Big Girls Don't Cry (2nd of 2 Parts, Conclusion)

After almost half-a-month of converting oxygen into carbon dioxide, a very intimate rendezvous, and yet another failed relationship comes the second part of my most loved musical pieces. Here is the link for first post (to refresh you all) and the top five are as follows:

The Avril Lavigne Collection:

I’m With You
Let Go

Nobody’s Home
Under My Skin

Keep Holding On
The Best Damn Thing


Okay, okay, I know it’s illegitimate to put three songs on a single spot but hey, it’s Avril Lavigne, and whether you admit it or not, I know, yup I know, that you have liked at least one of her cutie smooshie albeit annoying songs.

With Avril’s debut in mid-2002s, identity-challenged and sexually-confused teenagers found an icon in this charming, delightful Canadian pop-rock artist. There starts the ineffaceable era of the proliferation of tomboyish twinks in male neckties, uber-rebonded hair with either blonde or hot pink highlights, black capris and Converse all-stars. Yet we all know, that like our generic liking for skinny jeans, “this too shall pass.”

Notwithstanding Avril’s pop songs Complicated, Skater Boi, Girlfriend, etc., there are really good Avril songs, and I’m With You and Nobody’s Home are good examples. Both exude a sense of loneliness and melancholy, as if there is a feeling of gloom, and rejection, and pain in being alone. It has such a smoky and murky atmosphere, it is dark, almost bordering into suicidal.

While Keep Holding On is the exact antithesis to this enveloping loneliness. It is essentially a song of acceptance, comfort and hope. So not the Avril Lavigne that has a lackadaisical and “I-don’t-care” attitude, but it is always refreshing to hear a different sound from this creative, though always misunderstood artist.

Maybe you’ve also heard…:
I’m With You in Scrubs, Season 3, “My Tormented Mentor”
Keep Holding On in “Eragon”

Most memorable lines:
“Won't you, take me by the hand, take me somewhere new
I don't know who you are but I, I'm with you”

and

“You’re not alone, together we stand
I’ll be by your side, you know I’ll take your hand
When it gets cold, and it feels like the end
There’s no place to go, you know I won’t give in"






Lullaby For A Stormy Night
Vienna Teng
Waking Hour





In this lifetime I have cried in public three times at most. First when I was coming out of my mother’s uterus. Second when my ex-lover left for the States a few years back. Lastly when my sister, niece and nephews returned to the States a few months back after their vacation here in the Philippines. Although people think that I’m a hardy, stern, heartless individual and it takes a lot of wringing to extract some tears in my lachrymal glands, I’m really all soft and swooshy inside. An emotional note, a sentimental song, and a touching lyrics is enough to make me cry inside.

In my humble opinion, Vienna Teng is one of the most understated singer song-writer ever. Her songs are lasting, haunting and moving, heartbreaking at times, emotional at most. Brahm’s Lullaby aside, Lullaby For A Stormy Night emanates the same atmosphere of comfort, safety, and tranquility, and it has such an enticing power that one could just unconditionally surrender to the harmony of the song, in the arms of a special beloved.

One could imagine this song being played (a) by a mother holding tender to her child, or (b) by a lover to his loved one, lying together in each other’s arms, or (c) by a forlorn lover whose beloved is far from her presence. Add that to the melancholic sense brought by the pouring rain, and savour the lingering effects of Lullaby’s lyrics in your lonely, private nights.

Maybe you’ve also heard this song in:
N/A

You might also like her other songs like:
Gravity, Harbor, Cannonball, Momentum, The Tower, Between & Whatever You Want.

Most memorable lines:

“for you know, once even I was a
little child, and I was afraid
but a gentle someone always came
to dry all my tears, trade sweet sleep for fears
and to give a kiss goodnight”

And

“Everything's fine in the morning
the rain'll be gone in the morning
but I'll still be here in the morning”






Samson
Regina Spektor
Begin to Hope





There are inseparable things in life. Milk and Oreo cookies; Yin and Yang; Piolo Pascual and Sam Milby; going to the gym and the inevitable shower scene; Me and credit card debts; and so much more. And then there comes Regina Spektor and the piano. Such a perfect combination, separating one from the other is such plain unacceptable, criminal even.

This song is so intriguing that I dedicated an entire post regarding this song, and Samson’s life (the Biblical creature). I even debated about the identity of the person singing: is it Delilah who “cut his hair myself one night, a pair of dull scissors in the yellow light” or the woman who “loved him first,” where “history books forgot about us and the bible didn't mention us, not even once.” Perhaps it would be best to leave it up to Regina cause “somedays aren’t ours at all.”

Samson is all about loving a person unconditionally that one is willing to completely forgive the beloved despite everything he/she have wrongly committed. If listening to this song makes you an official Spektor fan, a YouTube search of Somedays and The Flowers wouldn’t ever hurt.

Maybe you’ve also heard this song in:
An episode in CSI: NY, Season 3.
Pinoy Big Brother, Season 2, Wendy and Bruce’s scenes.

Most memorable lines:

“Oh I cut his hair myself one night
A pair of dull scissors in the yellow light
And he told me that I'd done alright (is that sweet or what)
and kissed me 'til the mornin' light.”

And

“You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first.”





By Your Side
Sade
Lover’s Rock




I originally heard this song on yet another episode of Sex and the City. In fact, it is the context in which this song is played that made me love this song more. In this episode, Samantha starts to fall for her boss (Richard) and Carrie felt grateful for her relationship with Aidan. (Makes me excited about the SATC Movie more and more). If this quote rings a bell, you’re in the same page with mine:

"That's the thing about needs. Sometimes when you get them met, you don't need them anymore."

Haven’t we all wished that there will be that special someone who won’t leave our side when we turn gray and old. Someone who will comfort us through the warmth, moreso through the cold. A special person who will be there to hold us tight, who will tell us we're right even though the world tells otherwise, who will see right through us, who will love us unconditionally. It is songs like this one that makes me optimistic about love and romance. That there is a special someone out there, that love indeed is possible, and a true romance is just around the corner… and then, it’s not so bad at all.

Maybe you’ve also heard this song in:
Sex and the City, Season 4, “The Good Fight”

Most memorable lines:

“Ohh, when you're cold
I'll be there, hold you tight to me
When you're on the outside
Baby, and you can't get in
I would show you
You're so much better than you know"

AND MY MOST LOVED SONG OF ALL:





Somewhere Only We Know
Keane
Hopes and Fears





I detest 2pm-10pm shifts when I was working in the hospital. 10pm marks the end of duty but endorsements usually extends a whole deal of time. Tired and hungry, I usually leave the hospital 1am at least. And walking down the peaceful, quiet hallways, out into the cold, wintry streets, feeling the rushing of the wind on my face, watching leaves falling and sweeping down the street, sometimes with the occasional downpouring of rain, and walking the same path each and every day is such a nostalgic moment I could not express the bliss inside of me. For me, the street’s no stranger, the air is my friend, the street is my cradle, the wind—my music. I blend with nature till were no longer different, but one.

This is what I feel everytime I listen to this song. If there was a song that could ultimately sum up the events in my life as of present, it would be nothing else but this one. Everytime this song is played, melancholic thoughts fills my mind and puts me in such blissful nostalgia I could literally feel my body drifts into nothingness and pure weightlessness. It reminds me of a special place, a special emotion, a special time, a special feeling, a special person—it brings me to an inexplicable sense of happiness. It’s as if I’m comforted by the lines of the song. I guess it's in the lyrics, or in the melody, or in the meaning behind the spectacular wordplay that enthralls me and leaves me in awe. Perhaps I might never know, and the real meaning might still be obscure right now, but I know that someday I will, in a place somewhere only you and I know.

Maybe you’ve also heard this song in:
Grey’s Anatomy, Season 1, “The First Cut is the Deepest”
Finding Neverland, The Lake House, Scrubs, Cold Case, etc.
Also sung by Natasha Beddingfield, Blake Lewis, etc.

Most memorable lines:

“Oh simple thing where have you gone
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

So if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go...
Somewhere only we know?”

*

There goes my top ten most loved, loved song (among the 3,967 in my iPod). May each line comfort your soul, nourish your spirit, renew your mind, and inspire you more and more every day. The real music, after all, is not always what is heard on your ears, but what is uttered in your heart.

*

P. S. Runners-up include Garbage’s Tell Me Where It Hurts, Rickie Lee Jones’ On Saturday Afternoons in 1963, Jason Mraz’ You and I Both, Rhett Miller’s Come Around, MCR's Welcome to the Black Parade, Sarah Brightman's Dust in the Wind, and Gavin Degraw’s Follow Through. 10 songs (out of 3,967 or 0.003%) is really a few, god knows how hard it is to pick just a few.