And the Beat Goes On — Responding to the “Music & Me Tag” – Shoujo Thoughts: ☆ ～('▽^人) Otaku Ramblings

I’ve been tagged for a few challenges lately that I’ve decided to get a move onto! In this case, I was tagged by Annie over on Evening Tea Musings to participate in either the gaming tag or music tag. I’m not much of a gamer, so I decided to respond to the music tag alone.

Rules

(1) Link back to the original (Sophie @ Me and Ink) so she can see your answers and listen to the tunes.
(2) For every prompt you choose to do, name 1-5 songs (you can use Sophie’s graphics).
(3) Have fun and play your music LOUD!

Well, I guess I’ll begin!

For this prompt, I choose “Country Roads” by John Denver. I’m a pretty private person when it comes to my real world identity, but I’ve been open about the fact that I live in the Middle of Nowhere, Midwestern USA. Though this song gives off some strong Appalachian vibes and though I jokingly scream about it into the abyss of Twitter a lot, the bluegrass aesthetic and emphasis on both mining culture and country roads rings true of my hometown in SO many ways. Further, my mom grew up listening to John Denver, and she’s been living in my hometown since she herself was born. The idea that country roads will always welcome me home is comforting. My husband and I both live close to our hometowns and out in the middle of the country, and honestly, we can’t ever see wanting to move anywhere else. The country, this country, is home. Our families are here. Our roots are here. We will always be welcomed here.

I assume we mean romantic love here, yes? Brad Paisley’s “Then” is the song my husband and I first danced to at our wedding. One day, years before we married, my Husband recorded a bit of this song on his car radio and sent it to me because it reminded him of me. If you know my husband, you know that while he loves me a lot, he’s not very vocal about his feelings. He shows love through action, and confident words of affection or romance from him are both rare and precious. Seeing that, how could our first dance song have been anything but this song, which was meaningful enough to him to share that day out of the blue, meaningful enough to him that so many years later said, “Yes, I want this to be our song.”

I also want to choose “God Gave You to Me” by Darla and Chad Day. This song played during our wedding ceremony as we lit our unity candle. Rather, we had a women from the church sing it, and sing it beautifully she did. I selected this one. I’m more religious than my husband is, though I don’t often talk about it. It’s hard to talk about sometimes. Anyway, when I heard this song, I knew I had to choose it, because for all our differences, for any challenges we may face, it summed up my feelings for him perfectly, and it does so to this day.

"I prayed for my God for a heart to keep. He gave me the one. He knew my needs."

Lastly, “Shotgun Rider” by Tim McGraw sums up how I feel about my husband. Yeah, he’s not a girl putting on makeup, but the feelings are there.

"I don't ever wanna wake up looking into someone else's eyes, 
another voice calling me 'baby' on the other end of the phone,
a new girl putting on her makeup before dinner on Friday night.
No, I don't even wanna know no other shotgun rider beside me
singing to the radio."

I don’t have much to say about these except that there’s a LOT more K-pop on here than there would have been even two years ago, so I’ll just post a few.

Wait, I do have something to say.

TAEMIN IS SEXY.

Anyway, moving on…

Yeah, I included too many songs here, but I’ll make up for it elsewhere.

“The Call” by Regina Spektor features in “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” and it’s just such a poignant message that I ionly appreciated when I got older. I really liked “Prince Caspian” as a kid, not the least of which reason is that, I mean… him and Peter… were very cute… to 16-year-old me.

I’ve actually tried a bit of a sample cover for this one. Someday I’ll learn to audio edit.

Shoujo · Singing Demo — The Call

I have a lot of anime music that makes me feel big emotions, but this post could easily turn into that alone. Insead of getting into too many, I’ll limit myself to a few of my favorite Hakuouki backtracks. They’re so emotional, and they make INCREDIBLE writing music.

Calm isn’t really my MO. Most songs that make me feel calm also make me feel melancholy, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing at all, but all my energies seem have corresponding emotion. My comfort songs are the same songs as the Hakuouki backtracks above.

I can think of one, however, that makes me happy and calm. This is “Home” by Toki Asako.

Ronnie Milsap’s songs remind me of going camping as a child. My dad likes him, and I’ve got major associations between him and Ronnie’s music. I think he relates the feelings in the songs like “Stand by My Woman Man” and “She Keeps the Home Fires Burning” to his relationship my mom.

“Butterfly Kisses” by Bob Carlisle also reminds me of my childhood, since my dad says it makes him think of me. ❤ My dad used to work swing, and some of the lyrics hit very close to home for him and me.

The song my dad and I ultimately danced to at my wedding was “My Little Girl” by Tim McGraw. Him and my mom decided on this one as his way of expressing how “giving me away” felt for him and how I’ll always be his little girl. My marriage was really a big turning point for me, and in a lot of ways, it really was when my husband and I were finally “grew up.” The lyrics also hit close to home. My dad worked swing shift when I was a little child, and, well…

"Sometimes you're asleep, I whisper, 'I love you'
In the moonlight at your door
As I walk away, I hear you say
'Daddy, love you more'"

That sort of thing would happen a lot.

I’m getting really emotional about my dad now, so I’m gonna stop.

“This is Me” really motivates me when my anxiety gets me down. When I feel like I can’t or that I’m a mess up or broken, this song motivates me and tells me that I’m GOOD. I’m who I’m meant to be, and I can stand up, even against my own fears and anxieties. The sharpest words—even though they often come from inside me—can’t get me down. They won’t!

My grandpa used to sing Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” to my grandma, but he’d change the name to her name, “Karen Sue.” I think that’s adorable.

“My Wild Irish Rose” by Dennis Day makes me think of my great-grandpa. My great-grandma died before I was born, but if memory serves me, this song used to remind my grandpa of her. My great-grandpa is no longer with us either, but memories like these are… special.

“Here Comes Goodbye” by Rascal Flatts doesn’t make me cry anymore, but it makes me uncomfortable. It makes me sad for the person I was and the pain I was in. I don’t listen to it, because it reminds me not of any relationship or anything, but…

I’m not going to speak about it. But this is, for that reason, the hardest song for me to hear. I’ve been listening to songs as I place them in this post, but I’m skipping this one.

Anyway, other songs that make me sad include “Maybe” and “Goodbye” by Secondhand Serenade.

I’ve been obsessed with WuJi from Xiao Zhan and Wang Yi Bo for a while now. I love it so much that I made the chorus my timed and washing song and wrote my own English lyrics. The words to Wuji are so beautiful, and their voices and harmony are out of this world.

From a purely analytical perspective and based on what I learned about lyrical writing in college, “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone” by Paula Cole has OBJECTIVLY great lyricality. The assonance and consonance, for example, are 100%. It doesn’t need a perfect rhyme in each segment. Honestly, just masterfully written.

However, if I’d argue the case for “Ever the Same” by Rob Thomas. From a written perspective, I love the composition. I love that it doesn’t have complete rhyme for the most part. I love the phrasing. I just… I LOVE it. From an emotional perspective, I love the message. This is fully a poem set to music. Fully. It’s one of my very favorites, and it well deserves the title.

"We were drawn from the weeds
We were brave like soldiers
Falling down under the pale moonlight
You were holding me
Like someone broken
And I couldn't tell you, but I'm telling you now

Just let me hold you while you're falling apart
Just let me hold you and we'll both fall down"

I took a look at the Billboard Hot 100 Chart to try and make a distinction here, but I didn’t find any I really recognized or made me like, “Yeah! That one!” Then I went to the Billboard 200, and the first one I found that I knew I liked was “Thank U, Next” by Ariana Grande, so I guess I’ll go with that one. I’m not in love with the original so much as I am with the cover I’m about to share instead, though. I like the cover by Matt Bennett a lot.

Do they have to be happy memories? Do I have to elaborate on them? LOL Okay, here.

I had a huge, enormous crush on this guy for like… four years? In middle and high school? Anyway, the first time I ever danced with him at a homecoming dance, it was to “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith. I was on absolute Cloud 9. I was so young then, and I thought I would never love a boy more than I loved that boy. I was enamored.

Yeah, I know, I know, but I was a kid, basically, right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Anyway, this song makes me laugh at myself, and it makes me smile.

Okay, so these are pretty self-explanatory.

When people think of me, they don’t usually think about Machine Gun Kelly, but my cousin shared “Bloody Valentine” to her Facebook a long time ago (back when I had Facebook, LOL), and I found that I actually really liked it! I don’t love it, but I do like it! Surprise!