Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Tune in Tuesdays!

This Tuesday's song pick is a beautifully slow, dreamy, touching song. It's by Sara Bareilles and it's called Once Upon Another Time. Her voice moves me. It has since I first heard it 7+ years ago. This song evoked an emotional reaction when I first heard it. Bean's 2nd birthday has had me in a very nostalgic mood for the past week or so. The PMS that's creeping in over top of me is pushing that nostalgia over the edge and turning me into a weepy sap.

I close my eyes and listen to this song and it's like I'm the one driving the car. I'm watching the yellow lines on the road, feeling the warmth from the sun on my arms through the car windows, I'm driving up a mountain-side on a curvy road, everything is in slow motion. I can hear Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah coming from my car's speakers, I notice the light haze of cigarette smoke swirling in the air around me. I can smell the outside, earthy, air. There is some sort of ornament dangling from my rear view mirror that I see slowly swaying right to left as I follow the curve of the road. At first I feel anxious and lost, but by the end of the song I feel at peace. I feel older and wiser and realize that the shit I'm worrying about isn't as big as it seems. By the end of the song it's nighttime, I'm still driving, but I'm not trying to escape anymore. I'm driving because I can, because I can take myself where I need to go, because I enjoy driving. I remember those anxious memories, but they don't scare me anymore. I'm ok. When the song started I noticed my pulse sped up, but the end of it my pulse and my breathing had considerably slowed. It happened like that, the whole mental and physical experience, each of the 15 times (in a row) I listened to it.

I love her voice and I love her ability to completely paint a scene in my mind's eye.



"Once Upon Another Time"

Once upon another time
Somebody's hands who felt like mine
Turned the key and took a drive
Was free
Highway curve, the sun sank low
Buckley on the radio
Cigarette was burning slow
So breathe

Just yellow lines and tire marks
And sun-kissed skin and handle bars
And where I stood was where I was to be

No enemies to call my own
No porch light on to pull me home
And where I was is beautiful
Because I was free

Once upon another time
Before I knew which life was mine
Before I left the child behind me
I saw myself in summer nights
And stars lit up like candle light
I make my wish but mostly I believed...

In yellow lines and tire marks
Sun-kissed skin and handle bars
And where I stood was where I was to be

Once upon another time
Decided nothing good in dying
So I would just keep on driving
Because I was free 

If you're linking up this week be sure to grab my button and link up here. Now excuse me while I go listen to this song on repeat, with my eyes closed for another hour.

Nic + Bean

1 comment:

shantoast said...

I am going to do this. What exactly is a blog hop? I mean I read your explanation last week, but it didn't quite click. So if I link your tune in tuesdays button, then the link brings you to every blog post that is doing it? and then i will also grab a blog button for your individual blog? i was just a little confused, haha. but def like the idea!