If I were a song

We're starting a new set of monthly features on Fernweh that we're all very excited about! One of our newest is a series called, "If I were..." It sounds cliche to say that I love music, but I do. The different genres, the various ways of expression, the sound, the beat -- all of it makes my heart beat faster, my soul ready to sing, my feet ready to dance. To try to sum ourselves up in a single song was a challenge, but I love reading our collective thoughts.

Libby says...

I have different songs for different feelings, with lyrics that make me cry and laugh and dance. I have songs for when my heart is broken and for when it is so full that it might just burst. And I have one song that, whatever mood I am in, fits. Down by Summer Camp is my favourite song to hear when I am desperate to move out and when I am fine in my home. It is for dancing and for reading sad poetry and for staring out the window and dreaming of my future. It is for everything. And maybe it's not everything that I am right now, but it's everything that I want to be too.

Hannah says...

I grew up with music. From classical, to swing, to big band, to rock, to jazz, and back to folk -- my family is full of music. I've sung since I was little and so I've always been in love with sound. There's intrinsic beauty, memories, and a deep ache that comes with music -- oftentimes, something beautiful will make me cry. It's so hard to narrow it down to one, but if I were a song, I would be Something in the Water by Brooke Fraser. It's one of my favorites, and this stanza sums it up so well, "I've got halo's made of summer, rhythms made of spring // What she wears, what she wears, what she wears // I got crowns of words a woven each one a song to sing // Oh I sing, oh I sing, oh I sing."

Kendall says...

Anyway, I would have to say if I were a song, right now, I'd be "Heaven Go Easy On Me" by The Head and The Heart. When I first heard it, I was blown away by how much it felt like it was describing me: "And while you're sittin' all alone in your room on your bed / And your windows are open but you won't go out, no / Oh, Heaven go easy on me." It gives voices a lot of thoughts & feelings that I haven't been able to, and puts them to nice music, too. It also sums up something that is a central belief of mine: Don't follow your head, follow your heart.

Katie says...

England, by the National.
Wanderlove and distance and discovering new places. I love everything about this song. "You must be somewhere in London, you must be loving your life in the rain." It's perfect.

Carlotta says...

If I were a song, it would be hard to pinpoint it exactly. I am a person who is woven intricately with memories and feelings and experiences of all different kinds. My southern roots are ingrained deeply in my blood (once a Texan, always a Texan, you know), but then there are other sides of me--ones that I can't even describe. The carefree me, the culture-hungry me, the book worm me. If I were a song, it'd be a little bit Springsteen by Eric Church, a little Something Good Can Work by Two Door Cinema, a little South Texas Girl by Lyle Lovett. Then there would be Coldplay, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, James Vincent McMorrow, and The Civil Wars. If I were a song, it would be a mishmash of sound, clashing to the stranger's ear, but resonating deep in my heart.


Now it's your turn -- if you were a song, what song would you be?

x
Hannah