Music
Hit Single
What Song(s) Do You Want to Hear Again for the First Time?
You throw your headphones on and hit shuffle. A new song begins to play. You’ve never heard it before.
A spark of joy tickles your ears and dances across your skin. The vibration of your foot tapping is joined with a steady head bob. Soon enough you’re dancing around, singing the chorus you just heard for the first time.
You’re utterly lost in the sounds and feelings produced from the experience of discovering a new song. There’s nothing quite like the first time you listen to a piece of music. It brings a whole new meaning to a hit single.
One day out of nowhere, my partner asked me the question you’re all waiting for me to ask: If you could listen to one song again for the first time, what song would it be?
The question immediately sparks my interest. It never occurred to me what song I’d like to hear again for the very first time. The truism of impossibility is more than enough to get my mind flipping through the imaginary jukebox sitting quiescent in a dusty corner of my mind.
There’s no chance I’d be able to pick just one song to hear again for the first time. Even if I listed a hundred songs, I still wouldn’t be satisfied with the playlist. Without thinking too hard about it, I jot down three songs I remember hearing for the first time that had/have a strong impact on me.
Roddy by Djo
A work friend showed it to me. As I drone around the building completing my duties, I admire smooth guitar riffs matched with a steady beat behind synth notes chiming in every so often. The lyrics bring on nostalgic feelings of a life prior to a global pandemic that was ripping people apart faster than anyone had time to process.
By the time the chorus came back for seconds, I was belting it out. “There’s something wrong with this world, I feel it coming on, and contradictions take their toll, is that where we went wrong?” Followed by a man singing behind another voice saying “Amen” as if they are leading a choral sermon.
There are some special sound affects layered within the steady hit-hat and piano chords. The chorusing effect placed over what sounds like a rope unraveling and smacking to the ground brings on a bass drop that I wasn’t expecting. I only just found out recently that Joe Keery from Stranger Things is the man behind this masterpiece (and former member of the psychedelic rock band, Post Animal).
The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
My brother put this one on when he was graced with the aux chord in my mom’s car. Rain deflects from the minivan windows as we drive through our little suburb of Philadelphia. The angsty rock swing with long vocal notes and strings is exactly what my twelve year old ears need to hear on a dreary day.
The single, named after the album like a patriarch names his eldest son, tells a story of a war-torn neighborhood in the midst of a “suburban war.” The external conflict reflects an internal conflict that civilians of suburbia fight everyday. “So you can understand, Why I want a daughter while I’m still young…But if it’s too much to ask…Then send me a son.”
The song fades out with themes of denial and escapism — an all too familiar feeling for a kid whose grown up between no where and everywhere. “Sometimes I can’t believe it…I’m moving past the feeling…In my dreams we’re still screaming…we’re still screaming.” One of my favorite memories of this song/album is with it, I had a short film called Scenes From the Suburbs downloaded on my iPod Touch that I watched obsessively throughout my teens.
What Kinda Music by Tom Misch
My twin showed this one to me in the middle of lock down. We sit in my parents garage, sharing a pre-bike-ride bong. He plays the song without warning: reverb-ed synth bells ripple in echoes while someone randomly whacks a tom drum.
There is a pause in the music and a voice repeats exactly what I am thinking in the moment, “What Kinda Music?” The drums come in with a beat so heavy I couldn’t help but to throw the stool out from underneath me and start dancing. Yussef Dayes, the percussionist behind the set, intertwines drum rolls with jazzy hip hop beats that sound like he is improvising the whole way through.
The first verse is intentionally hiding behind the fantastic instrumental fusion in the foreground “I didn’t make a sound, I was hidden amongst the crowd, Take another look around, I know that my mind will keep me down.” Midway through the song, everything goes quiet again, then the second verse begins, “Can I make it clear, There’s nothing to see here, The demons come and go, I know that with time they come around,” the lyrics are ushered out by more professional drum work and silky strings that distract me from the melancholy theme I’m happy to avoid.
Out of all the songs I’ve listened to, its hard to completely commit to just three songs. These are tracks I can recall hearing for the first time and my memory of the experience is vivid enough to write about.
I could go on and on listing songs that I’d love to wipe from my memory just to listen to for the first time again, but I would never be happy with the playlist. Each piece of music has a distinct memory attached to it, whether it was the first time or the last time I listened to it, the memory holds the moment.
For my own sake, I want to mention a couple of more songs on my list without going into much detail. Breezeblocks by Alt J has an iconic sound that any indie rat can recognize by the first strum; singing along with Joe Newman as he leads to that first “La la la la” and the tight upbeat sets in. It reminds me of driving to a guitar shop where my brother and I sat in crammed closets learning how to play the guitar and drums every Wednesday.
No Quarter by Led Zeppelin took me through a journey and a half the first time I heard it in a friend’s basement. Opening with the Hochner Electra-Piano with an EMS VCS3 wobble effect expertly ran through a modulated sinewave LFO by John Paul Jones is the epitome of classic psychedelic rock. This jam is a part of what solidified my inspiration to learn the drums that began with their legendary drummer, John Bonham.
On the most popular album known to date, The Great Gig in the Sky by Pink Floyd is easily my favorite track. The subtle piano and guitar combo drawls you in to a discourse on death before blowing your socks off with Clare Tory’s angelic voice. The dramatic serenade catches my ear every time, even if I’ll never hit a note that high.
Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues is the last song I want to mention briefly, however I could write an entire article about the first time I heard this one. Myself and four friends had gotten our hands on some LSD and decided to make a night out of it. To say the least, it was the theme song of the trip and I can’t listen to it without sailing back to that chilly night in January.
If you could listen to one or more song(s) again for the very first time, what would it/they be?
Let me know in the comments and feel free to use the opportunity to share your favorite musical memories.