Songs that hit between my skin and bones. Songs that split me open, eviscerating me, leaving me lying on the floor – at least in the way they make me feel. Songs that make me cry, make me gasp, make me shiver, shake, and sometimes sob. Songs that bring on a flood of memories, in that kind of way that only music can. These are the songs that always wind up as my favorites. These are the songs that I most often play, and replay, again and again, and again.

The National has been a favorite band of mine ever since I was sent the track “All the Wine” by a past lover. For that reason alone the song is heavy, and heady, with memories. But more so, the band became one that continually struck chords with me, played as a soundtrack to moments big and small, and hit me in that place between my skin and bones.

“Light Years”, the final track off of The National’s most recent album I Am Easy To Find, may actually be the song of theirs that hits the hardest in those places. “Light Years” hits me in the soul, laying me bare, knocking me off my feet, and unlocking memories, big and small, that have the power to shatter me.

Yep. This is definitely a favorite song of mine now.

“Light Years” by The National
from the album, I Am Easy To Find” (2019)
Song of the Day

“Oh, the glory of it all was lost on me,
’til I saw how hard it’d be to reach you.
And, I would always be light years,
light years away from you.
Light years,
light years away from you.”

I hit play again, the eighth time since I started writing this, and I feel so many things. Things come rushing into me, images, a smile, a touch, a hand, wind and cold, and warmth all at once. Memories that happened long before this song was ever released, yet it unlocks them, gives them back to me in flickers and flashes. I can feel my lips chapped, almost bruised, my heart beating a little faster than before, a future dream that at that moment felt possible, plausible, real.

It was all so very long ago, but sometimes, sometimes, all of it feels close enough to touch (again).

“I would always be light years,
light years away from you.”