Songs. I like songs. You like songs.  On my walk today while I was listening to songs, I started thinking about different songs, and how they make me feel different things. And that I listen to them for different reasons. Diversity. Songs. Then I thought I’d make a list. Here ya go.

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The most beautiful few seconds in the most beautiful song: 4:00–>4:30 (roughly) in Radiohead’s “Let Down.” Incredible climax. I go crazy.

Best guilty-pleasure (although I don’t feel guilty at all) song: “Halo”-Beyonce. So good. Too good. I even managed to fit it into my thesis presentation. I compared it to a Ghanaian funeral drum sequence. Yes.

A funny song: “Cheeseburger in Paradise” by Jimmy Buffet. I LOVED this song when I was little; I would try to finish a Muppet Babies puzzle before the song was over while singing about Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes.

Most poignant lyrics in a song: Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.” This whole album is haunting; inspired by Jeff Mangum’s experience reading the diary of Anne Frank, he pulls from her life story. Some of the lines?  “And one day we will die/and our ashes will fly….But for now we are young/Let us lay in the sun/And count every beautiful thing we can see.” My favorite line? The last one in the song: “How strange it is to be anything at all.”

Most nostalgic song: “You’re the finest” by P-Square. P-Square are a Nigerian R&B duo from Nigeria, and they are crazy popular in Ghana. I listened to this song over..and over, and over..and over while I was there.  It was ALWAYS playing. Everywhere! And it always brings me back to that..happy place.

Just one of my fav songs: “Come on! Feel the Illinois!” by Sufjan Stevens. Layers and layers of musical geniusness (I created this word). Too good. I’ll never get sick of it.

A new enjoyable song: “Autumn Tree” by Milo Greene. Check out their bandcamp. This song does something for me.

My go-to album: Neil Young’s “After the Goldrush.” (I know this isn’t a song…but they’re my rules and I can break them).