"Music of My Life"

Today in class my students presented their "theme song projects." For this project, the students were asked to find four songs that represented their "big idea" or theme during  different time periods in their lives (birth-preschool, elementary school, middle school, and high school). The students then used these songs to help explain what their lives were like during these time periods in an essay. One student said, "Miss Hoyle, what would your song be?" I felt it was appropritate for me to figure that out.I am going to use the following time periods for my "project": (elementary,high school, college, and adult-hood or my present life). No, I am not going to write an essay, but I am going to post the lyrics to four songs and explain why I chose them in a short blurb. This is just for fun. My students will not read this, but I thought my friends and family might want some insight into what I am doing at school.

 1- Elementary aged.
Pink "Family Portrait"

Momma please stop cryin, I can’t stand the sound
Your pain is painful and its tearin' me down
I hear glasses breakin as I sit up in my bed
I told dad you didn’t mean those nasty things you
said

You fight about money, bout me and my brother
And this I come home to, this is my shelter
It ain’t easy growin up in World War III
Never knowin what love could be, you’ll see
I don’t want love to destroy me like it has done
my family

Can we work it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I’ll be better, Mommy I’ll do anything
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I’ll be better, Daddy please don’t
leave

Daddy please stop yellin, I can’t stand the sound

Make mama stop cryin, cuz I need you around
My mama she loves you, no matter what she says
its true
I know that she hurts you, but remember I love
you, too

I ran away today, ran from the noise, ran away
Don’t wanna go back to that place, but don’t have
no choice, no way
It ain’t easy growin up in World War III
Never knowin what love could be, well I've seen
I don’t want love to destroy me like it did my
family

Can we work it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I’ll be better, Mommy I’ll do anything
Can we work it out? Can we be a family?
I promise I’ll be better, Daddy please don’t
leave

In our family portrait, we look pretty happy
Let’s play pretend, let's act like it comes
naturally
I don’t wanna have to split the holidays
I don’t want two addresses
I don’t want a step-brother anyways
And I don’t want my mom to have to change her
last name

In our family portrait we look pretty happy
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that
In our family portrait we look pretty happy
Let's play pretend, act like it goes naturally

In our family portrait we look pretty happy
(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that
(I promise I’ll be better, Mommy I’ll do
anything)
In our family portrait we look pretty happy
(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)
Let's play pretend act and like it comes so
naturally
(I promise I’ll be better, Daddy please don't
leave)
In our family portrait we look pretty happy
(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)
We look pretty normal, let's go back to that
(I promise I’ll be better, Daddy please don't
leave)

Daddy don’t leave
Daddy don’t leave
Daddy don’t leave
Turn around please
Remember that the night you left you took my
shining star?
Daddy don’t leave
Daddy don’t leave
Daddy don’t leave
Don't leave us here alone

Mom will be nicer
I’ll be so much better, I’ll tell my brother
Oh, I won’t spill the milk at dinner
I’ll be so much better, I’ll do everything right
I’ll be your little girl forever
I’ll go to sleep at night

-The lyrics of this song say it all. In second grade my parents split up, and it was one of the hardest things I ever had to go through. I remember trying so hard to get my parents back together. I literally became physically ill from the fighting and the sadness. I felt that if only I tried harder my parents would stay together.

2- Highschool aged
Sum 41- "Fat Lip"

Stormin' through the party like my name was El nino
When I'm hangin' out drinkin' in the back of an El Camino
As a kid, I was a skid and no one knew me by name
I trashed my own house party 'cuz nobody came

Now, I know I'm not the one you thought you knew back in high School
Never goin' never showin' up when we had to
Attention that we crave don't tell us to behave
I'm sick of always hearin' act your age

Chorus:

I don't wanna waste my time
Become another casualty of society
I'll never fall in line
Become another victim of your conformity
And back down

Be-cuz you don't
Know us at all we laugh when old people fall
But what would you expect with a conscience so small?
Heavy metal and mullets it's how we were raised
Maiden and priest were the gods that we praised

'Cuz we like havin' fun at other people's expense and
Cuttin' people down is just a minor offense then
It's none of your concern, I guess I'll never learn
I'm sick of bein' told to wait my turn

Repeat Chorus

Don't count on me, to let you know when
Don't count on me, I'll do it again
Don't count on me, it's the point you're missin'
Don't count on me, cause I'm not listenin'

Well I'm a no goodnick lower middle class brat,
Back packed and I don't give a shit about nothin'
You be standin' on the corner talkin' all that kufuffin
But you don't make sense from all the gas you be huffin'
Then if the egg don't stain you'll be ringin' off the hook
You're on the hit list wanted in the telephone book
I like songs with distortion, to drink in proportion
The doctor said my mom should have had an abortion.......

Tie Chorus in with ending

Waste my time with them
Casualty of society
Waste my time again
Victim of your conformity
And back down

 -I chose this song because when I was a teenager, I was always going against what society expected from me. I had no rules and no limits. I did what I wanted, when I wanted. Trust me my dad had a lot of heart ache during my teenage years. I also was an outcast. I had a few close friends, but for the most part, I did not care what anyone thought about me.

3. College-
 Taylor Swift "Mine"

Ohh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Ohh, oh, oh, oh, oh
You were in college working part time waiting tables
Left a small town, never looked back
I was the flight risk with the fear of fallin’
Wonderin’ why we bothered with love if it never lasts
I say ”Can you believe it”
As we’re lying on the couch
The moment I can see it
Yes, yes I can see it now
Do you remember we were sittin’ there by the water
You put your arm around me for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter
You are the best thing that’s ever been mine
Flash forward and we’re taking on the world together
And there’s a drawer of my things at your place
You learned my secrets and you figure out why I’m bothered
You say we’ll never make my parents’ mistakes
But we’ve got bills to pay
We got nothing figured outWhen it was hard to take yes, yes
This is what I thought about
Do you remember we were sitting there by the water
You put your arm around me for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter
You are the best thing that’s ever been mine
Do you remember all the city lights on the water
You saw me start to believe for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter
You are the best thing that’s ever been mine
Woah oh ohh
And I remember that fight 2:30 AM
Cause everything was slippin’ right out of our hands
I ran out crying and you followed me out into the street
Braced myself for the goodbye
Cause that’s all I’ve ever known
And you took me by surprise
You said ”I’ll never leave you alone”
You said
”I remember how we felt sittin’ by the water
And every time I look at you it’s like the first time
I fell in love with a careless man’s careful daughter
She is the best thing that’s ever been mine”
Oh oh
Make it last
Hold on
Never turn back
You made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter
You are the best thing that’s ever been mine
Woah oh
Yeah, yeah… Do you believe it
Woah oh
We’re gonna make it now.
Woah oh
And I can see it yeah, yeah
And I can see it now, See it now, See it now

-My freshman year in college I found my first true love, Nick. We dated throughout college, and besides my constant studying, the majority of my life revolved around him. Yes, we have had our arguments, but he truly is the "best thing that's ever been mine." The bold face lyrics perfectly sum up how mine and Nick's relationship was through my college years.

4. Adult-hood (my life right now)-
 One Republic "Come Home"

[Verse 1]
Hello world
Hope you're listening
Forgive me if I’m young
For speaking out of turn
There’s someone I’ve been missing
I think that they could be
The better half of me
They’re in the wrong place trying to make it right
But I’m tired of justifying
So i say you’ll..

[Chorus]
Come home
Come home
Cause I’ve been waiting for you
For so long
For so long
And right now there's a war between the vanities
But all i see is you and me
The fight for you is all I’ve ever known
So come home
Oh

[Verse 2]
I get lost in the beauty
Of everything i see
The world ain’t as half as bad
As they paint it to be
If all the sons
If all the daughters
Stopped to take it in
Well hopefully the hate subsides and the love can begin
It might start now..Yeahh
Well maybe I’m just dreaming out loud
Until then

[Chorus]
Come home
Come home
Cause I’ve been waiting for you
For so long
For so long
And right now there's a war between the vanities
But all i see is you and me
The fight for you is all I’ve ever known
Ever known
So come home
Oh

[Interlude]
Everything i can’t be
Is everything you should be
And that’s why i need you here
Everything i can’t be
Is everything you should be
And that’s why i need you here
So hear this now

[Chorus]
Come home
Come home
Cause I’ve been waiting for you
For so long
For so long
And right now there's a war between the vanities
But all i see is you and me
The fight for you is all I’ve ever known
Ever known
So come home
Come home

-To those that know what's going on in my life right now, the lyrics of this song say it all.