Which songs have helped you in hard times?

Alive

I'm not socially intelligent. I have always been an outsider. Because of that, I have feelings of alienation, loneliness, depression, suicide, and angst. To cope with such feelings, I have adopted a Christian life-style; not just for the feelings it occasionally provides me, but because I believe it’s true. Anyway, subsequent to my ‘conversion’, I’ve repeatedly failed to live up to the standard that my life-style demands. This has given me feelings of being a failure, but also a hope to look to the glorious future that awaits me if I persevere. Being a Christian hasn’t cured all of my troubles, but it has made the ones I struggle with clearer. I’m the kind of person who desires what seems unattainable. I desire inward tranquility, social acceptance, a high self-esteem, outer beauty, spiritual endurance, character formation, and to have a relationship with the one who knows me better than I know myself. The closest I’ve come to actual freedom is while being immersed in the hypnotic music of Pearl Jam. The anger I experience as a social outcast is perfectly enunciated through the songs of Pearl Jam. Finally, here are 3 songs that have assisted me in coping with my, still young, existence.

Release- I know this song is on the topic of Eddie’s father, but I also know that one’s own interpretation is of equal, if not of more, importance. When I substitute God in for Father, this song eerily captured the exact feelings I was experiencing, and still continue to experience. It seems an invisible barrier of failure and low self-esteem has burdened me for most of my late-teen life. The cry for a release from the actual abyss of my soul epitomized my desire for heaven.

Leash- Being a social follower most of my life, I became imprisoned within the constraints of my own voluntary submission to the leaders I willed to follow. Whether it be my friends, my parents, or how I thought others thought of me, it was a castigating leash prohibiting the liberty desired to be who I am: to be me. “DROP THE LEASH! GET OUT OF MY FUCKING FACE! WE ARE YOUNG!” The high-pitched roar of the final guitar solo takes my spirit to a place unknown in this world; a place where my heart aches to be a citizen. I feel like I can relate to so many people’s struggles and yet I’m unable to enlighten such people of my desire to relate to them. I feel like I just scream, “TAKE . . . MY FUCKIN HAND!” It’ll be ok in the end. “We’ll find a home. A home within myself. We will find a way. We will find our place!”

Given to Fly- If any song so encapsulated my life-story up until now, it would be this one. I could have changed my life by one simple decision of the will: will not to care what others think of you. But I tuned out. Nothing on this earth could save me. I looked everywhere for meaning and found nothing but depressing futility. The doors leading to various self-help answers on life’s questions could not be opened; my heart or mind could not honestly accept their sophistry. I escaped to an ocean; a peaceful place reserved for quiet contemplation. I had a smoke in a tree by getting nervously acquainted with what I thought was another dead-end. Unexpectedly, the profound wisdom humbled my frail countenance as it set me down on my knee. A tidal wave of conviction stuck me like a fist to the jaw. I was given truth; a truth that set me free; a truth that delivered me wings; a truth that led me out of Plato’s cave; a truth that enabled me to FLY! Who do I tell? How do I tell them? I saw everyone shacked to their illusions in ignorance of their predicament. I want to tell them of this key I found. It works! But, I’m persecuted. I’m emotionally stabbed. But I press on. I still stand! I will choose to love those who persecute me, because I know that the love received from Christ is surely SAVED! And from this, my reward shall await me; the reward of being with Him. If you look closely; past all the images of what is cool and acceptable on today’s terms; past the outer-shell of human appearances, which make their gradual and inevitable trek toward extinction; into the immaterial aspect of our being, which defines who we really are in accordance with the status of our soul; you might see a human being who was given to fly!

in eds tree

well said, alive, i feel ya. especially your interpretation of given to fly, mine is eerily similar.

purple_chick79

I know I started this thread about a month or so ago...but I had to add to it.....

I got Unplugged for Christmas.....

Black version on Unplugged...... "I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a star, in somebody elses sky, but why, why, why can't it be, a-can't it be mine. I don't.....I don't think these people understand, Oh they don't understand....no one understands.....we, we belong.........we belong together" That one gets me everytime.

State of Love and Trust......" Lay her down, as priest does..should the lord be a-counting" This one hasn't really helped me, I just thought it was kinda cool, with all the priest stuff going on now.

Mart

Footsteps
Black
Long Road
Every time i feel like crap i put on Keep on rocking in the free world from touring band 2002.

Just but a few!