If I look at my Spotify account it’s mainly songs and artists that I listened to thru high school and college. Obviously there is some new music mixed into the playlists but about 80% of my music on my computer is old stuff. I then took a look at my preset stations on Sirius/XM in my car and it was the same thing, Lithium, Pulse, 90’s, 80’s, BPM, Bloomberg, CNBC, The Blend, and ESPN. How I came to this conclusion about my music was actually while running. I am training for the Boilermaker in July in Utica, NY and I run 3 days a week. I do a lot of thinking while running. It’s kind of my time to decompress from the world and not think about work or whatever else is going on. Every time a new song came on today I was thinking about a situation where I heard that song. After about the third song I realized that every song was an old song I loved at some point.
I remember being a kid, riding in my Dad’s car and whenever an old song would come on he would tell a story about what year it was and where he was or what happened when he first heard that song. As a kid I was always annoyed and thought who cares about some Jim Croce song and what he was doing. I pretended to listen. As I got a little bit older I started liking some of the music but still hated the stories. By the way Jim Croce is one of my favorite artists from that time period. And now that I’m older when I hear a Jim Croce song I remember some story my Dad told me as a kid and where we were when I heard him tell that story. That’s what I mean by taking me back. I associate songs with times and places in my life. When I hear an old song a picture of that memory comes to mind in my head. It’s almost like I’m back to that place. Some of those memories are not long ago, some of them are.
I think this is why I started to enjoy distance running. For that hour or however long I’m running for, I have a clear head and am remembering moments from my life. It’s a great way to de-stress. Most of the memories are good ones, sometimes not so much. Either way I’ve been enjoying it.
In saying all this I will take the three songs that prompted this post and post those memories…
1)The Starting Line – Hello Houston (not the official video below)
This song actually reminds me of my brother and my all-time favorite concert. The Starting Line is one of my favorite bands. Any Starting Line song always makes me think of my bro but this one came on tonight so I will recall the time it reminds me of. It was sometime while we were in college. It was probably my junior year, his sophomore year. We only went to school 20 minutes from each other so we would hang out a lot. Anyway The Starting Line was playing at a club up in Clifton Park about 25 minutes away. We obviously wanted to get toasted for the concert but had to drive. Obvious decision is to buy a bottle of some cheap liquor, drive to the club, get hammered in the parking lot, stop drinking part way thru the concert and be ok to drive home. Problem solved. So we get to the parking lot, and start jamming out to some kind of punk music. We are there extra early. Between the two of us we finish almost the entire bottle and had an awesome time just sitting in the car drinking and talking. We go to the concert but don’t have too much interest with the opening bands so we post up at the bar and down some more drinks. The bartender is pretty hot so obviously I start throwing the vibe out there. Most of the people at punk concerts are high school kids so there isn’t much competition for her attention. I eventually get her number; I think we ended up hanging out once. I know now that hitting on the bartender is cliché but I was in college then and had no clue, just following my instincts. The concert finally starts and we push our way thru the high school kids and the emo kids that their parents didn’t hug them enough and get right to the first row. The concert was amazing and we couldn’t hear for three days after but it was by far the best set list I’ve heard at a concert. And it’s pretty awesome seeing your favorite band from the first row. That concert was a great time and I’m glad I was there with my brother.
2)Baby Ranks, Looney Tunes – Verme
I know what you’re thinking, “WTF is this?” This is one of the weirdest songs that I can say is one of my favorites. I don’t know who found this song but it was our pregame song for the UCREW at Albany. If we were pre-gaming you could bet this was on the play list. I just picture being in our apartment senior year with all my closest friends. There are so many memories of this song but my favorites always go back to pre-gaming without anyone else over. It was like 8 of us who were real tight. I picture Jim doing a little dance with his hands, a game of beer pong going on, the girls getting ready in the bathroom, all of us dancing around yelling “SPANISH WORDS” whenever they started speaking Spanish in the song and “HUGO CHAVEZ” whenever we thought it sounded like they said his name. Our pre-gaming was awesome and this song was definitely our theme song. I forget who but someone would always get real hot and hit shit loads of cups when this song came on while playing beer pong. I really don’t think anyone will appreciate this song as much as the UCREW members will. To be honest it’s probably not a great song to most people but to me its “legen – wait for it – DARY.”
3)Dashboard Confessional – Turpentine Chaser
This is a sad song and to tell you the truth I don’t know how it even ended up on my running mix. Maybe it was a subconscious slip because I made this mix this fall? Unfortunately it reminds me of my most recent breakup with “Canada.” Talk about motivation, when this song came on I suddenly got a second wind, which was badly needed at this point in the run. I’ve always loved Dashboard Confessional and I listen to him on a regular basis anyway, but not so much the really sad stuff, like this song is. Listening to this song took me back to probably one of the darkest times in my life which was only about 6 or 7 months ago. Ending a relationship is never fun but it was especially tough after 4 years. It reminded me of coming home from work for the first time after she moved out. It was probably one of the worst days of my life, coming home to a half empty house, no dog and no girlfriend anymore. The mental picture I get as well as the feeling is not fun to remember. If you read my football blog, it was one of the days that Coach Ford referred to and I remembered that quote when the reality of the situation hit me right there. I have moved on since then and I am in a great place now, but thinking about that day is not fun and still painful. Don't go and get sad now,the run did not end on a sad note.....
The sad feeling ended and everything was right with the world again when I ran by a group of smoking hot girls wearing nothing but sports bras and spandex on Bayshore Blvd. Not only is there a great view of the bay and downtown Tampa on Bayshore, but there is a great view of the talent that Tampa has to offer. And THAT RIGHT THERE is how my run turned happy again and another reason why I am loving life right now!
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