My London Music Album

I’m very passionate about music. I often have strong associations with music and certain events in my life. The Format with the summer of 2007. Speechwriters LLC for pretty much all of high school. The Hold Steady with my service trips in New Orleans (even though they always sing about Minnesota). Frightened Rabbit with my first internship. There are plenty more but in the interest of time I’ll stop there.

This never really consciously happens. I just happen to be on a kick of some band during a certain time in my life and immediately associate the two things with each other. Boom, married. I listened to Death Cab For Cutie’s Codes and Keys after a week of being in London, and I immediately fell in love with it. It instantly became my album of the trip. I was listening to it all the time. On long tube rides. Before bed. Really any time I could listen to music I was listening to this album.

Then, I started to think about it, and the more and more I listened to it, the more this album fit perfectly to my time in London. Not only did the music match the mood here, but the songs and lyrics fit with the city as well. Here’s a break down of every song on the list and it’s connection to London:

1. Home Is A Fire – This song speaks a lot to the history of London, specifically the Great Fire. Although it happened in 1666, it’s still a huge part of the culture here. Here is part of the lyrics: “Home, home is a fire, A burning reminder, Of where we belong.” For London, they still very much bring up the fire, and you see it, with things like ‘way out’ signs everywhere you go.

2. Codes and Keys – The end of this song repeats the phrase ‘we are alive.’ It’s ironic because London has a lot of dead bodies from build up over the years, so really there’s not a lot of people that are alive. But at the same time, London has 10% of the entire population of England in 1% of the area of the country. So I guess there are a lot of people alive here also.

3. Some Boys – This song talks about boys and things that they do. I am a boy and do things. So obviously this pertains to me.

4. Doors Unlocked and Opened – So every album has to have a least favorite song. Sorry Doors Unlocked and Opened, you win this award.

5. You Are A Tourist – Obviously the title of this one is easy enough to interpret. I am a tourist in London. But there’s a really cool line in the song that goes ‘define your destination, there’s so many different places to call home.’ I’ve always kind of felt like this. At this point, it’s really hard to define what my home is. I’ve spent the majority of my last 4 years in Boston, but during that period I’ve also called New Hampshire, New Orleans, New Jersey, London, and in a few weeks, Los Angeles my home at one point or another. There’s something neat about having multiple places to call your home.

6. Unobstructed Views – This song starts with a really neat instrumental. It’s also the part of the album that I start thinking is perfect for walking around the city. The instrumental portion leads itself well to that.

7. Monday Morning – When I listen to this song, I imagine a music video from the 60s in black and white taking place in London. It’s hard to describe why this makes me think of this, but I think the song just lends itself to it. The music just has this vintage feel to it.

8. Portable Television – This song sings about being taken away from the technology in life. While we’re still very much connected here in London, there are still times where I am without technology or the internet, and it’s kind of nice…and then you’ll get lost or need to use e-mail and are connected again.

9. Underneath the Sycamore – Again, this is another song where the music and sound makes me think of something. With this, it’s great music for riding down european roads on some sort of motorbike.

10. St. Peter’s Cathedral – There are so many old, historic buildings around London, and although St. Peter’s Cathedral isn’t in London, London is still full of old buildings that have a ton of history. Whenever I hear this song it’s a reminder to look up and appreciate the architecture around me.

11. Stay Young, Go Dancing – This song is just a lot of fun, which is what my entire time in London has been.

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