Sad Taylor Swift Songs this Christmas

Very few songs of this modern era of our music world really never fade in my ears. I think it does not only have something in effect to their awesome background, but more to their meaningful themes.

BACK TO DECEMBER and CHRISTMASES WHEN YOU WERE MINE, both composed and performed by Taylor Swift, are real creative pieces, given their melancholic themes in a supposed to be merry season.

Back to December is a beautiful detour from the usual songs of Taylor Swift that oftentimes talk about vengeance. It is a lonely story of a person humbly asking for forgiveness for separating with a former lover.

This song is melodramatically touching, especially when you feel alone and just mooning about nothing when you must be enjoying this supposed to be happy time. Some things in life really turn to awry in a snap and many times learning a lesson is too late.

On the other hand, Christmases When You Were Mine is another melancholic Christmas song. Almost everyone, fresh and seasoned ones, can relate so much to this nostalgic song of missing someone special, which turns the season colder even.

It is definitely a throwback to one season we had in our lives when we ought to be happy but we couldn't just afford. Through this song, others might also reflect in pensive how different this merry season would be without their loved ones.

Oh well, I know this shouldn't be lonely time and I don't intend to make it lonely either. I love these sad Christmas songs ever though I am not sad at all. Just slipping into the other side of the world for a light change this season, I say. 

Novelty Effect

It is on these times when I would genuinely find a moment of complete peace midst business of living - when the pupils are all busy writing - and I segue my "golden voice" out of the bolt like a real concert royalty in front of my class who is my legion of fans.

Me: Got her head on the cloud...
Pupils: Cloud...  
Me: And she's not breaking down.... 
Pupils: Down... 
All of us: This girl is on fire...

Then, they would all give me a round of applause and giggly burst in cheers, which I suspect as a novelty effect of the fact that I am their teacher, not necessarily an expression of their awesome admiration of my vocal abilities in reality.

Friget! Friget! Friget!

Whatever Happened To Amelia Earhart?

Recently we were randomly humming and singing. One of the things that intrigued our curiosity was the line from the song Someday We'll Know by Mandy Moore. It was the hit song during our high school days but it really never piqued nosy minds that time until this day.

The line of sudden interest says "Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart who holds the stars up in the sky?" I am sure that the song composer used name of a legendary person as a literary device in order to convey something but leave to the listeners to make actual connection.

So, the question is: Who is Amelia Earhart by the way? I consulted the livescience.com and I want to quote some parts verbatim of what I interestingly learned:

Photo credit: www.deathandtaxesmag.com.

AMELIA EARHART was an American aviator, author and women’s rights activist. She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. Her disappearance in 1937 during an attempt to fly around the world is a mystery that continues to intrigue people worldwide.

Biography

Amelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas, on July 24, 1897. During Christmas vacation in 1917, she went to visit her sister in Toronto. One day, at an aviation exposition, a pilot flew his plane near her. Later, she said, “I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by."

In December 1920, Earhart attended an air show in Long Beach, California. She took a short plane ride, and that ten minute flight changed her life. “By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly,” she said.

Just six months after she began flying lessons, she purchased her first plane, a bright yellow, second-hand biplane that she named The Canary. She soon achieved the world altitude record for women pilots.

Earhart’s last flight

Nearing her 40th birthday, Earhart said, “I have a feeling that there is just about one more good flight left in my system…” She hoped that it would be a flight around the world. She wanted to be the first woman to do it.

On June 1, 1937, Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, departed from Miami with great fanfare. They began the journey heading east. After twenty nine days of flight, they touched down in Lae, New Guinea. The remaining miles would be done over the Pacific.

The plan required landing on Howland Island, located between Hawaii and Australia. At only one and half miles long and half a mile wide, Howland Island was a difficult spot for landing. Special navigation precautions were taken, including establishing radio communication with US Coast Guard Ship Itasca off Howland Island.

At 10 a.m., Earhart and Noonan took off from Lae. They encountered problems with overcast skies and rain showers early on. Some witnesses reported that the radio antenna may have been damaged, and other experts suggest that their maps may have been inaccurate.

As they neared Howland Island, they were unable to make sufficient connection with the Itasca or to land on the island. Earhart’s last communication was at 8:43 a.m.: “We are running north and south.”

Though the Itasca began a rescue attempt immediately and the search continued for weeks, nothing was found. On January 5, 1939, Earhart was declared legally dead.

Theories about disappearance

For a long time, the most likely explanation was that the plane ran out of fuel and the flyers ditched or crashed and then died at sea. More recently, another theory has gained some traction. It holds that the flyers landed on uninhabited Nikumaroro Island, formerly called Gardner Island.

According to the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, Earhart and Noonan survived on the island for several weeks. They caught fish, seabirds and turtles and collected rainwater. Earhart died at a campsite on the island's southeast end. Noonan's fate is unknown.

This theory is based on on-site investigations that have revealed improvised tools, bits of clothing, plexiglass and an aluminum panel. In May 2012, investigators found a jar of freckle cream that some believe could have belonged to Earhart. Additionally, reports of lost distress calls have been reported.

Also, in 1940, a British Colonial Service officer found a partial skeleton on the island, as well as a campfire, animal bones, a sextant box and remnants of a man's shoe and a woman's shoe. The officer thought he may have discovered Earhart's remains, but a doctor believed the skeleton to be male, and American authorities were not notified. The bones were later lost. Recent computerized analysis of the skeleton's measurements suggests that the skeleton was probably that of a white, northern European female.

So, everytime we sing her name, we might as well wonder: Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart who holds the sky up in the sky? I can only conjecture that only heaven really knows and maybe we'll never know at all.

Just Give Me A Reason

I've never seen Pink steal a scene until last night when I happened to hear the new chart topper "Just Give Me A Reason". Rather than the usual single perspective song, it features band singer Nate Ruess along with Pink herself.

Many songs play metaphoric lyrics but this one has simple and direct that conveys deep emotions. Holding on when everything else appear to fall apart seems to be the general theme of the song.

The music is appealing and fascinating. For instance, I love the twist in rhythm at the chorus line "and we can learn to love again". It is sensational, and it tells the dash of ardor that the kind of people in the song are feeling.

Compared to the other hit of Pink entitled "Pill" which is the only song I know of her, "Just Give Me A Reason does not have swear word and mean reputation. It is more wholesome and emotional.

However, sometimes I can hear Nate singing in higher notes than Pink. Since it's a love tale shared by a man and a woman, I think it would be better if there should be a distinct voice of each, not a duet that seem homogeneous when they sing together.

Moreover, the music video is well crafted. Emotional separation was best depicted through an allegory where Pink kept tossing alone in bed with a stuffed bear amidst the night, water and fog that served as her world.

As a whole, this song is pleasing. It is living forward to what it wants to convey and enjoying a widespread favor among the listening crowd.

Concert King

Do I sound like a real concert king enough to be invited to sit as an honorable judge for a contest of most amazing vocal chords?

Alright, I am a no good singer, but I love to hear music, and maybe recite, if that's how it applies to me. I must admit that my singing really sounds horrendously bad as if a rooster is literally scratching a blackboard. Yet, though I habitually sing off the key, I realized that there's more to singing than just hitting the right note.

First, regardless if I was blessed to have a golden voice or not, singing is an expression of my emotions. Depending on the swing of my mood, I have bastardized almost every kind of song in the name of expressing my feelings. When I am plotting a vengeful desire, I scream Gives You Hell. When I am poignant next moment, I croon Stitches and Burns. When somebody breaks me, I burst into Fixing A Broken Heart. But right now, I feel awesome so I am belting out All Star! Yay!

Second, singing is a way of keeping memories. There are times when I walk in the street and hear a particular song that suddenly strikes a chord in me. Everytime I chance upon This Love in my playlist, I remember vividly the long, windy trip, riding in the van with my fellow high school peer educators. When the song Moment of Truth is played over the radio, the scene of my junior year in the house with my board mates comes into my  mind. If I hear What Matters Most, I miss my granny and her face conjures up my mind. 

Third, singing is my form of therapy. I occasionally suffer from stress and burnout. Sometimes, I keep tossing on my bed at night, my mind unable to sleep although I am physically so tired. Playing classic songs such as that of Air Supply and The Carpenters lulls me eventually to the dreamland. When ruminating about decisions to make, I usually hum with symphonies of Beethoven and Strauss which has, for me, clearing effects to my rather flustered thinking. Singing indeed regains my senses to a humanly normal semblance.

So, back to the question above, I have no doubts that I am one singing royalty - in my own room - at least. Singing is an expression of one's uniqueness. I am a flawed creature with no golden voice and in that case that's what gives me my uniqueness. If I sound all the same with every person in this world perfectly hitting all notes all of the time, then I and you, may as well just shut up forever.

So, holding the handle of the dipper in the bathroom which is my theater stage, give it up for no less than myself - the concert king!