The Subject Song

Having to pick through multiple songs to finally choose one song to represent a part of life is a lot harder than I first thought. One of my first obstacles I faced was to find the name of the (English) songs I liked listening to. Most of the songs I listen to are through the radio, so for most of time, I don’t know the singer or the name of the song (I only recognize the song itself). The second hurdle, was finalizing on ONE song to write on. With so many songs to choose from in the beginning, I wished to cut and paste certain parts of different songs into one to represent different parts of my life (that probably has something to do with listening to DJ Shadows recently). For this writing activity, quite a few different songs that came to mind at first, but since quite a few of them are sung in a different language, I was reluctant to use them. Music and song seem ‘relative’ to me; relative to the moment I choose it (kind of like cooking for me, when making one recipe, different amounts of different ingredients is used to match my expectation of the taste I am looking for at the time.) While I feel that they represent certain parts of my life. I finally decided on one of my favorite songs on the radio to describe my mode of life at this moment.

Wonderful World by Sam Cooke is one of my favorite ‘happy songs’. Hearing this song on the radio always brings a smile to my face. The song as a whole is really uplifting. Even listening to it now as I am writing, it is hard to describe exactly what it is that makes me smile. It is probably a combination of the music and the lyrics working together that makes this song so enjoyable. The beats seem to be at the correct tempo to make the song happy, but not fast enough to overcome the lyrics of the song. Somehow, just listening to the song seems to make everything feel better for me.

I remember hearing this song on the radio when I was younger. The lyrics of this song really caught my attention. Perhaps it can be the list of different school subjects that really made me pay more attention to this song than others. Having the different subjects in the song made it more relatable as a student (which lead to me unofficial name of the song to be ‘the subject song’). That and the fact that the lyrics admit that ‘I don’t claim to be an A student, but I’m tryin’ to be…’ got me to feel a little better about school as a whole. For the longest time, school was just something I had to go through because that is what is expected of me. So each school year, I would drag my way through all the subjects and do enough to just pass the class. After getting to meet some good teachers, knowing the reason behind school, and learning things that I had more interest in, got me liking my classes a lot more.

The focus of life for an individual is a reflection of different people’s (likes someone who they look up to) ideas of what is important in life. As a student, we have to get into certain classes and be able to pass with a certain grade. This song reminds me that grades are not the most important thing in life. Loving people, and having people love you back is really important too. Subjects are stressed too much sometimes in life. In high school, I took Spanish for my foreign language requirement (I was not really good at it, but did enough to pass the class with a descent grade). Now that I am in college, I can still remember some of the words and phrases I was taught, but most of it has been forgotten. As a student, a lot of the subjects and tool that are mentioned are important things to know (well, not a slide rule any more…), but as long as one has tried their best; and that should be the most important thing.

Being on the receiving end of love makes the world wonderful is true. This song seemed perfect for me right now. Midterms and tests are being given almost left and right recently (the subjects), and while I cannot say how well I did in them right now, I know that I tried my best. Just as the lyrics from above match up with my mood right now. The stress of tests, quizzes, and homework seems to lessen by the end of the day, and dramatically decrease when talking to loved ones. Wonderful World reminds me that knowing everything in life is not the most important (although being knowledgeable helps in life). The title of ‘most important thing’ saved for loved ones.

Part of me knows that this is a rather simple and naive way of looking at things, but it counters the other ways I live my life. After saying all of that, it is just one of the ways I try to live life. Just like how difficult it is to pick one song to describe the mode of life, it is hard to live life through one mode. While some modes are more unique than others, it is the different ways we combine them that makes us the unique people we are.