Thursday 26 April 2012

In The Shadows

“I've been watching
I've been waiting
In the shadows for my time
I've been searching
I've been living
For tomorrows all my life”

In The Shadows – The Rasmus

In 2003 this song peaked on the charts at number one in New Zealand, Finland and Germany, number three in the United Kingdom, and number twenty-three in Australia. The US / UK version of the YouTube clip has 5,381,621 views at the time of writing this post. In The Shadows was played constantly on the radio and The Rasmus could be described as that Finnish band with the lead singer with feathers in his hair.

I bet you forgot this song existed.

The thing is, while my iPod has nearly 1600 songs on it, I have a tendency to put on the same music over and over again. Whether I’m at the gym, travelling somewhere, or just hanging around the house, Luger Boa, Foo Fighters, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Skillet are my go to artists. Or else I’m trending one artist for a short space of time when I become hooked on their tunes. Recent bands like this include Throwing Gravity, Reece Mastin, Seether, and my latest venture to become a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan.

Every now and again, however, I will chuck my iPod on shuffle and rediscover awesome songs like In The Shadows. These little gems are usually from bands where I only have one or two songs by them on my iPod. And then I start loving that song and go on a bit of a Google to find out where that band is now until I find the next hidden gem on my iPod. It’s a cycle I actually love, because I’m always rediscovering music and bands who have influenced me over the years.

The good news for those like me who loved The Rasmus and In The Shadows is the band have a huge following in Europe. They have just released their eighth studio album simply called The Rasmus. Here in the Southern part of the world we don’t hear enough of these Finnish rockers, but if you want to catch up then check out their greatest hits album. This album recently joined my iTunes library, I love it, and it has been on repeat all week. In the meantime, I hope we get their new music on our airwaves, because they are one highly underrated but ridiculously awesome band.

Thursday 19 April 2012

Someday Never Comes

“First thing I remember was askin' papa, "Why?"
For there were many things I didn't know.
And Daddy always smiled; took me by the hand,
Sayin', "Someday you'll understand."
Well, I'm here to tell you now each and ev'ry mother's son
You better learn it fast; you better learn it young,
'Cause, Someday Never Comes.”

Someday Never Comes – Creedence Clearwater Revival

How many times have you said “I’ll do it someday?”

Too many, I reckon would be the answer.

Lead singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty, says Someday Never Comes is about his parents’ divorce, and how they used to tell him someday he will understand it. Fogerty says did not and never will understand what happened, and the song is about a child not being able to understand the circumstances of a divorce. Because someday never comes.

It seems someday is the easiest thing to say. Whether it be because we want to put something off, are too scared to do or say or listen to something or simply can’t be bothered, we say we will do it someday, or tomorrow, or in future, or later. I always say someday. Someday I’ll learn about it. Someday I’ll go to this place. Someday, I’ll tell someone how I really feel about them. But in reality, these times never come, and we all end up missing out on opportunities because we have said a few little words.  

Someday Never Comes will celebrate forty years since its release in May. That’s forty years of people listening to this song and hearing John Fogerty tell people someday never comes and we should learn everything young and fast. It’s not the first and it won’t be the last; Bob Dylan, Rob Thomas and Nickelback are just a few artists who took the idea of someday and wrote about it, reinforcing this idea that we are trapped in saying someday. 

So, can we stop saying we’ll do something someday? For the first time I want to challenge my readers. I want us all to stop using the term someday. Music has told us explicitly what we all knew in our hearts anyway; someday never comes. I started this blog after saying for ages I would someday start one; now I love writing every week and sharing my thoughts with you. If you want to take up the someday challenge, tweet me @Renees_Musings and let me know what your someday is. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell you Twitter and Facebook followers. Tell them we need to act now because someday never comes.


Thursday 12 April 2012

Over You

“I'm slowly getting closure
I guess it's really over
I'm finally gettin' better
Now I'm picking up the pieces
From spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together
‘Cause the day I thought I'd never get through
I got over you”

Over You – Daughtry

If someone sat me down and said “Renee, what’s your favourite song?” I would probably just laugh in their face and say “come on, you want me to pick just one? Don’t be silly.” But if push came to shove, I would list of the following songs as my six favourite: Wonderwall by Oasis, Somewhere Only We Know by Keane, Whispers in the Dark by Skillet, Top of the World by The Carpenters, Perfect by Simple Plan and Over You by Daughtry. I aim to write a blog on all these songs in the coming months, but I want to kick things off with Over You.

A few years ago, when I was still a teenager and still at school, my hormones took charge and I developed a bit of a crush on a fellow student. To cut a long story short, things never went anywhere. Nowadays, I can look back at my pettiness and laugh, but at the time I was devastated some stupid guy didn’t want to be more than friends with me.

A few days before my tender teenage heart got hurt, a few guys in my class wanted to borrow my USB stick to transfer documents between computers. In return for the use of my USB, they “gave me some songs they thought I might like”, one of them being Over You. A few days later, Over You came in handy when my crush called us a no-go. Sure, Daughtry meant this song to be about more serious relationships than some silly high school back yard failed romance, but at that moment I felt the song described every feeling I had.

I am grateful to those classmates who introduced me to Over You that day. With literally millions of songs in the world you would understand it would take a song with a special meaning to make my list of favourite songs, and Over You has that special meaning. It’s my go to song when I need help overcoming obstacles and disappointments, when my heart and soul were sore and tender, when I felt lost and I couldn’t go forward. It gave me the feeling no one was struggling alone. It’s people like Chris Daughtry and band we should thank, because they share their problems and create music which helps other people move forward through problems.


Thursday 5 April 2012

I Will Not Bow

“All is lost again
But I'm not giving in

I will not bow, I will not break
I will shove the world away
I will not fall, I will not fade
I will take your breath away”

I Will Not Bow – Breaking Benjamin

It’s well known I am a music fanatic. But I have another obsession which I hang onto during the summer and crave during the winter. I am a huge cricket fan. I love the Blackcaps - from Williamson to Hira to Taylor, the McCullum’s in between, and my favourite players, Southee, Watling and Guptill. You may think cricket and music don’t mix, but I believe I’ve found a way to marry the two through the message in I Will Not Bow.

I take I Will Not Bow as saying a person should not have to bow down when they are right or wrong, succeed or fail, or take on the world as they person they are, and this is the thought I kept in mind as I mused my way through this week’s cricket / music mash up blog post. 

Being a Blackcaps supporter means you have to take the good with the bad. New Zealand’s national cricket team doesn’t always rank highly and it’s a bit embarrassing when three players go for a duck in one batting innings. But I will stand by and respect the boys, even if South Africa is beating us by a landslide and the Blackcaps seem to be collapsing under pressure. As the pressure scale goes, I doubt it could get much higher than being a test match opening batsman, on debut, facing some of the world’s best bowlers, and your team mate at the other end of the crease has been topping most valuable player lists all season.

Rob Nicol showed some impressive performances in the limited over games and it was assumed he would do the same in the test whites. So when, after batting three innings and putting up subpar scores, Nicol stepped onto the crease for the third innings on the second test he would have wanted to do everything he could to put up a good number. Instead he had to watch in horror as the ball rolled slowly down his pads and casually towards the stumps with just enough force to knock the bails off. I sat with my hands covering my mouth, my heart going out to a player who so obviously wanted to do well for his team. But when Nicol walked away with one run to his name he did nothing more than simply walk back to the changing room. There were no angry, frustrated thumping’s of the bat, no swearing under the breath, and, most importantly, there was no head bowed down shame. I said before I respect the Blackcaps, and there has not been a time when I respected a Blackcap more than I respected Rob Nicol and the way he composed himself that day.

When something goes wrong we feel we should run away, hide, bow our heads in shame and not face the world. But, as Breaking Benjamin tells us, this is wrong. When all is lost, it does not mean we have to give in and bow down. In success, failure, and taking on the world as the individuals, we should be able to hold our heads up high.

And, Rob Nicol, if you ever read this, know you have a supporter who admires your courage and strength to persevere in cricket with your head held high.