we’ve seen each other every day since we met. Of course, now we live with each other, but even before that, we found a way to see each other every day, even if it was for just a few hours in the morning. We didn’t plan it. I remember talking on our first date about trying to see each other two or three times a week. Plan or not though, we have managed to see each other every day since our first date. We just knew. Both of us just knew. It’s also one of my favorite things about us.

1. “I Need Your Love So Bad” by Irma Thomas
from the album, Wish Someone Would Care (1964)

“Need your soft voice,
that talked to me at night.
I don’t want you to worry, baby,
I know we can make everything alright.
Listen to my plea, baby,
bring it to me,
because I need your love so bad.”

I’m pretty sure we’ve traded this song with each other more than once. I sent it to him again today. This morning when I heard it I was reminded of Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home To Me” (my favorite Cooke track), and I was thinking how good those songs would sound, one right after the other.

I love the above lyrics. Especially the “I know we can make everything alright”. It resonates. No matter what bumps or challenges we seem to encounter, we always seem to make everything alright. I believe we always will.

2. “Everybody Hurts” by Patti Smith
from the album, Twelve (2007)

“Sometimes everything is wrong.
Now it’s time to sing along.
When your day is night alone,
if you feel like letting go,
if you think you’ve had too much,
of this life…
well, hang on.”

I used to love this song by R.E.M. until it got completely overplayed and became one of those predictable 90’s songs to play on any “flashback” weekends or radio hours. Patti’s cover came on this morning though, and I was taken back by it. It helped me to remember what I loved about the song in the first place.

It reminds me of hard times and struggles I’ve been through, and how, at times, I felt like giving up and letting go. But, as cheesy as it may sound, it always got better. And now, right now in my life, its never been better. I think that’s important to remember, and think on because life always gets rough and hard. But, it also always gets good. Like right now.

3. “Kangaroo” by This Mortal Coil
from the album, It’ll End In Tears (1984)

“I first saw you,
you had on blue jeans,
your eyes couldn’t hide anything.
I saw you breathing.”

I love thinking about when we first saw each other. In-person. On the sidewalk out in front of Rudy’s. All the years I’ve loved that restaurant I never knew it would become so significant to me.

4. “All In My Mind” by Love and Rockets
from the album, Express (2001)

“Walk around so cold,
so cold,
and lonely,
or lay in bed wondering what to do with time.
You’ve got no sense of fun,
until you know you’ve won again,
and yet you feel so much,
you feel so much inside.”

Some days are hard to get through. Some days are hard to get out of your self, out of your skin, out of worries, stresses, and anxiety. For me, love helps me lift out of that muck. Even on the roughest of days, love is what gets me through, and makes everything worth it.

It’s harder when its the other’s worries, stresses, and anxiety. When it’s that someone that you love so much. It can feel personal, even when you logically know it isn’t. It can feel painful, too, even though it’s not meant to hurt. Eventually, though, there are ways you learn to cope, to help, and to love through it. I’m still learning, but I know it’s getting better (and easier) all the time.

5. “The Hungry Wolf” by X
from the album, Under the Big Black Sun (1982)

“She loves her mate,
as he loves her,
and they live together for life.”

Maybe we are wolves…

Top 5 Music Obsessions – Week of August 27, 2018