Wednesday, May 26, 2010

looking for a song to sing

Thing One: If you were a senior in high school and you had to sing a song dedicated your peers and teachers, what song would you pick? Rules that we invented:
  1. No songs from musicals or rock operas or anything with a storyline. Songs out of context = the devil!
  2. Something that can be accompanied by a live piano or guitar -- no tacky karaoke tracks (not appropriate for the venue).
  3. Nothing that conveys overt hostility towards yours peers/teachers. "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" by Green Day is OK, "Fuck You" by Lily Allen is not.
  4. It's a relatively mellow event, so nothing too lively. "Dancing Queen" or "Tik Tok" are probably out of the question.
This survey is to benefit my younger sister, who has been hard-pressed to pick a song for Senior Solo Night, which is in a week. She had a relatively great high school experience, and so I think she really wants to pick a song that shows her appreciation for and warmth towards her friends and mentors. I gave her some good suggestions, most of which she nixed (I can't imagine WHY she wouldn't want to sing "I Shot The Sheriff") some of which she initially liked but then she couldn't find good enough sheet music. So I turn to you. Help me, internets. You're my only hope!

Thing Two: Unlike a lot of people, I basically loved high school. I found my niche early on (band geeks FTW) and stuck to it, and the social structure of my massive public school was too chaotic for a stifling clique-y heirarchy. Everyone basically left each other alone. I had my four best friends who accepted me for who I was (and still do!). I had teachers whom I respected and looked up to (and some I didn't of course). And there were a surprising amount of good looking guys when I was there, so had tons of eye candy to feast upon every. Single. Day. (Something you should know about me is that I was completely boy crazy for all four years of high school. If I wasn't lusting after a classmate, it was some celebrity or a guy I saw at a random Starbucks on my way to a flute lesson.)

Obviously I do look back and roll my eyes at a lot of things, cringe at my attitudes and actions, and sigh with relief that I don't have to wake up every morning at 6 and go be somewhere for seven hours, five days a week. I'm not trying to romanticize it. I think.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I'm glad high school is over, it wasn't exactly torture for me. And this whole thing with my sister's Senior Solo Night got me thinking about what I would have chosen to dedicate to my friends and mentors. I can't say for sure, but I like to think it would have been this:



I'm awake, you're still sleeping
The sun will rise like yesterday
Everything that we are now
Is everything we can't let go
Or its gone forever, far away
I hope tomorrow is like today
Don't you go away tomorrow
I don't think I could handle that
You're probably dreaming that you're flying on
Then you start to fall
But then you rise
and shine forever
Don't go away
I hope tomorrow is like today

Tell me what your experience was like! What song would you have chosen as your big fat farewell to high school? And you don't have to follow the rules I set above -- you can be as passive-aggressive (or just plain aggressive) as you please!

8 comments:

  1. I chose "I Hope You Dance" (which I would suggest to your sister, but I have a feeling she would nix that because it's uber sappy). We had a talent show every year and some of the seniors, including myself, used it as an opportunity to say our farewells.

    Meanwhile, Katrina and her two best friends danced Rhythm Nation and my friend Katie played a medley of classic/current rock songs on her electric guitar (shocking the ENTIRE STUDY BODY because it was totally unexpected). So. Maybe it was just me and the girls singing 'For Good' (for the millionth time that year) saying our farewells.

    (Sorry for the length of this comment. I am hopped up on coffee.)

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  2. Pssst, there is something for you on my blog!!!

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  3. hmm...that's hard. I'll think of the FIRST one that comes to my mind...ok...Smashing Pumpkins "Tonight". I'm sure there are other songs but that's the first one that popped up. It's not just a song that I would consider just for my times in high school but in college and well my twenties :-). It's that song that reminds me of the best times of your life.

    Anyways high school was ok but I'm kind of glad it's over. I mean I lived in the middle of nowhere and I just knew I just wanted something more. I loved the friends I made there and I keep in touch with a few still. Otherwise I don't really have any memories that stood out in high school.

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  4. @Cait - You were right, Mel snubbed "I Hope You Dance." So picky, that one. And not only do I not mind the length of your comment, I appreciate it! Love hearing from you :)

    @Angela - :D!

    @Julie - I used to LOVE "Tonight, Tonight" until it became associated with a certain relationship that ended really badly. Which totally sucks, because that's such an awesome song! "Today" is a good "best-times-of-your-life" song too.

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  5. My best friend and i became obsessed with Blink 182 albums' Enema of the State when we were in 3rd year (we would have been about 13-14 yrs old), so i'd pick "What's My Age Again" since it brings back some of my best High School memories =D

    And i agree - high school wasn't that bad! Of course there were evil exams, torments (like the time you were wearing a skirt and on the way back to class after break you fell over a massive plant pot, backwards, and your legs went up in the air....no? Just me then? oh...) and boy related anguish (for me too!) but it's an experience that i equally wouldn't want to forget =)

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  6. Graduation by Vitamin C is also a crowd pleaser :)

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  7. @Michelle - Or the time that you were moving sound equipment on stage at a jazz band competition and you tripped over a speaker and fell completely ungracefully on your ass in front of several cute saxophone players? ...just me then? :P

    @Becca - I told her that too but she shot me down!! What is *wrong* with my sister? I'm gonna tell her the internets says I'm right.

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  8. I don't have any recommendations since all I can think of have been mentioned (and my grad song -- Green Day's Good Riddance -- was already put up there)...my brother's grad song was Eve 6's "Here's to the Night", but I'm not sure how entirely appropriate that is for teachers haha.

    You have literally summed up my entire high school experience (obviously though you know sub "journalism kids" with "band geeks") perfectly. It was too big a school to have that top tier popular crowd or the bottom-level "loser kids." I had my main group, tons of other friends, general people I liked or didn't, teachers I loved, teachers I didn't, lots of boys always on my mind...it was a good time. I miss it a lot, though I don't think I'd really go back.

    I've also realized that this was posted a week ago, so what song did she eventually pick?? Maybe you've posted it already...but I'm reading in order so I may run into it soon, which if that is the case, promptly ignore this entire paragraph! :)

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