The song “Cat’s In The Cradle” by Harry Chapin is one that I have held in my heart for a long time. This is due to the fact that the motif developed throughout the song is that the singer’s son grows up not really having a father figure. This is due to the fact that “there were planes to catch, bills to pay” (Chapin). The singer solidifies this theme by even mentioning how his child learned to walk while he was away. The lack of a father figure in a developing child relates to me, as my father passed away when I was a small child. The chorus is symbolic of the father not being present in his son’s life, as the father is tirelessly working or away. The father is always trying to reassure the son they will spend time together, but it is quite evident that this does not actually happen. I enjoy the fact that while their is a guitar highly present throughout the song, the main instrumentation is Harry Chapin’s voice. This is because Harry Chapin died while his children were quite young, so the song holds even more meaning. Another thing Chapin does very well is juxtapose the lack of time spent between both the father and the son. Towards the end of the song, the father yearns to spend time with his son (having retired), and the son turns him down, as he is beginning his family, work, and life overall. I feel this is very emotional, due to the fact that this is where the father realizes neither one of them spent enough time with the other throughout their lives.

The song I chose is “Little Me” by the girl band Little Mix. I chose this song because to me the song is about if I were able to go back in time I would tell my younger self to be more confident and not think about what others are saying. This message stood out to me because as a child I was extremely shy and wouldn’t speak up, I was the girl who would follow others and not be my own leader. In the lyric, “Tell her she’s beautiful, wonderful Everything she doesn’t see.” I really related to that line because I was once a girl that didn’t believe I was actually beautiful, for a while I didn’t see what everyone else saw in me and it honestly messed with my mind for years, so when I finally realized my true inner and outer beauty, I wished I had seen and known it all along. I think the song sends a positive message to all of their fans that they are beautiful and can do and be anything they want if they just have confidence. “Yeah you got a lot of time to act your age You cannot write a book from a single page Hands on the clock only turn one way” To me this lyric means that girls or anyone in general should focus on acting their age rather than trying to be older or younger because you cannot control time, meaning you can’t speed it up or slow it down hence the lyric, “Hands on the clock only turn one way.” The lyric “Run too fast and risk it all Can’t be afraid to take a fall Felt so big but you looked so small” is also significant to me because they’re saying that if you move to fast you are risking the possibility of messing your life up my trying to grow up too fast. It also says that you can’t be afraid to fall down, we all fall down sometimes, the important thing is that you pick yourself up and try again.

     Out of the 5 songs of my mixtape, the one that connects to me was Mi Forma De Ser by Farruko. This song was one of the songs that really connected to me because as the song says “Siempre van hablar pero no importa La gente siempre va hablar mal Yo no sé, siempre yo he sido así Por nadie yo voy a cambiar, mi manera de pensar” meaning  that people are always going to talk bad about you, and that’s how you are and no one can change you. You just need to ignore the people that want to bring you down. Ignore those hateful comments that people make about you. In my experience many people have tried to bring me down based on what others say. And by that I mean that many people have spread very awful things about me,or they just look at me and hate me for absolutely no reason, and I ask myself.. Why? I haven’t done anything to them. But then I realize that they hate me because of what I have. But at the end I didn’t ask for all the things that my parents have given me. I get what I want because I deserve it and well  maybe because they spoil me but mostly because of my good grades and I help around the house. But to the eyes of the people that hate me it’s because I’m a spoiled b****( excuse my language, but that’s what they call me) But at the end of the day I know that what they are saying is not true, and I just ignore them, I will not listen to what they are saying because they are only haters. They hate the way I live and well it’s not my problem. There only one option which is to move out of where I live, but I will not change. And this song talks about all those haters, that want to bring him( the singer) down, but they can’t. They are haters and he is way better than them. We are all better than our haters.

I chose “In the air tonight” by Phil Collins as the song of choice for this assignment. This song is one of the most heard of songs worldwide. The reason why this song is so famous isn’t because of the lyrics, but because of the sow beat that introduces the song before any lyric can be heard. When I first heard this song, I remember automatically knowing what kind of song this was going to be based solely on the rhythm of the song. When I mentioned earlier that the beat introduces the song before any lyric is heard is because the beat is slow, you just understand that this is going to be a sentimental song. Those were my initials thoughts on the song. The lyrics to the song match the rhythm of the song perfectly with his monotone voice and the slow rhythm of beat. Throughout the song however, the drums are introduced when he goes off from his monotone voice to a higher pitch voice while he sings the chorus of the song. This is what makes it so memorable.

The songs most popular and catchy lyric is the actual chorus. The chorus is what most people think about when they think of Phil Collins himself in fact, I would say this is the most known piece of music made by Phil Collins. The song has reached “urban legend” status because the lyrics in his song weren’t at all true; for example, the most famous line he says” if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand” which describes an event that never happened to him in his life. An interesting fact I learned about when Phil Collins was in an interview and he was asked about the lyrics and what it really meant. Collins said “I don’t recognize what this music is about” until he mentioned he wrote this song when he was going through a divorce with his wife, it was an angry and sad time in his life. The drumbeat rhythm in the middle of the song came into his mind out of the blue at a time he was bored. The music video also goes with the rhythm and the lyrics of the song with the white and black colors in the background and only his face showing up in white and black also for most of the video. What else makes “In the air tonight” a great song is because of awesome it made my childhood. I remember being a child, air drumming this song and making a mess with pots and pans just to act like I was part of a concert. For music to help imbed memories and reenact certain parts of your life is an amazing thing. That shows you the power of music, especially if you really find a love for the song itself.

The songs i choice, not all of them mean a great deal to me but they hold some form of memory. The First song i choice is called “The Warmth” by Koda. This song wasn’t always a good to me i never liked it in the beginning but after one day of me leaving work exhausted i gave it another listen and just the tone of it calmed me down and helped me go to sleep even while i had to deal with being clustered by all the people in the nyc train. Ever since that day this song has always been able to put me to sleep without a fail, so i only save it on those restless nights. The Second song i choice is called “Roundabout” by Yes. This song is a really great song but most of all its full of funny moments. This song came out way back then but it had a bloom when it was inputted in a popular anime, it even was in tons of memes. This song has always given me energy when i need a little boost because it reminds me of those cliffhangers in my favorite series. The next song is a painful memory but only physically. Its called “Far From Done” by P.M.O. One night me and a group of friends go to skyzone the trampoline place, and during closing hours they can spot any songs and this one just happen to be played. That night me and my bro had a jumping competition and when this song came up i started singing to it and i guess i got to into it cause i lost focus and ended up landing wrong. Even though i laugh about it was real bad it, I had to do x-rays i couldn’t walk right, it even affects me to till this day, for example when i try to skate i sometimes feel a sharp pain on my leg. I really don’t put to much connections with my music so sadly the other songs were just ones that i just happen to jam out to recently to but these 3 songs have a little spot in my heart good or bad. Music will forever be something that can change at any given time but its always gonna be a part of me.

“Me, Myself and I” sung by G-Eazy featuring Bebe Rexha was produced by Michael Keenan, G-Eazy , Christoph Anderson, Bebe Rexha and TMS and released in October 2014. I chose this song to be apart of my mix because I identify with the message which it conveys.

I am the second to last child in my family, but it feels like I am the only child who did not get an opportunity to develop a bond with my other siblings because of the age gap between us. The first four children are older than me, the oldest being seventeen years older, while the youngest is eight years younger than me. Hence, I was unable to form bonds because my older siblings thought of me to be too young for them to associate with and I thought to myself that my youngest sister was not old enough for me to form a bond with. It was from there and then that I realized that I had to find a way to form a bond with myself and learn to enjoy my own company. I grew up feeling like a loner within my own family and regardless of the fact that I went to school and developed friendships I still felt like it was imperative to yield to the ideology that I can be my best friend and it was also very important to be independent and acknowledge that I can rely on myself to accomplish great things in life.

The artiste went ahead to say “I don’t need anything to make me satisfied” . This line is very important because he shows us that regardless of the fact that others and what they have to offer might be imperative to our pursuit of happiness, it is our responsibility to be our main motivator to ensure our success. I am quite sure that at some point in everyone’s life they have encountered obstacles which left them feeling quite overwhelmed and they might even feel as if they have lost who they are, forgot about their standards, morals or even life goals and/or dreams. However, G-Eazy shows us through his song that we can empower ourselves knowing that we can be the best version of ourselves in order to stay on course and achieve our goals and exceed even our own expectations.

I choose “BIG LOVE” by The Black Eyed Peas. I remember the first time I watched the music video was last year and since then it stuck by me. It was more of a short film than a music video which helped spread their message even further and bring it to life. The film depicts a school shooting and some situations involving Border Patrol. The song starts off with the lyric “A day in a life of a kid in America”, it brings you along to someone else’s reality or even our own. There is an included warning before the video that stated “No kid should have to live through what you are about to see”, but sadly the reality is that kids do live through what was shown. In 2018, there were 24 school shootings and over 300 mass shooting all over America. In that same year, thousands of children were taken from their families under Trump’s zero tolerance policy. During the first verse sung by will.i.am, he says “Our leaders are embarrassing” which I think refers to Donald Trump being as he is the President of America and a very irritating person overall. Will.i.am then goes on to sing “Everybody’s following Ain’t nobody leading”, I think he includes this because nowadays there are very few people trying to make change happen within America or their society and with social media just increasing with popularity it’s very easy to follow along to what others are doing; monkey-see-monkey-do. He ends the verse with “ People lovin’ guns more than kids is the season And they say the reason is to protect their freedom But we don’t believe ’em”. The first lyric reminded me of when the movement March For Our Lives for started up there were criticisms coming from news anchors or adults on twitter calling it stupid or trying to belittle the cause. The second lyric I believe is the main pro-gun argument, that people have the right to bear arms according to the Second Amendment in order to protect themselves while the third lyric is the other side that doesn’t agree. The kids throughout the film are primarily singing the chorus being “’Cause all that we are All that we’re made of Is big, big love”. You’ll see kids running and crying, but despite all the chaos they continue to sing. The song acts as an anthem by bringing people together while still clinging onto hope and love for not just themselves, but for each other. One of the last messages in the video read “Speak up for those who can’t” and a link to a website that can direct you to the March For Our Lives and Families Belong Together websites. It’s a very powerful quote to end on and gave me a mission to try and do just that. The short film was daring but very much needed in order to spread several messages of awareness, perspective, and love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPmcLzgnlo8

I chose “Fell on Black Days,’ but to be honest, I think I could have easily chosen “Black Hole Sun,” or something by Stone Temple Pilots or Smashing Pumpkins. For me, there’s something about that time in music that really connected. Maybe it was because my brother loved Nirvana and Pearl Jam, so I always heard it around the house, or because it was moody right along with me, or maybe even something as simple as it being a trend. Whatever the reason, I never get tired of it.

Recently, I had been listening a lot to 60s and 70s R&B (The Miracles, The Spinners, Sam Cooke, etc), when I heard about Chris Cornell’s passing. Then it hit me. There’s nothing quite like rediscovering music you forgot- music that you listened to so much that you had to stop before you completely ruined it. All at once, I remembered why and how much I loved it. I had Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, and Audioslave playing in the house for at least a month after. I think I chose this song because it’s one I always come back to. I always enjoyed the play in these lyrics, but mostly I think I just really love his voice. In a genre where vocalists can start to sound the same, he really had a particular sound. Even now, the lyrics “How would I know, that this could be my fate?” make me stop and think about things. It definitely felt more dramatic as a kid than it does now, but there’s a lot of truth in it.

I think we all go through those rough patches in our teens, and find a few songs that make us feel like somebody gets it. They probably help us navigate those years better than most other things. “Fell on Black Days” was that kind of song for me. I was a little too serious, and at times a little too sad, and I think it gave me something to relate to. It also gave me something to help identify what I wasn’t. I didn’t like boy bands, or z100. We liked musicians that played instruments. We were a grunge/rock house, even though in reality, we were an everything house- expect for boy bands, of course.

“Chest Fever” by The Band is an unusual song with an almost disjointed sound that I’ve been connected to ever since I first heard it. It starts off with a bit of Bach’s “Fugue in D Minor” played on the electric organ, and then goes into the main riff of the song. This is a very long introduction, lasting over 40 seconds, and really draws the listener into the song, both by giving you the sense of the familiar, in Bach’s “Fugue,” and putting a different twist on it, through the use of the electric organ and the almost manic playing of that piece. One interesting thing about the classical introduction piece is that whenever they played it live, they never played the same piece of classical music. The style is the same, however, with manic playing on an electric organ, moving to the main riff. The rest of the song has a similar disjointed feel, with the main riff going through the song, but with almost jarring bursts of manic playing. It comes off feeling like a very raw, almost painful song, and one that is full of aching passion. The lyrics describe a man who is enthralled by a woman, here again is our familiar theme. However, the way they are both portrayed, through the lyrics, for the time, is very different. At the time, 1968, women in music were rather passive in sexual relationships. In this song, the woman is described as “a tracker,” and “a chooser,” while the man is the one who “just can’t refuse her.” She’s portrayed as pursuing sexual partners and doing drugs. “She’s stoned, says the Swede…” She comes and goes as she pleases, (“she was just there/but then/she can’t be here no more..” and the man, from whose perspective we hear about her, is left pining for her. “I just can’t take it very much longer.” There aren’t many songs like this one, and it uses the music to create in the listener the feeling that the singer experiences, of being caught up, overwhelmed, and left suddenly, full of longing. Listening to it closely has given me a greater appreciation for this song, and made me much more connected to it, as aside from the drugs, I have been this woman, and have left my partners wanting more. One final note about this song, is that you hear no moral judgement about the woman in this song, like you find in Rick James’ “Superfreak.” This elevates the story from stereotype to being a tale of the human experience. It made me feel like I was normal, which isn’t something that happens often in music for me. All in all, this is a really neat gender swap of the more traditional “bad boy/sweet girl” stereotype, which breaks the stereotype by removing moral judgement, and uses music to create and enhance the feelings of the singer. It is certainly one by which I will happily be overwhelmed.

Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” is an homage to spending a perfect day with someone you love. The sentiment of the song and the way it’s expressed are why it still has resonance almost 50 years later.

The singer first describes typical activities one would do in New York, or anywhere really—drinking sangria in the park, going to the zoo and seeing a movie. The song begins in the present tense, which in combination with the earnest intimacy of his voice, creates an immediacy transporting the listener into the day. Lou Reed then summarizes how grateful he was to have spent the day with that person singing, “Oh, it’s such a perfect day/ I’m glad I spent it with you/ Oh, such a perfect day.” The music is somewhat melancholy in contrast to the lyrics and this creates tension. While you’re lost in the dreaminess of this idyllic day, there is a sense something isn’t quite right or that this day is only a small bright spot in a sea of darkness.

Sure enough, Reed follows up this positivity by singing something dark or ambiguous at best. “You just keep me hanging on” is sung twice, shifting what was a light tone to something more gloomy. What he means by “You just keep me hanging on” changes in different listenings. At times it seems he’s hanging on to her, like he can’t get enough of her. Other times, it seems she’s keeping him hanging on to life itself. Either way, the phrase implies an infatuation or desperation that is being staved off by whoever is keeping him company which makes the listener afraid what would happen should he lose her.

In the second verse, he shares that the time they spent together was so good that it made him feel like a better person temporarily forgetting how he really sees himself: “Just a perfect day/ You made/ Me forget myself/ I thought I was/ Someone else, someone good.” This is where the lyrics become inarguably dark and depressive and match the forlorn almost pleading style of singing.

Finally he sings: “You’re going to reap just what you sow” over and over in a fatalistic manner almost as quietly as in the beginning. It’s not clear what has been sown. Is it the seeds of happiness and the new self he experiences with her that he has sown or is it something negative hinted at in the darker undercurrent? Maybe it’s intentional that we’re left wondering.

What we do know is the ambiguity and complexity of the lyrics, the honesty of acknowledging darkness in lightness, the sincerity of Lou Reed’s voice and the lushness of the music together make this song authentic and timeless.