Almost exactly two years ago, for something called 1000 Voices Speak For Compassion and for International Day of Happiness, I wrote
this post
of my top ten favourite albums.
This time
for Finish the Sentence Friday
I will choose my top ten favourite songs because it is top ten week.
“I’ve looked in the mirror, and the world’s getting clearer. So wait for me this time.”
This first song is about time that feels like it’s running out and I’m still playing catchup.
“My scars are what got me this far. And now I can touch the stars. Cause’ it don’t matter who you are. Who you are. We’ve all got scars.”
Scars – Emmanuel Jal feat. Nelly Furtado
This powerful and poignant duet is about scars, real physical ones and the scars on the heart. I’ve got both, but I am proud to have them as a part of me.
“DJ’s playing the same song. I have so much to do. I have to carry on. I wonder, will this grief ever be gone. Will it ever go? I’m the
King of Sorrow.” – Sade
This is a truly sad one, but I love this artist because her songs range from sorrowful to sensual.
So that’s why I couldn’t pick one over the other and had to include two in this list.
Next, I must include an all-time favourite, with the piano violin combo, that makes me cry every time.
“All my plans, fell through my hands, they fell through my hands on me. All my dreams, it suddenly seems, it suddenly seems…”
Empty – The Cranberries
And now, it’s all the more sad, since this singer died early this year.
“Everybody loves you when you’re easy. Everybody hates when you’re a bore. Everyone is waiting for your entrance. So don’t disappoint them.”
Black and White – Sarah McLachlan
Being afraid, not always feeling like I was enough, and this one is all about my fear of being one giant disappointment to the world and the pressures of that.
“Be a good girl. You gotta try a little harder. That simply wasn’t good enough, to make us proud.”
This is likely a song about one of those parents who is living through their child. That’s not why it struck a cord with me. It wasn’t anything like that. Yet, there was a time when I felt like I wasn’t trying hard enough and was letting everyone down.
“I believe that when the hurting and the pain has gone, We will be strong, Oh yes we will be strong And I believe that if I’m crying while I write these words Is it absurd? Or am I being real…
I Believe – Tears For Fears
“I believe, no I can’t believe That every time you hear a newborn scream You just can’t see the shaping of a life.”
Okay, so you may be wondering, what’s with all the sad stuff.
This next one, I will write/quote no lyrics from, but see if you can tell the mood of it anyway.
It seems more upbeat anyway, than some of what I’ve included here, though it’s a young girl who is acting rather petty. In recognition of yesterday (March 8th) being International Women’s Day, I thought I’d showcase what growth and empowerment can stem from.
We all have a bit of a bad bit, inside, somewhere. This song is my way to end this list, on a bit of a cheeky note.
Of course, there are many more and I could likely do this again, even if it’s sometimes hard to think on the spot. So many to choose from, songs are my fuel and my energy to keep going, but I will stop at these four for today.
I am excited to learn, hear the songs that made the top ten for
Kenya Johnson of Sporatically Yours
as a co-host with Kristi.
Plus, a bonus guest host:
Jen Kehl (one part of The Stereo Sisters)
I see I’m not the biggest music fan here.
And so, the above songs have changed me, made my life better, richer, have soothed my soul.
Thanks for listening.
Her Headache 
Love how you did this, Kerry, using memorable quotes to showcase your favorite music. I’ve found that some of the most life-changing music is sad, or maybe when we’re sad, we’re drawn to that. At a not-that-great time in my life, I played the song from Donnie Darko “Mad World.” I’m not sure the lyrics are even that sad, but the tune is mesmerizing and a little depressing, in a good way. “And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had…”
Anyway, I love Sade, INXS, Tears for Fears, Cranberries (hard to believe there won’t be new ones from them now)… I was familiar with all on your list with the exception of Smile, which I must go check out now. So glad you joined, friend!
I love that Mad World song too. It would be on a list if I were to keep going, for sure.
This list was really interesting for me, so many songs of yours are associated with a time in my life that was really difficult for me. So while they could have made it onto my list, I am a stuff the emotions down kind of person, not a shine the light on them person.
But Sade, INXS and Tears for Fears? They will always be on my Spotify.
Thanks for letting me bud into your world for a week!
I am the shine a light girl. Thanks Jen.
We all have different ways of dealing with the “down” times of our lives. Although I wasn’t familiar with the songs on your list, I appreciate you embracing them.
It could be a generational thing, but music is so many things. Thanks Pat.
Well you made me laugh because I did say to myself what’s with all the sad stuff. I think all my go to music is for happy feels. If there are songs that pull me in the other direction I honestly skip them when they come up. It’s also hard for me to listen to artists from my generation who have passed on particulary the “gone too soon” like Prince, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. There is a song that I can’t think of right now, but it’s sooooo beautiful but it was played at a funeral and now it has become an emotional song that I just can’t listen to. If I can remember the name of it I’ll come back and let you know.
I would be glad to find out what song you were thinking of, but I am glad you could at least laugh, somehow, even with all my sad songs.
So many on your list I stream on iMusic and probably always will. Seriously, The Cranberries, Alanis Morisette, INXS just to name a few are tops on my listening list here, too! 🙂
Excellent taste.
We’ve all been talking about that amazing thing how (a) song can capture a moment (and emotion) and cause us to feel as we did…not a second seeming to have passed.
Your selections are, kinda, an example of the other side of the mirror, presenting emotions in sound and words that let us know others share in (both) life experiences and the emotions they engender.
I do like that mirror thing.
While they aren’t always sad, the ballads are usually the songs that affect me the most deeply. I don’t know all of these songs, but just reading the lyrics is pretty powerful.
Lyrics of most sorts have such power. Thanks for checking these ones out.