Three Songs for Three Years

WOAH!? What is this? Celebrity Guest blog post? Motor-city mix-up? Accidental Author Arraignment? Eh, all of the above? None of the above? I don’t know, some combination thereof. All I know is, Rechelle asked me if I would be willing to write a blog post for her at some point. I see how much she enjoys doing this, so why not!

I’m Ron, as I assume you know by now. I love music. I love my bride Rechelle. I love cars. I’d imagine you don’t care much for the latter, so this post will be about the first two! Music plays a big part in our lives. Music helps us find meaning in things, digest and understand complex, difficult, and sometimes confusing things about life, and music can help us have fun! This is our third anniversary, so I’d like to share three songs that mean things to us! Presented in no order:

1) Banana Pancakes, by Jack Johnson

We listened to A LOT of Jack Johnson in college, and still do! He’s easily in my top 10 favorite artists. He covers everything from fun and easy listening to music, to more complicated subjects that he often handles metaphorically and really challenge you to think about things and put it all into perspective… I’ll spare you the complicated stuff and go straight to having fun for this one!

Banana Pancakes is quite literally about sleeping in on the weekend, making banana pancakes and enjoying time with each other. For us, it means don’t forget to take time for each other. Be sure to take a day every now and then where there is no schedule, sleep in (well, as much as you can with two beagles, aka 6:30 AM), enjoy each other’s company, forget about worrying about life’s responsibilities, wait, one up that…just don’t care about life’s responsibilities (ok, maybe just for a day). That can be very liberating! Perhaps most importantly, enjoy the small things: Beagles waggling tails on the back deck, good food, laughing smiles, naps, and everything else! The best part of life is living it! Marriage is often happy and you may not even catch it! This is a happy one from Jack, enjoy!

My takeaway here: HAVE FUN!!!

Fun fact: we tried to make banana pancakes once and it was a complete failure! Ha! We had fun with it and I think made blueberry muffins instead, my favorite anyway! Don’t let your failures get you down, learn from them and move on, there’s always something great around the corner!

2) If We Were Vampires, by Jason Isbell and the 400 unit.

We’ve recently discovered the Americana/Folk/Rock/Country artist Jason Isbell, and WOW! I not only think he is one of the most underrated lyrical song writers of our time, but one of the best songwriters EVER. Dude is a lyrical genius. I discover new meaning every time I listen. Look, his stuff isn’t t like easy to listen to and have fun Taylor Swift music (which certainly has its place in life)… but if you just stop and listen… do nothing else but close your eyes and listen…. I think you’ll get it.

Yeah, If We Were Vampires may be a cheesy name at its surface, however the song has some serious content, and yeah it’s a bit sad, but in the most beautiful way possible. Warning, you might cry if it hits you like it did with us. In it, Jason essentially says that many of the things you may think are important to a relationship/love may not be why we really care…. physical attraction, laughter, team work, emotional support, family, children, etc… are all certainly very important!… but, as he says “Maybe time running out is a gift”. We’ve got one shot at life on this earth, and as Jason adds:
“It’s knowing that this can’t go on forever
Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone
Maybe we’ll get forty years together
But one day I’ll be gone
Or one day you’ll be gone”.
Damn. At first you may think, “ugh that sucks. If only we could just have forever together!”, I sure did. However, his metaphor “If We Were Vampires” (If we lived forever like Vampires do), explains that it’s the limited time we know we’ll have together that makes us care and love each other. If we had forever, we wouldn’t work so hard to show that we love, because we’d have plenty of time to show it!

My takeaway here: Take the time now to show that you love each other! By the way, if this song isn’t for you the montage in the Pixar movie “UP!” Where Carl reflects on his life with Ellie is a great visual synonym for this concept.

3) I’m A Fire, by David Nail

Had Rechelle help me pick a third song, because it was just too hard to narrow it down to three! Growing up I never really liked country music, but when I met Rechelle that changed. David Nail was one of the first country artists that we enjoyed together, as he’s relatively easy to pick up and listen to, and borderline not even country.

I’m A Fire is about how a relationship is a team, both people are the ingredients that make it happen:

“Well hey, this is you and me against the world
Two crazy kids, a boy and a girl
You’re a spark, a match, I’m gasoline”

Ok so the world isn’t really against us, but it’s a fun twist that helps you realize it’s the two of you that can make anything happen! Plus I think we’re pretty crazy, and gasoline runs cars so…
“We’re all gonna fall, that’s part of the plan
Hold on to each other when we got no place to stand
When it feels like we’re a million miles apart
I’ll be shouting for you in the dark…”

Everyone’s going to fail at something at some point. Even the best relationships have their rough patches. But look, we’re both here for the same thing, each other. If nothing else, knowing the other person is there to hold you up no matter what is all it takes to get through.

“You put the beat in my heart
You put the smile on my face
You put the color in my sky
Otherwise a cloudy day
You put the swing in my dance
You put the speed in my run
Close your eyes, baby
Kiss the midnight sun
I’m a fire because of you
Oh, I’m a fire, burning blue”

Don’t forget that it’s the other person who makes you who you are, and why you care! There’s so many little reasons for that, and David Nail covers so many in his chorus. “I’m a fire because of you” is such a great line for us!

My takeaway for this is twofold: A good relationship is a team, you hold each other up. Also, don’t forget all the little things that add up to why you love the other person!

Hopefully this wasn’t too long, or too boring. What are some of your favorite songs?

P.S. our first dance at our wedding was to Angel, also by Jack Johnson. I’ll let you listen to it if you like and see why!