2013 I am afraid is not going to be my year. To me it sounds alot like the opening lines of the theme song to Friends: “so no one told you life was gonna be this way (clap clap clap clap)/ Your job’s a joke/ You’re broke/ Your love life’s DOA.” Ok so technically my job isn’t a joke and I’m hardly broke (just super stingy) but the first and last of that are 100% true.
For starters, one of my closest friends has moved away to California. To me, she’s the closest thing I will ever have to a big sister. Though I am happy for her and her husband, it doesn’t mean I won’t miss them. Skype and Facetime can’t substitute for human interaction.
I have tried everything from watching various british sitcoms (nice try Miranda Hart!), record shopping (I ended up with a few classics like Florence + the Machines Ceremonials, The Pretenders self-titled debut, So by Peter Gabriel, etc), but nothing so far. Talking to God seems to be helping though.
This is all apart of being an adult. It doesn’t get any easier from childhood to adulthood. I must embrace that.
But thank God that he has given us something to also help us cope: music.
10) “Fight It Out” by Pat Benatar
Benatar is one of the greatest angry rockers of all-time, no doubt. But as we all know, sometimes the best way to go through a storm is to ride it out. Yeah, it’s scary as hell, but that’s mother nature for you. The same also rings true for the curveballs being strategically aimed at you: you gotta put your big girl panties on and deal with it.
Hearing Pat sing this is hearing her own pain and anguish. I can’t help but wonder after reading her 2010 autobiography Between A Heart and A Rock Place if this was written about her ongoing struggles with Chrysalis Records and her then-off relationship with husband/guitarist Neil “Spyder” Giraldo.
9) “Hurricane Drunk” by Florence + the Machine
There’s something weirdly hopeful about this song. Maybe it is the fact that she says “at least things can’t get any worse.” She is right.
8) “All Along the Watchtower” by Jimi Hendrix (or Bob Dylan)
“There must be some kind of way out of here,”
Said the joker to the thief,
“There’s too much confusion,
I can’t get no relief.
Businessman they drink my wine,
Plowman dig my earth
None will level on the line, nobody offered his word, hey”
Penned by the greatest poet to walk the planet, Bob Dylan, who took his inspiration from a biblical passage in Isaiah 21:5-9. It would be safe to say that maybe this was Dylan’s own interpretation of what Isaiah was saying.
Regardless of who sang it, the words are presently true.
7) “The Logical Song” by Supertramp
The best thing about hard times is that, if you are smart, you learn something. Like the fact that sometimes it’s best to shut your mouth out of fear of judgment.
The best thing about “The Logical Song” is that, in it’s own smart way, it shows emotion. That’s a rare feat for any artist.
6) “Don’t Give Up” by Peter Gabriel featuring Kate Bush
Written during the massive recession of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s reign, “Don’t Give Up” is a timeless classic in subject matter and composition. It speaks well to this day with Kate’s reassuring “don’t give up” mantra.
5) “All Star” by Smash Mouth
For anyone who has been told that they were dumb, tactless, stupid, ugly, fat, bitch – this is the quintessential song of hope of loserville.
4) “Trip To Pain” by Dakoda Motor Co.
3) “You’re Only Human (Second Wind)” by Billy Joel
2) “Human” by the Human League
If you live in the US, you have probably seen this on the latest Allstate Insurance commercial. Unfortunately we are all human. If not we would be robots. I prefer robots.
1) “I’m Still Standing” by Elton John
