"How calm the sad and lovely moonlight" -Paul Verlaine

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

"It will change your life..."

One of my all time favorite movies is Garden State and one of my all time favorite lines happens in a waiting room of a doctor's office. Here the Natalie Portman approaches Zach Braff with her headphones and tells him he has to hear this song because "it will change his life."

I love music, and I think most people do as well. When I first heard this line I started thinking, what songs, albums, bands etc. have changed my life? What are my influences?

For me, my favorite bands, and this is just a few because there are really too many to name, are:
Oasis, the Beatles, Dave Matthews Band, Belle and Sebastian, the Dandy Warhols...etc.
Favorite albums: What's the Story Morning Glory, Tigermilk, 13 Tales from Urban Bohemia...etc.

Sure it's easy to list the favorites but then I got to thinking, what really changed my life? What song brings me back to a defining moment in my life. Such as everytime I hear a song from John Mayer's "Room for Squares" cd, the one with "No Such Thing" and "Your Body's a Wonderland" I am taken back to my sophomore year of high school and learning how to drive. That was a big year in my life. Another album that changed my life was "Don't Believe the Truth" by Oasis. It came out around the time that I was making a lot of changes in my life. For the first time I was starting to take charge and feel like an adult. That album was there for me through all of that.

So now I pose the question to you. What changed your life?
"How calm the sad and lovely moonlight"

-Paul Verlaine