Summer Lyrics:Summer Thoughts

*Disclaimer: I recently uncovered a TON of old music. Immediately, I was transported to various points of my life, remembering what I was experiencing, and why I was listening. I decided to create a piece that pays tribute to just how powerful music can be.

*Another Disclaimer: While music is a portal to any time, for this piece, I’m using summer as my marker (for me, summers tend to exude ‘turning points’ of some kind). I began with the summer of 2009. 18 years-old.

Summer 2009

We were only kids, we ran like water, your dad said ‘stay away from my daughter’

The sun was coming down when I said ‘can’t you just believe?’

*

And if you wait for me, I’ll be the light in the dark if you lose your way

And if you wait for me, I’ll be your voice when you don’t know what to say

— Last Train Home, Ryan Star

When it comes to love, I should know better

When it comes to love, I take the blame

‘Cause you are the one I should’ve held onto

— When It Comes To Love, Foreigner

If it is born in flames, then we should let it burn

Burn as brightly as we can

And if it's gotta end, then let it end in flames

Let it burn all the way down

*

And if this is ever meant to end, then I hope it ends where it began:

So hot with love, we burned our hands

— Currents, Dashboard Confessional

Summer 2010

Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?

I could really use a wish right now

— Airplanes, B.O.B (Featuring Haley Williams)

Tell me what you know about dreamin?

You don’t really know about nothin’

Tell me what you know about them night terrors every night

5 am, cold sweats, waking up to the skies

— Pursuit Of Happiness, Kid Cudi

Do you remember the nights we stayed up just laughing

Smiling for hours at anything

Remember the nights we drove around crazy in love?

— We’ll Be A Dream, We The Kings (featuring Demi Lovato)

Summer 2011

Come on, here’s your chance, don’t let it slip right through your hands

Are you ready for the ride of your life?

— Ride Of Your Life, John Gregory

I had a dream

I could fly from the highest swing

I had a dream

—Dream, Priscilla Ahn

Summer 2012

Tonight I’ll be on that hill ‘cause I can’t stop

I’ll be on that hill with everything I got

Lives on the line

Where and dreams are found and lost

I’ll be there on time, and I’ll pay the cost

For wanting things that can only be found

In the darkness on the edge of town

— Darkness On The Edge Of Town, Bruce Springsteen

Well, I came to your house the other day

Your mother said you went away

She said there was nothing that I could have done

There was nothing nobody could say

Me and you, we've known each other ever since we were sixteen

I wished I could have known

I wished I could have called you

Just to say goodbye, Bobby Jean

*

Maybe you'll be out there on that road somewhere

In some bus or train, traveling along

In some motel room there'll be a radio playing

And you'll hear me sing this song

Well, if you do, you'll know I'm thinking of you

And all the miles in between

And I'm just calling you one last time

Not to change your mind, but just to say I miss you, baby

Good luck, goodbye, Bobby Jean

-- Bobby Jean, Bruce Springsteen

Summer 2013

A stack of books beside our bed, living out of boxes

Why does the empty space fill with dread?

Why does change still shock us?

*

Where would we be right now, if all our dreams had come true?

Deep down I know somehow

I’d have never seen your face

This world would be a different place

Darlin’, there’s no way to know

Which way your heart will go

— Which Way Your Heart Will Go, Mason Jennings

Spinning your umbrella over your head

You should be in bed but you’re here instead

Walking with me towards a midnight swim

I can give you, baby, what you can’t get from him

Hey hey little fighter girl

It’s you and me up against this whole wide world

Sleeping together in the lion’s den

Got your earrings in my pocket till I see you again

—Fighter Girl, Mason Jennings

Summer 2014

So won’t you run to me tonight?

Tonight we’ll pretend that we’re just lovers

But I’ll only ever be a middle distance runner

—Middle Distance Runner, Seawolf

But if you're gonna go

I'm giving you the key

But only if you'll go

To Mexico

*

All the way to the shore of California Bay

And I'll be fine

'Cause I have taken you back for the last time

— Mexico, Jump Little Children

Summer 2015

I want truth and beauty

I want to love someone simply

— Kids On The Boardwalk, Hop Along

Summer 2016

A life line to highs and lows

To seeing the bright side

And I should know

*

We wait for the afterglow

To cover the blind side

And I should know

— Afterglow, Chvrches

We are made of the smallest stars

We are breathing and letting go

We will take the best parts of ourselves

And make them gold

— Make Them Gold, Chvrches 

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