I have a whole slew of albums that I will be giving my daughter when she's "coming of age". Think of that scene in Almost Famous when the sister leaves the note to her little brother "Look under your bed, it will set you free".
Music is probably the one thing that helped me survive those years (and these years as well)...
Little Earthquakes is one of those albums. I must be on my 10th CD-- they've been scratched, lost, given away...and it was worth every purchase, every time. From start to finish, every song has meaning. Every song reminds of something. I could get really complex, the way I feel about each song, but the lyrics really speak for themselves and mean something different to every person. Some things are difficult to put into the written word so I won't. See the links to listen on YouTube, the new "MTV on demand" ;-)
Songs as follows and some of my favorite lines
1. Crucify...
reminds me of THEE struggle with self-esteem. The hardest person on me seems to always be...me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRmqRS3I2-wI know a cat named Easter
He says will you ever learn
You're just an empty cage girl
If you kill the bird
2.Girl...
Being "everybody else's girl" instead of my own first. This song is kind of my anthem lately http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVoBdtHLpnsAnd castles are burning in my heart
And as I twist I hold tight
And I ride to work every morning
Wondering why
'Sit in the chair and be good now' And become all that they told you
3.Silent All These Years...
Its very easy to forget your voice...its a wonderful thing to 'hear again'"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmGnEFu-1_0Years go by
Will I still be waiting
For somebody else to understand
Years go by
If I'm stripped of my beauty
And the orange clouds
Raining in head
Years go by
Will I choke on my tears
Till finally there is nothing left
One more casualty
You know we're too easy Easy
4. Precious Things...
Oh boy this song was Zoe's. She claimed it. We would sit in the parking lot and listen to this over and over again. It was completely her and I can really relate to elements now. The piano intro on this song is amazing.http://youtube.com/watch?v=HLL6ON18vGIHe said you're really an ugly girl
But I like the way you play
And I died
But I thanked him
Can you believe that
Sick, sick, holding on to his picture
Dressing up every day
I wanna smash the faces of those beautiful boys
Those Christian boys
So you can made me cum
That doesn't make you Jesus
5. Winter...
This song makes me get all reminiscent about living up north that year, my first year of college...the year that many things changedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnboUbOGDOMSleeping beauty trips me with a frown
I hear a voice "Your must learn to stand up for yourself
Cause I can't always be around"
He says when you gonna make up your mind
When you gonna love you as much as I do
When you gonna make up your mind
Cause things are gonna change so fast
All the white horses are still in bed
I tell you that I'll always want you near
You say that things change my dear
6. Happy Phantom...
Just a fun song to sing in the car. Many hours driving to this one. This song is like many of the dreams I've had--- full of great visualshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BwWtMHNDwsThere's Judy Garland taking Budda by the hand
And then these seven little men get up to dance
They say Confucius does his crossword with a pen
I'm still the angel to a girl who hates to sin
7. China...
Divorce song. Definitely. You're right next to me but I need an airplane...http://youtube.com/watch?v=HMQXCRBXhd8Sometimes I think you want me to touch you
How can I when you build the great wall around you
In your eyes I saw the future together
You just look away in the distance
8. Leather...
I think this song speaks for itself...too many times this has been in my headhttp://youtube.com/watch?v=jEMqm35PybAToLook I'm standing naked before you
Don't you want more then my sex
I can scream as loud as your last one
But I can't claim innocence...
I could just pretend that you love me
The night would lose all sense of fear
But why do I need you to love me
When you can't Hold what I hold dear
9. Mother...
This song reminds me of my marriage. The piano in the begining reminds me of American Beautyhttp://youtube.com/watch?v=HMQXCRBXhd8I walked into your dream
And now I've forgotten how to dream my own dream...
And when I dance for him
Somebody leave the light on just in case
I like the dancing
I can remember where I come from
10. Tear in Your Hand...
This song was the synopsis of the first relationship I had as an adult with Mister Benjamin. My friends and I used wonder in class as we sat there doing our Drawing assignments what kind of ice cream Charles Manson likes? Now I'll bet its vanilla.http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ec29MoRJfTMAll the world is danging...
Dangling'...Danglin' for me darlin'
You don't know the power that you have
With that tear in your hand...
Maybe I ain't used to maybes
Smashing in a cold room...
11. Me and A Gun...
This is self explanatory. Not going there today. I've dealt with enough of that subject latelyhttp://youtube.com/watch?v=scXMYl1UmBkIt was me and a gun
And a man on my back
And I sang "holy holy" as he buttoned down his pants
You can laugh
It's kind of funny things you think
at times like these
Like I haven't seen Barbados
So I must get out of this
12. Little Earthquakes...
I did an art piece of this song in high school. Its such a visual song. http://youtube.com/watch?v=7NRgjwsYTkoOh these little earthquakes
Here we go again
These little earthquakes
Doesn't take much to rip us into pieces...
We danced in graveyards
With vampire till dawn...
Give me life, give me pain, give me myself again.