It’s natural to hit a speed bump in your week. I hit quite a few, quite often and quite annoyingly. A lot of times there’s not reason for it, but I like to think that without the lulls we wouldn’t be able to appreciate the awesome things that happen. These are five songs that pepped me up – songs that reminded me to realign my mind, see things more positively and to take a break from the stress to get lost in a virtual crowd for a little while.
1. Oasis – Don’t Look Back In Anger
Self-explanatory, but LOOK AT HIS FACE! I get the chills every time. It’s rad to watch any artist look in awe of a crowd, but particularly special when it’s a guy like Noel Gallagher. There’s a unified pulse of that audience and I still laugh at Noel’s “Sing along with the chorus if you know it!” How did Argentina respond? Fuck your chorus – the whole song’s a belter.
2. Catfish and the Bottlemen – Sidewinder
I’ll never understand why ‘Sidewinder’ isn’t played more often because the lead in gets me every time. This is before CATB got as big as they are and is also one of the videos that made me go out on a limb and risk looking like an idiot to ask for an interview with them. Because of that, here we are. Something about seeing how far we’ve both come really pulled me out of my slump.
Sidenote: we are all that blond girl in the front and I still wonder if she made it out of this okay.
3. Paolo Nutini – Candy
Look at him.
4. James Bay – Move Together
This is one of the first videos I’d ever seen of James and it’s bewitched me ever since. I’ve seem him three times this year and in three different cities, yet I’ve walked away each time thinking of this one session. I wrote a blog post for a site that didn’t exist in 2013 that said, “If one person with any kind of platform or voice can hear and see the passion that is overflowing in this guy, he’ll be massive. We don’t have authenticity like this anymore.” I stand by that.
5. The Clancy Brothers – Galway Bay
This is a weird one. If you have Irish grandparents, you’ve probably heard this but if your grandma didn’t spike your eggnog with whiskey as a child – it’s okay. You might still be able to see the (twisted) beauty and humor in two people in love who hate each other a little. (What…?) Yep. Half because they’re annoyed that the other one won’t shut up and half because they’re obsessed and completely beguiled by the other’s heart.
Those Irish…ta ta.
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