 Last night, going home around 10:30 pm, after a
long day at work, I sat on the A train feeling both saddened yet comforted. A
chapter in my life was coming to an end and the reality of having to move on
from there is still slowly setting in. I thought a lot about the many advice
friends have given me and many of them made sense. Yet, I found the most comfort
on a simple e-mail, by a beautiful individual whom I have never even met. She
touched me so deeply and seemed to know exactly what I needed to hear. I printed
out her words soon after I read them and I will take them everywhere with me
until I no longer find a reason to carry them.
So there I was,
letting her words spin around my head. I was heady from the mixture of emotions
that assaulted me. One moment I felt tragic, the next I was hopeful.
I was so centered in my own thoughts that I did notice the man
playing on an electric keyboard on the seat across from me. I never realized
their presence until his partner opened his mouth and sang in a voice full of
mourning touched with a tinge of hope these words:
L.A. proved too much for the man
So
he’s leaving the life he’s come to know
He said he’s going back to
find
What’s left of his world
The world he left behind
Not so long
ago.
I was mesmerized. I was no longer sitting on a seat in a NYC
subway car. I was floating on the happiest memories of the last ten months of my
life and they were so beautiful, so worth it, and so perfect in my eyes that I
would never want to go back and change them. I started to cry. Can you believe
it? I must have appeared insane to other train riders, but I didn’t care. This
man was singing to me.
He’s leavin’
On that midnight train
to Georgia
Said he’s goin’ back
To a simpler place in time
And I’ll
be with him
On that midnight train to Georgia
I’d rather live in his
world
Than live without him in mine
For a long time now, I have been writing about how jaded I have
become about people and how much I had believed in humanity, yet so many of them
have disappointed me. I stopped seeing the beauty, the goodness, the truth in
people. Those two, along with several others I came in contact with yesterday,
made me realize how wrong I have been.
Yes, people will disappoint you and hurt you, but in the end,
there will always be more people who will enrich your life and inspire you in
such a way that you will never be the same again. People are beautiful.
Hopefully, I will be able to live my life in a way that others will be able to
say they same when they come to know of my existence.
I gave the singer and his keyboardist every single penny I had
left that night, which, believe me, was not much. I will carry the memory of
last night’s subway ride all my life. That old man had sung so
touchingly, so hauntingly, so unforgettably, #21 track on the soundtrack of
my life.
WHAT TRACKS ARE FOUND ON THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE?
*in case you didn’t know the song up top is
called "Midnight Train to
Georgia"
|
April 29th, 2005 at 8:07 pm
How interesting, this same “soundtrack of my life” thought has been buzzing through my head lately. Here is a wee portion of my own soundtrack, in no particular order:
1. “Summer Highland Falls” — Billy Joel
2. “Lachrymosa” — from Mozart’s Requiem
3. “Corner of the Sky” — from “Pippin”
4. “Come Ready and See Me” — Richard Hundley
5. “100 Years” — Five for Fighting
6. “Here, There, and Everywhere” — Beatles
7. “Contre Qui, Rose” — Morten Lauridsen
8. “I Hope You Dance” — Lee Ann Womack
9. “Someone Else’s Story” — from “Chess”
10. “O Magnum Mysterium” — Morten Lauridsen
11. “A Little Less Conversation” — Elvis vs. JXL
May 1st, 2005 at 12:52 am
Opening Credits:
Michelle Branch - Breathe
Waking up:
Weezer - Island In The Sun
Average day:
Kelis - Trick Me
First date:
Maxwell - Whenever Wherever Whatever
Falling in love:
Intrigue - Dance With Me
Love scene:
Bob Marley Feat Lauryn Hill - Turn Your Lights
Down Low
Fight scene:
NERD - Rockstar
Breaking up:
Last Goodbye by Jeff BuckleyTori Amos - Taxi Ride
Getting back together:
Janet Jackson - Again
Secret love:
Julia Fordham - Love Moves In Mysterious Ways
Life’s okay:
Bic Runga - Sway
Mental breakdown:
Deftones - RX Queen
Driving:
Moony - Dove
Learning a lesson:
Blink182 - What Went Wrong
Deep Thought:
Vervepipe - The Freshman
Flashback:
Stan Getz - Corcovado
Partying:
Chicane - Love On The Run
Happy dance:
Milky - Be My World
Regretting:
John Mayer - My Stupid Mouth
Long night alone:
Jessice Shelly - In Good Time
Death scene:
Lifehouse - Everything
Closing credits:
A Perfect Circle - 3 Libras
May 2nd, 2005 at 9:04 am
wow mwamaarkhh… that’s a lot.
my blogs are sort of based on sound tracks that i think will be related to my entry… hmmm you may as well check it out re this blog:
http://jemv.blogs.friendster.com/my_blog/
see for yourself… ei daphne thanks for the comments. keep ‘em coming.
May 2nd, 2005 at 10:53 am
He’s a DJ…I bet he’s had those planned out since he was 15! Frankly, I love the idea of songs for situations…I have a friend who says that there should be one song that sums up your whole life, and if you haven’t found it, you need to listen to more music. I’m convinced that no one song could ever summate a life. I guess you could try, but they you’d have to write that song yourself, and isn’t this what musicians do? …and don’t they write hundreds of songs in a lifetime? Oh, well…don’t know why I’m so thoughtful all of a sudden! So unlike me! = )
May 4th, 2005 at 11:56 am
I haven’t considered this since I last saw High Fidelity. Hmm…
When defeated and melancholy:
Steely Dan - Deacon Blues
The Seatbelts - The Real Folk Blues
When excited to compete:
Mazinger Z opening theme
Rocky theme
Jermaine Dupree - Live like Me
High on love’s sweetness:
Maaya Sakamoto - Yakusoku nado Iranai (Promises not necessary)
Falling in Love:
Spandau Ballet - Round and Round
Writing my undergraduate thesis:
Gatorade ad - Be Like Mike
That’s all for now
May 6th, 2005 at 9:37 am
Opening Credits- Emporer’s March (Star Wars)
1.Voodoo Child - J. Hendrix
2.Oddities - ICP
3.Cult Of Personality - Living Color
4.When Darkness Calls - Lynch Mob
5.Headed 4 Destruction - Jackyll
6.Erotic City - Prince
7.Smooth Up In Ya - Bullet Boys
8.Get Naked - Methods of Mayhem
9.Giving In - Adema
10.Trent Reznor Remix of - “More Human Than Human”
11.Heaven - Live
12.I will not go quietly - D. Henley
13.Laughing W/ the Dead - Bullet Boys
14.When U Come Back Down - Nickel Creek
June 25th, 2005 at 1:26 pm
I think my soundtrack is currently being selected. Lolz. I’m about halfway my life right now, but some songs that kinda represent me:
1. Breakaway- Kelly Clarkson
2. Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton
3. Affirmation - Savage Garden
4. Lonely No More - Rob Thomas
5. Ray of Light - Madonna
July 4th, 2005 at 2:39 pm
believed me, i can’t remember how i got myself here, but you words and story are really touch and so true … as i’m listening to the song that hurt me so much in the past … i’d cried if i heard it on that time … but now … the feeling is faded … the song is still that touching, but my feeling has changed … i’m tired … mentally as well physically … just wish to stop down and have a deep breath …