Day 29 -- Your Favorite Song By Your Favorite Artist
Before one can pick what his or her favorite song by their favorite artist is, one needs to pick his or her favorite artist. It's a difficult feat, especially when one is not exactly sure who one's favorite artist even is. My go-to answer for "favorite artist" from age 13 to 27 was The Carpenters, a brother-sister duo famous for their early 70s soft rock and Karen Carpenter's velvety, melancholic voice. I connected with their music during my awkward adolescent years. But it wasn't just the music. After watching and rewatching the 1989 made-for-TV movie The Karen Carpenter Story and reading her biographies, I connected with the woman despite her dying five years before I was born. Something about her longing for a romantic life that she never had and self-destructing in the process spoke to me.
But much like how Megan Fox removed her tattoo of Marilyn Monroe, citing she didn't want to "attract negative energy" by having a tragic, mentally ill figure on her body, I have decided that the Carpenters can no longer be my favorite artist for similar reasons. Oh, I still like their music. It is like nothing else out there. And if one of their songs comes on the radio (a rarity), do I sing along? Yes, but not without mentally checking myself. The emotional connection, the negative emotional connection, I had to the that music is now severed. Once Tyler came into my life, he made me see...well, a lot of things, but among them is how I surrounded myself with negative objects, ideas, etc. Now that am I no longer mired in the bullshit, I can stand back and see how much it stinks.
So who is my favorite artist? I guess I'll fall back on The Beatles who I have liked since birth thanks to my dad. I don't really need to go into why I like The Beatles, right? I mean, come on! But as for a song...man, there are so many...[quickly checks iTunes]
"She's Leaving Home" -- The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
This is a bizarre choice, really. I typically like the Beatles' earlier, poppier stuff more. (Think "I Wanna Hold Your Hand".) "She's Leaving Home" is from their later more psychedelic era. And if John Lennon and Paul McCartney didn't have such recognizable voices, you might not even guess it's The Beatles. "She's Leaving Home" is the finest example of baroque pop, a late 60s trend which utilizes classical music stylings, harps and the like. Lush and romantic, this song tells the story of a young girl who leaves her well-providing but unloving parents' home for a life with her man. It was inspired by several news stories about otherwise normal, happy, respectable girls running away with the spirit of the 60s. An underrated Beatles song from their highest rated album and my favorite thanks to its sonic uniqueness and beauty.
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