Soundtrack to a New Year

If you’ve been reading my blog at all, you know I have earworm disease. But sometimes this is a good thing. Like this weekend. I don’t know what triggered it, but I caught a Soul Asylum song in my head.  So while I was cleaning out a closet I plugged in my earbuds and called up Grave Dancer’s Union.  Listening, I had forgotten how very much I love this whole album. Most of you who were around and listening to music in 1992-93 probably remember the hits of that record: “Somebody to Shove,” “Black Gold,” and “Runaway Train.” My favorite songs are deeper cuts from this album, and as I listened, I could hear a lot of the things I wrote in my New Year’s post echoed back to me. Let’s take a look:

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Track 4: Keep It Up

Though the rain weighs down your wings
Still the caged bird’s got to sing
Singing “Na na na na na na na na na”

Message: Don’t fucking give up.

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Track 6: Get on Out

I gotta get on
I gotta get on out
All these worried troubled thoughts gotta get on out of my head
Gotta get on out of my head.

Message: Kick the anxiety out of the car at 80 mph.

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Track 7: New World

And the fields burns away
The sky breathes it in
So why sit and wait
For the new world to begin

Message: Get off your ass and do stuff.

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Track 9: Without a Trace

Standing in the sun with a Popsicle
Everything is possible
With a lot of luck and a pretty face
And some time to waste

Message: Pretty face aside, your life’s possibilites are endless.

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So that’s my soundtrack for life this week. I hope it inspires you the way it does me. Or that you can find your own, whether it’s new to you or your heart’s old favorite. Music has the power to transport us, and we might as well go somewhere fun, right?