The Good Songs Stay with You

We all know when we like a song.  But it's hard to describe why certain songs mean more to us than others.

Weezer's "Say It Ain't So" is probably the closest thing I have to a favorite song.  From the opening hammer on chord to the pre-2nd-verse lead guitar noodling to the distorted guitar bend punctuation in the 2nd and 3rd choruses to the climactic falsetto on the last "say it ain't so"... I love this song.  And just disproved my theory of being unable to describe why certain songs touch us.

But aside from the technical aspect of "Say It Ain't So", which is completely describable in a very clinical and musical sense, there is another side to the song.  The artistry of it.  The objective part.  The part that makes it one of my favorite songs.  And all the great hits have it.  Each song that instantly transports you to a specific moment in your life has it.  I hear "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind and can feel the summer after my freshman year in high school.  The opening bass riff of Offspring's "Bad Habit" transports me to the parking lot of my elementary school during sixth grade.  The plucked guitar notes of "Dunn the Worm" by Sugarplastic reach my eardrums, and I can literally visualize my 1st year dorm room at UCI.  Every single song has a special little section of my heart, and whenever I want to visit that section, all I have to do is take a listen.

I want to write and play and sing music like that.  Music that takes you back or forward or just away.  Music that you can't help but remember because it has "it".  I can only hope to touch one person with my music the way each of my favorite songs and bands and artists has touched me.

"I can't help but grin every single time..."