"Hey Stephen" - Taylor Swift

"Hey Stephen"
Taylor Swift
Lyrics

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It's not easier once you win. It gets even harder when you have done so to secure victory.  You have to maintain your status.  You have to prove every day that you're still the worthy person you are.  It's still just as much of a challenge.  It's even more of one, because you're in the limelight now.

 Just because you're happy doesn't mean that others stop craving your happiness.  They crave it even more in fact.  It's that sick little voice inside every human's head that gets more satisfaction out of stealing than working or waiting to win the proper way.  Some people have trained themselves out of such impulses with time.  Others still fall prey to it once in a while.  And many live off it without even realizing it.  It's hard to compete with others who consciously or even subconsciously have made your insecurity their lifestyle.

Taylor Swift knows all about winning.  But she did it the right way.  Taylor released her debut single "Tim McGraw" in 2006, but she'd been writing songs way before then.  She used them from an early age as an outlet for the frustration she felt over not fitting in at school.  Though she lived in Pennsylvania, until age 14, Taylor made frequent trips to Nashville, Tennessee hoping to get a record deal and writing and recording songs with local artists.  Eventually, after her family moved to a Nashville suburb in order to support Taylor, she was signed onto Big Machine Records.

Taylor has released three albums so far, the first being "Taylor Swift" (2006), the second being "Fearless" (2008) and the most recent being "Speak Now" (2010).  She writes all her own lyrics and isn't shy to express her emotions directly.  Taylor claims that if she lined up her ex-boyfriends and asked them which songs pertain to them specifically, each one would know.  Taylor's songs apply so well to audiences because she projects her adventures and failures, mainly concerning love, for the world to hear.  "Love is a tricky business," Taylor explains.  "But if it wasn't, I wouldn't be so enthralled with it.  Lately I've come to a wonderful realization that makes me even more fascinated by it:  I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to love.  No one does!  There's no pattern to it, except that it happens to all of us, of course.  I can't plan for it.  I can't predict how it'll end up.  Because love is unpredictable and it's frustrating and it's tragic and it's beautiful.  And even though there's no way to feel like I'm an expert at it, it's worth writing songs about--more than anything else I've ever experienced in my life."

Taylor seems not to be afraid of winning or losing in love because she has a larger power to which she yields.  Victories and heartbreaks both give her the power to write songs.  They both allow her to express what she's feeling.  When she wins, she can flaunt it.  When she's heartbroken, songwriting is her weapon so that no douchebag can get away with what he's done.

Taylor suggests that all of us should just hope for the best - innocently charge forward because who says we know any better not to?  Sure there are "girls tossing rocks" at the window of any nicely furnished house.  They might whine about irrelevant losses or set you off ease when they publicly flirt about should-be professional matters.  But what can you do?  You won.  And you have to own it no matter what they do.  Because if they win, all you do is write a song and be done.  And you know it's worth all the unease because you've been "holding back this feeling" that's more wonderful than you've ever pictured.  You "can't help yourself."  And now that you're "believing that you don't always have to be alone", you can't let them get to you.  Because soon, you've got to believe that no matter how manipulative, how smart and involved others are, you are worth it.  You're worth it without playing games, without joining that sorority.  You would be just as worth it as you are.

Because like Taylor says, you have to be sure of your victories otherwise you'll never secure what you need - the courage to say:

"I could give you fifty reasons why I should be the one you choose.  All those other girls, well they're beautiful, but would they write a song for you?"  ;)

"Uncharted" - Sara Bareilles

"Uncharted"
Sara Bareilles
Lyrics
Major Influences: Norah Jones, Ben Folds, Bjork, Counting Crows

It's pretty standard to feel like you're sticking to your routine, coasting through life like you always have.  Maybe you are resistant to change.  You want to be you.  You want to stay you.  Why would you become someone else?  Those times you've tried haven't even benefitted you that much.  Maybe you, as a vegetarian, tried to eat meat for a day and then snapped back the next.  Maybe you went on a hardcore diet for a week, thinking you could make it last, but eventually caved into the appeal of binging on chocolate pie.  You realized how ephemeral changes are, and what kind of unnatural spark need be inserted to make such a radical change become a reality.

Sara Bareilles is a fascinating character.  Hearing her recorded music is enough to get a sense of her eclectic nature.  But seeing her perform live is a totally different story.  You see her face cringe in pain as she sings the beautiful, searing, climactic note of "Gravity."  You hear her husky voice sway across the stage as she talks, saying some crazy line that you won't even remember.  But you remember how she said it.  Maybe it's along the lines of the starting sentence of her website's bio, "Hi.  It's me, Sara.  As I've said before, I don't do those fancy bios.  So sue me."  


She was born in Eureka, CA and refers to her childhood self as being "borderline normal."  She studied communications at UCLA and eventually met her manager Jordan Feldstein who led her onto bigger, brighter things.  Her first album, "Little Voice", was released on July 3, 2007.  Her second album, "Kaleidoscope Heart", to which this song "Uncharted" belongs, was released on September 7, 2010.  Several die-hard fans, one of them being myself, were eagerly awaiting Sara's second run.  Before the release, Sara described her outlook on the album: "I took risks, and pushed myself both as a player and vocally, and I followed my gut wholeheartedly for the very first time. And I can’t wait to share it."  


So how far do you think, are you able to change yourself permanently?  How deep do you have to reach into "uncharted" territory to make a lasting mark?  How much gut does it take to say that you "won't just hang around", even though part of you must know that you're "getting nowhere, when you just sit and stare"?  


You can't spend your whole life sitting and watching others ride on their paths to success while you self-indulge in the multi-tasking lifestyle that once brought you glory.  Those days are over.  And you know it.  You "can't stay in the middle of it all."  Because if you do, you're veering from track to track and you'll never reach the end of one.  You can't waste time, even subconsciously, "comparing where you are to where you want to be."  You just have to dive in and do what you need to, what you know you've done before.  There is an element of you that is already changed as you want to be.  If there weren't, you wouldn't be "already out."  


We all desire for security, for consistency.  It's part of our nature.  But isn't it also part of our nature to long for excitement?  To go on adventures?  There are many adventures we can't handle.  So maybe it's worth considering that we might just find them where we'd least expect them - in tasks that we thought to be cold, mundane, boring.  Maybe that's where the excitement lies - hidden under our preconceived notions.  We might as well assume that to be the case, because we've searched everywhere else.  And now that this inkling of a "foolproof idea" is coming to life, we might as well waste no time to "get started.  It's all Uncharted." 

"Collide (Acoustic)" - Howie Day

"Collide (Acoustic)"
Howie Day
Lyrics

It's impossible to ride smoothly through life without hitting a wall.  Metaphorically or literally, you will fall.  Sometimes, you just have to accept that you're not yet at your full potential.  You're breakable, as you always will be.  And you still haven't yet reached the point in that certain area where you at least feel invincible.  You still haven't sunk into that rhythm you need to succeed.  Because that rhythm takes time to instill within you.

American singer-songwriter Howie Day began his career in the late 1990s, but became widely recognized for his debut album "Stop All The World Now", which was certified gold in 2005.  His two biggest singles, one being "Collide" and the other "She Says" come from this album.  Before signing onto Epic Records in 2002, Day 'invented' his own avant-garde method of recording songs. "I thought I was a genius when I figured out that I could record something on one tape player, and then record myself playing along to that type on a second tape player," Day joked.  "It was my poor-man's version of multi track recording."

Day's music has touched the world.  And his simple yet poignant acoustic version of "Collide" teaches us that we can indeed rise from anything.  Everyone - even those that we might consider "the best falls down sometimes."  And it can be so damn confusing when "the wrong words seem to rhyme."  We're tempted to cut ourselves down.  We're tempted to bar ourselves from the parts of our lives that are going well because we feel we don't deserve them.  We define ourselves as victims of our own success and reapers of our failure.  But no tactic helps because the reality is still there to haunt us no matter where we turn.  All we can do is pick ourselves up and run with a new wind.  Because in the scheme of life, any failure can be condensed such that we can view ourselves, not as abandoned, but "close behind."

We are incapable of possessing a clean record in most areas of life.  Of course there'll always be one area that tends to run smoothly.  For some, emotional heartaches are standard but rejections from schools and desired programs are sparse if at all existent. Others experience academic rejections and no emotional ones. You never know when or where you're going to get lucky.  And you can never fathom how your life path is going to build.  All you can hope is that you gain the wisdom and experience that will allow you to shape each important area of yourself the way you want.  And you must hope that these various areas will cease to combat with each other and rather somehow reorganize and moreover, "Collide."

"Older Chests" - Damien Rice

 "Older Chests"
Damien Rice
Lyrics

usonica.com

So many people write songs about time.  Generally speaking, those songs are the most powerful.  After all, don't we all feel as if time is our major competitor?  We are always racing it.  We are always victims of it. Sometimes we feel as if we are able to divide it for ourselves. We are quite happy to cut it into many small useful pieces.  But often we cut it too sharply and deeply.  And we realize that we in fact have no time at all.

Damien Rice is an Irish singer-songwriter who has released two albums - "O" in 2002 and "9" in 2006.  Both his songs and lyrics are simple, but they speak with an deep honesty that is almost painful to hear.  His songs speak like stories, in which there are no lies.  And when he talks of "older chests" to convey the passage of time, we hear more than just time passing in his rhetoric.  We hear loneliness, regret, and most importantly, hope mingling between, attempting to drape over everything else. 

Don't we all worry about consistency?  We want things to "stay the same" so that we know in some ways where our life is headed.  Perhaps we can't beat time but we can ride with it if we know how to ride.  If we maintain some constant motion in our lives, our growing pains hurt less.  The problem is that we can't always acquire that constant motion.  Sometimes we are too aware of what we lack.  We leave friends behind, not intentionally, but because of convenience.  We give up on elements of ourselves that we don't have time to nurture any longer.  It is then that time becomes our worst enemy.  It detaches us from things that we love.  It takes us away from what we need.  But in a way doesn't it also show us what we need?  Doesn't it also implement itself where it belongs?  Maybe we seek to replace vital elements of our lives that convenience has taken away from us momentarily.  And we lash out at time for prohibiting us from doing so.  But maybe these things can't be replaced.  Maybe time is our advocate in that it sets us in our place.  We can't always be satisfied.  We can't expect all of our needs to travel with us when we venture into darker waters.  If we do, we are being ungrateful.  We are closing ourselves off.  We are surrendering to impatience instead of paving our own paths.  We are indulging in self-pity instead of finding a way to win.

To others, we might insist that they should "pass us by" because "we'll be fine."  "Just give us time."  But in doing so, we are prolonging our problems.  No. We are not fine.  We're alone.  We're not fine.  We are lacking what lies now in the "older chests" of our existence, kept safely away until the time comes again to unlock them.  But can't we be okay with being lonely?  Can't we realize that we will always be lonely in some respects?  After all, in believing ourselves to be lonely when we are surrounded by everything we always wanted, aren't we alienating ourselves in a different way?  Aren't we offending what we are lucky enough to have?  People try to understand, but it's hard to accept that their presence just isn't enough.  Maybe it's not.  But it should be.  And they know that, so why can't we?

After all, "we always seem to need the help of someone else to mend that shelf."  But maybe that's our problem.  Maybe we're scared of instability, or of being alone.  But how can we create something stable if we're too afraid of failure?  We have to have faith that despite our lack of "older chests" we can indeed form new ones.  And we can have the patience to do so, accepting that we won't right away.  After all, anything worthwhile, in some manner, "starting small and growing in time."

"Open Your Eyes" - Alter Bridge

"Open Your Eyes"
Alter Bridge
Lyrics

muenmagazine.net

Don't they always say that being a leader means being alone?  That is the common saying.  And it makes sense.  To lead is to have a vision.  And to have a vision worthwhile is to have something that no one else has - to stand out - to be different.  And to be different, as we all know, is often to be alone.

Sometimes it's easy to wish that everyone else would just "open their eyes."  We know it would be much simpler if they just "realized we are one."  How different are any of us really from the next person?  We all want the same things.  We want to be accepted.  We want to be appreciated.  We want to feel as if we belong, not only in a community, but to the world.  We want to feel as if we are making a difference.  We want to believe, above all else, that "our day will come."

Alter Bridge is a band with four members: Myles Kennedy, Mark Tremonti, Scott Phillips, and Brian Marshall.  All four collaborate extensively with Kennedy and Tremonti working as the major songwriters and every band member working as an arranger.  "We knew Myles was an amazing singer.  That's why we hired him," explains Tremonti on the band's website.  "What we found out when we toured the first record was that he's also an incredibly gifted guitar player and songwriter as well as a vocalist.  It would have been a crime not to utilize all that talent."

Kennedy agrees. "Mark and I really compliment each other, especially when you juxtapose his powerful style with my dark and emotional approach.  On top of that, we have a common goal, to find the best melody possible."

Most of Alter Bridge's music has a sociopolitical tone.  Kennedy indicated on the website that he wants listeners to be asking themselves the following questions: "Have you reached your potential? Are you doing everything you can to make a difference?"

Making a difference is difficult.  It takes perseverance and moreover, it takes the willingness to view yourself as apart from normal society.  Being human, this is a tantalizing place to be in.  We long to make a change but at the same time we have the same emotional needs as all of our peers.  We want to be like them and be accepted by them.  But how can we truly fit in if in the back of our minds, we are seeking to change them, knowing that they are living with closed eyes?

"It's hard to walk this path alone.  It's hard to know which way to go."  We're always questioning our efforts, hoping that our isolation ends in victory.  We love what we do, but we can't help but wonder, "Will I ever save this day?  Will it ever change?"

But the truth is, we can't choose who we are.  We can change how we act to a certain extent.  We can modify some of our needs and wants.  But if we are different, we are different.  If we are less inclined to fit in with the usual crowd of people, then that is the case.  But like with all things, we have to hope that our differences were given to us for a reason.  And maybe we can't change people.  But we can try, with all our might, to "open their eyes."

"The Good Kind" - The Wreckers

"The Good Kind"
The Wreckers
Lyrics
Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp

nucountry.com

We've all made that one friend who raises our hopes so high only to let us down.  We meet them and get sucked in because we have no choice.  They're right there in front of us, with their faces insisting that they'll take our "tortured hearts by the hand" but when the time comes, they "write us off."

So many people pretend to be someone they're not.  They get excited over opportunities but never follow through.  But where does that leave us?  We who fall for their facades?  Are we really condemned to take a slow walk down the ego-crushing path they pave for us?  In one felt swoop they can break down our self-image.  And yet they don't know that we're crying in the background, dying for their approval.  Our own lives are changed because of it.  And the worst part is, theirs don't suffer.  Their facades live on.  And even those we love won't believe us when we say we know something deeper.  We know who they are, but it's a knowledge that comes from their secret assaults upon us.

"The Good Kind"is one of many soulful hits featured on The Wreckers' sole studio album "Stand Still Look Pretty".  Michelle Branch, an accomplished pop-rock singer/songwriter recruited her good friend and backup vocalist Jessica Harp to create this dynamic duo in 2005.  “I knew there was something special about our voices together and the songs Michelle and I had written,” Harp said on her website. “I thought they deserved a chance to be heard, so I said yes without hesitation.” Branch's pop-rock style and Harp's country style meshed well together and their 12-track album became quite a hit following its release in May, 2006.  Unfortunately, the duo split up in 2008 and decided to follow their own solo tracks.  The Wreckers site now merely offers links to the two singers' individual websites. However, many fans myself included, are hoping for their reunion and the production of another album. Especially considering the emotional vindication their straightforward songs provide.

Michelle Branch was never a typical girl, even for a singer.  “I was the odd rock girl out,” she describes on her website, “I wrote all my own stuff, and I didn’t really play dress up. I was just uncomfortable with all that. I was this girl from Sedona wearing Led Zeppelin T-shirts, hemp necklaces and baggy pants, so that whole sex kitten thing just wasn’t me." Maybe that's why Branch has such a realistic perspective reaching out to girls in her songs.  Sometimes it's hard to know how "normal" we should be.  By being loners we kind of set ourselves up for heartache.  But as Harp says, you can't make a country song without heartache.  To be a success, some minimal amount of crushed hopes is necessary.

So maybe that's where the douchebags find their worth.  We wish they knew better than to cut down an attractive girl just because their ego's far from thriving.  We wish they could just admit their issues as opposed to making it seem like those issues are ours.  But if they can't, at least they inspire us to break out of our misery and "force to become strong when we just crave being weak."  At least they make us realize that we're worth something so much more.  And if they keep fooling others while "hiding behind lying eyes", at least we've realized that we don't have to.  At least we smile with a smile that everyone, especially we, can recognize.

"Gotta Figure This Out" - Erin McCarley

"Gotta Figure This Out" (2009)
Erin McCarley
Lyrics
Major Influences: Fiona Apple, Patty Griffin, Greg Laswell

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Your heart and head are at odds.  Your head tells you what you need to do.  You need to breathe and be flexible, like joints just worked out at the gym.  You need to let things go because you don't have the capacity to take on every battle you feel you should fight. You need to live like normal people do, on the surface.  You can't take yourself or any of the circulating events around you too seriously.

Your head tells you what you need to do...But your heart won't listen.  It wants to be irrational.  It wants to lead you into a delusional happiness only to come crashing down the next because of some paranoid fear.  If you can't tell which force will win, this song describes you perfectly. 

This song is featured on Erin McCarley's album "Love, Save the Empty", released in January 2009 by Universal Republic.  The Nashville-based singer/songwriter calls this album "a document of her search for authenticity in herself and in others." Her honesty in all of its original songs show, as she says on her website, that she is "not afraid of being sad."

But is it really sad to search for the reality hiding somewhere within your skewed perceptions?  Is it really sad to you have to "figure out" the darker parts of your conscious that you know will cause you to lose what you love if you don't eliminate them?  If you're resting "deep inside a shadow", if you're constantly "insecure of what you know", something is wrong.  And you have to figure it out to fix it.  You have to figure it out before time beats you to the chase.  It's not a sad search.  It's not really a desperate one either.  It just has to be done.

 McCarley hits a nerve that we all at some point should be lucky enough to have.  It's a nerve that appears when we've found ourselves at odds with who we are in order to maintain the possibility of becoming and staying who we want to be.  If sticking up for what we want means facing a darker portion of our personalities, that is what we must do.  It's our "story to tell" and no one else's.  No one else can defeat the monster within us that threatens to have us lose what we've come to love.  Because it's only through listening to the sound of our shaky hearts that we can "make it right."