For starters, I feel it's easiest to discuss my origins. I selected two tracks entitled "Small Town", one I know by heart, the other I found just recently. The latest "Small Town" I discovered is a song by Lou Reed and John Cale (formerly of the Velvet Underground). The song was written as an homage to Andy Warhol, yet Reed's scathing description of the sense of desolation one feels living in asmall town ("When you're growing up in a small town/And you're having a nervous breakdown/And you think you'll never escape it, yourself or the place that you live) resonates profoundly with me. On numerous occasions, I have expressed my longing for the day in which I will depart my hometown of Bloomfield, IN (pop. 2,500), and move on to bigger and better things.
On the other hand, as I have gotten older, I have grown to appreciate the lessons I learned from growing up in a small town. Though coming of age in such a tight-knit community as Bloomfield comes off as suffocating at times, I understand the importance of one's duty to family, friends, and the community. I was taught that a man must be true to his word, and to himself. I learned how to carry myself in a dignified fashion. My second selection, John Mellencamp's "Small Town", may seem cliché, especially for someone from Indiana; however, the lyrics truly resound like a gospel to me. I want to see the world, and live my life to the fullest, but in the end I'll never forget my home.
The values I have today aren't so much shaped by the values of my hometown as they are by the values instilled in me by my parents. My parents can best be described as fun-loving, welcoming people. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they came of age in those wild years known as the 1960s and 1970s. The popular music of their era expressed many messages and differing points of view, which helped shaped my parents into the people they are today. Of the music my parents passed down to me, I've been particular impacted by The Beatles (as are many people on this planet). I feel as though my personal belief system is best epitomized by one of the band's songs, "All You Need Is Love." The message is fairly clear, that love is greatest we can give to each other, and it is the greatest gift we can receive. It is a force that has the potential to change a life in profound ways.
Selecting a song to describe who I am is tricky because there's so much to tell; however, I believe a person's favorite song says a great deal about his personality. My all-time favorite is David Bowie's "Rock n Roll Suicide." The title may seem disheartening, but I find the song to actually be a message of hope. The song is a commitment to carry on even when everything in your life is spiraling out of control. The song begins as a hushed, acoustic description of loneliness and desperation, until the electric crescendo and key change, in which Bowie declares in his booming falsetto: "Oh no, love, you're not alone!"
What is there to say of the life I'm living at this current moment in time? I'm at a transitional phase in my life. After IFS ends, I will be leaving Indiana University (and the United States) for one academic year to study at the University of Madrid. For a little while, I am saying goodbye to the people I know and love, and the culture that I understand. I'm excited, but I'm also nervous about entering a new chapter of my life. Ultimately, though, I believe life is about changes. We have to experience change and face challenges in order to grow, and to learn who we really are. Closing this blog post with another Bowie selection, "Changes", only seems fitting.
Ross - I really liked how you interspersed the narrative with your songs. They fit into what you were saying so well, that it didn't feel interrupted at all - it felt as though they were a part of the natural flow of the text. I liked the songs that you picked not because I knew all of them, but because they worked so well with what you had written. I can relate to the way you looked and talked about the lyrics in the pieces you picked - I respond a lot to lyrics in songs as well, and have a few that I've also looked at as "gospel".
ReplyDeleteP.S. I answered the question you had for me under your comment.
Thanks, Casey. Each of these songs have had a really profound impact on my life, to be honest.
ReplyDeleteRoss, I too am a David Bowie, Beatles and velvet underground fan. I could tell that these particular songs meant a lot to you and shaped who you are. I too can relate to the messages you conveyed (not so much the small town's) but especially with All You Need Is Love and Changes. I love Changes. I'm going to Listen to that now.
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