30-Day Song Challenge: Days 19-24

Here is the fourth instalment of my contribution to the 30-Day Song Challenge currently running.

19 A song that makes you think about life: ‘Five Years’

“My brain hurts a lot”

So, what would you do if you definitively knew the date of your own demise (and, more particularly, that it was not that far off)? For me, that’s an easy question. As I keep banging on about in the sporadic posts here: ‘Carpe diem’ – seize the day.

20 A song that has many meanings to you: ‘Uncle John’s Band’

”What I want to know is: are you kind?”

Today’s challenge gave me more pause for thought than any other – and I suspect that I’m not the only one. But of course somewhere in the vast canon of the Grateful Dead lies the answer any question. Is this song based on American history (The Alamo or, more generally, the frontier spirit) or is it about the turbulent political times when it was written (plus ça change), or….what?

Ultimately, I don’t really care: it’s a great song and that’s all that really matters.

21 A song you like with a person’s name in the title: ‘To Ramona’

“Everything passes Everything changes Just do what you think you should do”

Not really a love song (and I’ve never known anyone called Ramona) but not much beats this early Dylan song as a set of rules to live by.

22 A song that moves you forward: ‘Born To Run’

“But I gotta know how it feels”

Not that it gets played very often (and certainly not as often it should), but this is the first song on my ‘Exercise’ Spotify playlist – and if this doesn’t get you moving then you are quite possibly dead.

23 A song you think everybody should listen to: ‘Expecting To Fly’

“Now you know I’d die if I never said I love you”

There’s obviously no point in choosing a song for this category that everyone will have heard anyway, and I really like the dream-like, ethereal feel of this little masterpiece by Buffalo Springfield.