Sea of Sound

I was born into a sea of sound. One that I would tread in my whole life; floating with many types of music; learning and appreciating the many instruments, types and people in the music world. As a young child, I was surrounded by works of the artists Sheryl Crow, The Cranberries, The Offspring and Madonna. As I grew up, my interests changed from month to month. I would like No Doubt, Black Eyed Peas, Avril Lavigne, The Beatles, Violent Femmes, Taylor Swift and so many more. I was into techno, country, pop, classical, rock, ska, and punk. My favourites are still always changing and I imagine they always will. Music is something that our world depends on. Maybe it’s just me, but our generation seems to love music the most. Then again, maybe all generations have, and I just don’t know.

There are many aspects to music that I love. It might be the beat of the song, the guitar or drums, and it might just be the sound of the singer’s voice. But the one thing that has always drawn me to music is the lyrics. The lyrics tell a story, and they tell a good story. Also, the lyrics of a song help remind me of my story. And a few songs mean a lot more to me than others. Some of these songs are ‘Soak Up The Sun’ by Sheryl Crow, ‘Just A Girl’ by No Doubt, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ by the famous Beatles, ‘Summer Skin’ by Death Cab For Cutie and finally, ‘Hey Stephen’ by the talented Taylor Swift. Each of these songs has a story behind them, a reason to love them and a happy feeling to mind.

When I was little, I lived in a few places, but one of them was Tumbler Ridge. And from grade two to five, I lived in a small trailer with my mother and brother. During that time, I went through a lot of unhappiness. From getting bullied at school about my weight, to the loss of my cat, the moving of a best friend and even the loss of my uncle. School was terrible, I fell behind often and there were few things to make it any better. But one of those few things was music week. A teacher from Alberta, whose name I have long forgotten, would travel around B.C and spend a week i towns singing with classes. I don’t remember much, but I do remember loving that half an hour of singing and not being judged by my peers. And one song that made everything better was ‘Soak Up the Sun’.

The lyrics, “It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got…” meant so much to me, even at the age. And it was a great lyric for my life. I translated to me as, “yes, you live in a trailer; your mom can’t always buy you all the things you want but remember, you have the world’s greatest mother, grandparents, uncle and brother. You go to a good school and you are an amazing reader with good books to entertain you. You have a best friend and you live in a good neighborhood.” And the lyrics, “I'm gonna tell everyone to lighten up,” reminded me that other people fell the same, and I need to remind them that things are not really that bad.

When I was eight, my mom gave me a few of her old cd’s to listen to with my new player. I had a bed on the floor, sheets on the windows to keep out the cold and the ugliest orange 70’s carpet. But nothing beat jumping on my mattress, dressing up and rocking out to the tunes of No Doubt. At the time I had one cd by them called “Tragic Kingdom” and my favorite song was ‘Hey You’. The ska-punk beats where fun to jump and dance to and I knew the lyrics off by heart. “You're just like my Ken and Barbie Doll” was my favorite line, since I still played with dolls at the time. “Hey you, you naive thing,
your patience in time will tire,” was how I felt about myself. My patience didn’t tire quickly enough, because we soon moved and I went to a better school.

After living in Mackenzie since grade five, the end of my first year of high school was ending. A movie came out, called “Across the Universe”. It was a musical, but more of a tribute to The Beatles. I recognized few of the songs, but went home after watching it and downloaded a bunch of songs. That summer I bought a cd. After school had started back up, my mother suggested we got another cat for our grandparents. She failed to mention that she had gotten us another cat too. Once she told us, just weeks before we got the kittens, we started coming up with names. One that my mother liked was Ellie. Neither my brother nor I liked the name, but as I was still listening to the Beatles, I suggested the name Eleanor Rigby. Once we got the kittens, we agreed on the name.

I picked that name because I loved the name, and the reason we were getting a kitten. “All the lonely people; where do they all belong?” reminded me of our other cat. She is old, like Father Mackenzie and Eleanor Rigby. She also shares the qualities of Eleanor, waiting at our windows, lonely and sad whenever we leave her. So ironically, we got the kitten to be a companion for Omally, our old cat.

The summer of ’09, is one I’ll never forget. I spent most of it in Tumbler Ridge, baby-sitting my cousin or at ‘The Mini-Fall’s’ with my best friend. But that only took up three quarters of my summer. Once back home, I found out my best friend Gage, was moving. I called him up one day and asked if we could hang out. He was with a friend, so the three of us biked around town for a few hours, until his friend, Adam had to leave. We then biked down to one of the trailer courts that still had a merry-go-round. We spent a good two hours at the old, rusting park. Swinging on the swing sets, spinning on the merry-go-round, until Gage chickened out and climbing the old equipment; we talked about everything. We talked about his current girlfriend, my best friend and about his new school. About his friendship with Adam and we reminisced in the good times.

Before we left, we took our places at the swing set again and a song came on my iPod. “Squeaky swings and tall grass; the longest shadows ever cast…” was the first line to the song. And there we sat, in the tall grass that surrounded the high swing set. “I don't recall a single care, just greenery and humid air; then Labor Day came and went
and we shed what was left of our summer skin,” was one of the versus’ that remind me so much of what was going to happen. And of what did happen. After Labor Day went, Gage did move and we didn’t get much time to talk. Everyone shed their summer skin, but I will always be reminded of how great that day with Gage was when I hear this song.

Some would call me a hopeless romantic. And when they do, I can only agree. Like most teenage girls, I have had a few crushes. One of my good friends, some boy I’ll never say anything too or a really cute member from my favorite band. Their all a bit different than each other in most ways but one; I have liked them. Not saying I got my chance with them or anything. One boy seemed to have stolen my heart. He is my best friend, and will most likely always be. And the song ‘Hey Stephen’ reminds me most of him. His name isn’t Stephen and most of the lyrics in the always remind me of him.

“And as we walked we were talking; I didn't say half the things I wanted to…” be one of the lyrics that described how I felt after re-meeting him, since we had known each other when I was four. “The way you walk, way you talk, way you say my name; it's beautiful, wonderful, don't you ever change!” explains how I feel now about him.

“I could give you fifty reasons
Why I should be the one you choose
All those other girls, well, they're beautiful
But would they write a song for you?”

This is probably my most treasured lyric. Only because, though I haven’t written any songs about any boys, I would.

Music is, and always will be a huge part of my life. Music is always going to be playing in the background of my life. These are just a few songs that are part of the huge soundtrack of my life. Someone once said, “Music is what feelings sound like”, and to me, that quote couldn’t be truer. I was born into a musical family. You could even say I was born into a sea of sound.