Playlist of My Life #1

Last year, I had a project in English class. I had to write about songs that triggered various memories. I ended up having to write about 5 songs, all with the same theme. I chose "Summer" as mine. The second paragraphs are the analysis, the "so what" is basically just the point of the song or the message. I might end up writing about more, but for now, I will leave it as just these 5. Here's the first one:

 Enough to Let Me Go by Switchfoot

I was sitting on my bed, hugging my stuffed unicorn. It was well past midnight and the cold that I had had all summer was killing me. My throat felt like I’d eaten nails for a bed-time snack, my head felt like the Hulk had thrown a brick at it, and my nose ran like a faucet. I had a pile of used tissues next to me and my supply of Halls was running dangerously low. My fellow DVBS workers had decided to pull a prank on the boys (not a very clever one, though), so I was alone- finally. One of the girls had left her iPod and dock turned on and it was going to play until they got back or I got up and turned it off. The latter was not going to happen, though, I refused to move. I was trying my hardest to fall asleep when Switchfoot’s “Enough to Let Me Go” came on. It reminded me of my brother, the girl he liked, and the fact that he was finding a new best friend. The tears flooded down my cheeks faster than if I had been decked in the face a couple of times by my brother’s friend, Tyler, who was comparable to the Hulk. The only thing that I would change about this would be this: Realizing that I needed to let him go earlier. Not to push him away in any sense, but to let him go when he needed to be let go and to hold onto him when he needed me to do so.  

The “so what” of “Enough to Let Me Go” is that when you truly love someone, you’ll let them go if that’s what is best for them. “I’ve still got mountains to climb on my own. Do you love me enough to let me go?” John Foreman (the lead singer of Switchfoot) sings about loving him enough to let him go, as if talking to a girlfriend. I think that this song can be sung to anyone, really, though. My brother and I have grown close over the last few years, he’s definitely become my best friend (on Earth that is). The thought of him driving another girl to hockey games, having someone else ride “shotgun”, and making inside jokes with someone else sparks some jealousy. I’m not proud of being jealous, I’m working on it, but it’s tough. The most powerful line of this song in a lot of ways is, “But every seed dies before it grows. Do you love me enough to let me go?” I’m sure that no matter whom he ends up with, my brother and I will still be close, if not closer. A friendship may need to be cut off, or die, for a while before we can be as close as we will be.