Fawkes News

CAMBRIDGE, MA—I received this video/song via the toons social list the other day. I have taken quite a liking to it. It’s a (very good) mashup of the top 25 billboard hits of this year. I think it has the distinction of being a mashup that is better than several of its components:

It is an interesting way to look back at the year. Even though a lot of the music I listen to doesn’t hit the Top 40, and some of the songs in here I’ve simply never heard before, some of the component songs still manage to have quite a number of memories attached to them.

Three of the tunes I am intimately familiar with, for obvious reasons.

Others have sillier memories or associations. Karen, as well as a few innocent, bystanders can tell you all about “My Life Would Suck Without You” dance parties. And anyone who spent time near me and a computer in mid-Semptember to mid-October can tell you that no matter how much Katy Perry was there first, in my heart, “Hot N Cold” will always be best sung, in Ukrainian accents, by Los Colorados . I won’t ever be able to hear Lady Gaga without first thinking of the innumerable versions of Poker Face I had to endure driving to NYC just after spring break last spring. Then, thanks to katclar, I will be immediately like “LOL. Bluffing with my muffin.” And none of these memories stand alone. I can’t think of Hot N Cold without thinking of 18.03 tooling sessions on 4th WAR; I can’t hear Single Ladies without thinking of Karen making fun of me for watching Glee, or the yackity sax version played by Kathleen in the 5E lounge. I can’t help but think of this year’s freshman and watching how they’ve changed. And thinking about how I’ve changed.

Music is an interesting tool for reflection. All these memories come to me associated with those sings that I didn’t even listen to that frequently. For me the true songs of 2009 range from Third-Eye Blind and innumerable other 90s songs from the Fifth East of last spring, to the Anime Themes and Blink-182 of the summer, to the Mika and Owl City of this fall. And when I think about these, when I think about what they make me think of, when think about the simple number of songs that were sung, I realize just how long a year 2009 was.

And in many ways it was appropriately a mash-up. A mash-up of the exciting confusion of a freshman IAP, the challenging spring, the disappointing and disease-filled summer, and the somewhat bitter but acceptable sophomore fall. The constant refrains of the song of me now simply weren’t conceived of a year ago. I wasn’t nor was I planning to be in the Toons. I hadn’t yet been elected a SIPB member. I had different (and fewer) friends, different thought patterns, different ambitions. But those songs have been sung now. The melodies of our lives float on the air of the year and the notes fade from our ears, eternally pressed on our minds. And at this time of year, we reach a grand pause. We take a few measures rest to pause and reflect.

And then we move into composing our lives for the next year.

What were the songs (literal and figurative) that permeated 2009 for you? Will you forget them and here them only when your mind or your iPod is on shuffle or will they continue to be the anthems of your life for years to come?

We will all just have to wait and see… and hear .

~Donald

P.S. I blame the life/song allegory that permeates the latter part of this entry on Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, which was heavy with this mythology and which I just finished today on the plane ride back to Boston. It was an enjoyable read and I recommend it. It is a followup in the universe of American Gods. A bit of a simpler story, and a bit more upbeat, but a nice whimsical read. MITSFS has it. Or at least they will as soon as I get around to returning it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 5:23 PM and is filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.