NOTE: This is a guest post from Bekah Witzer. You can read more of what she writes on being vegetarian, loving Glen Hansard and dating me on her blog here. Cheers.
I’ve recently been forgetting that it is summer. I don’t have the weather to remind me- living in Los Angeles doesn’t cater well to distinctive seasons. I don’t have school or summer vacation to remind me- I wake up every weekday morning and go to work, just like I did in the spring, and just like I did in the winter. And what’s ironic is that I was SO happy when summer solstice came about. I was at a show and the man on stage mentioned that it was the first day of summer and as I was reminded I cheered and cheered … and then did nothing about it.
Memories of summer vacation when growing up always involve excitement and fun. And it’s been an exciting and fun summer this time around, for sure, but the fact that it is summer has nothing to do with it. I think that as adults we need to sometimes be reminded of summer. Maybe we need to let go of some things and let loose. I certainly should do that. So here is a short list of songs that have been giving me reason to let loose recently. They are upbeat. They sound happy (content of the lyrics aside sometimes). These are the songs I would play if I had a dance party with my little siblings (it happens often when I’m at home.) Take this list as a whole. These songs get me pumped up, and I hope they can do the same for you.
- Dog Days Are Over – Florence + The Machine
- When You Were Young – The Killers
- Sometime Around Midnight – The Airborne Toxic Event
- We Are Young – Fun.
Dog Days Are Over- What a great opener to any playlist, really. That opening instrumental makes me think of sitting in a car, windows down, driving on the Pacific Coast Highway with my favorite people. The song starts out soft and builds to something exciting and fun- just what we’re going for here.
When You Were Young- An older one, yes. I’ve been on a Killers kick recently, and this song has always been one of my favorites. It’s nice sometimes to look at the world through the eyes of someone younger. Just for a short while. We should make effort to do that more often.
Sometime Around Midnight- You know, it’s just catchy. This one catches me off guard every time I listen to it. Something about the strings, and then the minimal guitar, and how it’s happy and sad all at once and builds and builds and builds. I can’t explain it— it’s just what I need sometimes. Summer is one of those times.
We Are Young- I believe I am incredibly late on the bandwagon with this song, but it’s better late than never, as they say. I don’t listen to the radio often (or at all), but after the day I happened across this song I couldn’t get it out of my head. In a good way. Get past the opening and listen until the chorus when it gets good. I have listened to it every day for the past few weeks. It is not getting old. And this is the ultimate “getting everyone together” song. So, put it on and have a party. Enjoy summer.
On This, Art, and the Other 