Songs

Cupcake Love

/ Deb / Leave a comment

I walked in to pick up my daughter’s graduation cupcakes, for a grad party that has now been postponed due to Covid. Over the creaking of old wooden floors, I heard Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” playing faintly from speakers in the hallway. Well played, universe.

This is the song that, when she first started listening to Taylor Swift, compelled me to have one of those mom moments and remind her, “Just remember, you never need a boy to rescue you or make you happy”. She stopped singing, looked at me, deadpan, and said, “Mom, I know that. It’s just a song”. She was right, of course — always wise beyond her years.

And this is the song that, when we saw Taylor Swift in concert a few years after that, she identified as the song she really wanted to hear. (This is a pre-concert discussion that I always make my fellow concert-goers have — What song do you really want to hear? What song will be the opener? What song do you really not want to hear?)

My daughter had said, “Oh, it’s an old song and she probably won’t play it”. But when Taylor did play it, my girl flashed me a sweet smile — she had gotten her Concert Moment, something that everyone deserves, especially when it’s their first concert.

And this song exists on our collaborative Cabin Mix, and of course on the Graduation/Colorado Mix that I had prepared for the grad party. It sits alongside many other significant songs from my daughter’s childhood, as well as some Colorado-related songs to celebrate her next adventure. (And apparently John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” is going to be a trigger song for me from now on….as I discovered on the way to Costco the other day).

Of course, there was really no way that “Love Story” would not make it onto that mix — it’s just one of my girl’s songs. And as she heads out into the world, I love knowing that it will show up for me from time to time, reminding me of the girl she once was, and the incredible young woman she now is, and it will always make me smile.

The Pandemic Stole the Gravity

/ Deb / 3 Comments

(“I’ve been falling so long it’s like gravity is gone, and I’m just floating”……)

While I don’t know that I’d use the term ‘falling’, 2021 has definitely been an unraveling of sorts. I’m still curious to see which knots will hold.

In the fall of 2019, I went to a Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears show at the Tractor Tavern with my sister. I was already standing on the river bank , and in looking up at those old beams and exposed brick, had one of those rare moments when my path seemed clear: What do I love more than old buildings and live music? What’s stopping me from opening my own venue?

At a party not too long after that (remember when we had parties?), I mentioned my idea to an old friend, who noted that my face lit up when I talked about it. I am sure that was true. Sometimes those around us can see things more clearly than we can. Anyway, the rest of 2019 wore on like any other year, and I was so excited about my barely-formed idea that I couldn’t stop talking about it, even convincing another friend to come on board despite the lack of any real plan. Of course, then 2020 hit, and I was suddenly very glad that I did not own a small live music venue.

At any rate, two years hence, “Gravity’s Gone” by Drive-By Truckers has been a bit of a theme song for me in the fall of 2021. Is it because:

  1. It makes me feel like I’m two stepping in the aforementioned Tractor Tavern, which is one of my favorite venues;
  2. The song makes reference to “champagne hand jobs”, which always makes me giggle. I’m still not really sure what this means (OK, maybe I have an idea). Anyway it’s a great phrase, one that I’ve yet to be able to work into casual conversation; or
  3. Another line in the song, which reminds me of my Grandma: “If you’re supposed to watch your mouth all the time I doubt your eyes would be above it”. (Such a great line; I mean really, can we all now just speak our truth like old women do?)

For those playing along, the official answer is #1. But of course it’s really all of the above.

Muddy Discovery

/ Deb / 1 Comment

I pulled into the Discovery Park parking lot, put in my headphones, and hit shuffle on Spotify. First song to come up? “Hunger Strike” by Temple of the Dog (site of the video). Nicely played, Shuffle Gods. I mean seriously, I could not make this stuff up.

If that wasn’t a call to leave my usual bluff route and head down to the beach, then I don’t know what would be. I wandered the trails, yearning to be lost and far away, at least in spirit. I took a different route down from the bluff, at one point encountering a muddy, washed out section of trail. The irony of my recent post about rock-stepping did not go unnoticed, and I kept going. When I reached the shore, I stopped and threw some rocks in the water, saying goodbye to some things and setting new intentions. Down on the beach, I lingered for a bit, soaking in the rare blue Seattle sky. I’d like to say that I had some profound realizations, as if I received a message that was waiting there for me in the beach grass, but that didn’t happen. I did, however, go home in a better mood than when I started, and that’s always a good thing.

Come Down and Waste Away with Me

/ Deb / Leave a comment

Today FB reminded me that two years ago, I was at a Foo Fighters show.   Remember when we used to go to rock concerts?   It’s a tiny thing in the grand scheme of all we have lost in the past few months, but I still miss it.  I heard Everlong on my run today.  I’ve always thought that it was about the bliss of being at a concert (“And I wonder/as I sing along with you/if everything could ever feel this real forever/if anything could ever be this good again”).  Maybe it isn’t about that. 

Anyway, it’s available to you if you need loud music and want to visualize yourself as a drummer.  Then follow it up with some Jane’s Addiction and Nirvana to really piss off your headphones and generate an Apple Health warning about the volume being too high.