music as therapy

I've been tagged by Mum2babyinsomniac and Boo and Me 

to join in with Mammy Woo's Music Therapy meme.

And anyone who had read my Soundtrack of Life posts

will know that music has a very special place in my heart.

Music has the words when that I can't find.

So this meme is right up my street.

And it's really simple

If you would like to have a go, all you have to do it pick -

3 beautiful songs

or

3 different bands

or

3 sets of lyrics that touch you

"Easy peasy", you say.

Well actually no it wasn't.

We have been known to play the "If you could only. . ." game in the car on long journeys.

. . .If you could only read three books as long as you live. . .

. . .If you could only ever watch three films. . .

. . .If you could only listen to three albums for as long as you live. . .

And every time we play this game

I get really stressed and grumpy

and demand to have five instead of three.

And then when my husband relents

I pick seven anyway.

But I have chosen three songs.

Three songs which not only are beautiful

but come from three of my favourite bands

and have THE most beautiful lyrics too.

One Day Like This by Elbow

What made me behave that way,

Using words I never say?

I can only think it must be love

Oh anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day.

Someone tell me how I feel

It's silly wrong, but vivid right

Oh, kiss me like your final meal

Yeah, kiss me like we die tonight.

'Cause holy cow, I love your eyes

And only now I see the light

Yeah, lying with you half awake

Stumbling over what to say

Oh anyway, it's looking like a beautiful day.

I adore this song.

I find it completely impossible to hear it without crying.

I love the strings.

I love the lyrics.

I love the anthemic piece at the end where

"Throw those curtains wide

One day like this a year would see me right"

gets repeated over and over.

I love that it played such a huge part in our wedding

and that it captures that day for me so vividly.

I also think that the love he talks about in this song

is a real sort of love.

The sort of love that creeps up on you

and takes over

and makes you a bit crazy

but is completely beautiful.

It's exactly the kind of love I could imagine my husband talking about,

if he were the sort to be all romantic like that.

It's not poetic.

It's not flouncy and over the top.

It's just there.

It just is.

I love that kind of love.

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

All that I am

All that I ever was

Is here in your perfect eyes,

they're all I can see.

I don't know where

Confused about how as well

Just know that these things will never

change for us at all.

If I lay here

If I just lay here

Would you lie with me

and just forget the world?

Just typing those lyrics then gave me goosebumps.

This song played a big part in our wedding too;

we did our first dance to it.

I adore it.

So much so that I find it hard to describe how and why I love it.

The lyrics are beautiful.

Gary's voice is beautiful.

The melody is beautiful.

Everything about this song is beautiful.

Invincible by Muse

Follow through

Make your dreams come true

Don't give up the fight

You will be alright

'Cause there's no one like you in the universe.

Don't be afraid

What your mind conceals

You should make a stand

Stand up for what you believe

And tonight

We can truly say

Together we're invincible.

Surprise, surprise

this song was in our wedding too.

In fact it was so, so nearly our first dance,

and if we had been cool enough to rock out to the guitar solo in the middle 

then it just might have been.

This is one of those songs that has taken on another meaning for me

since I became a mummy.

Before it always read as a love song to me

about a love that overcomes all life's struggles.

And it still does read like that.

But it also reads as fantastic advice.

The sort of thing a parent might say to their child;

that they are unique and special,

to keep fighting for the dreams

and know that they will always protect them.

You have absolutely no idea how hard it is for me to stop there.

I have at least two,

if not three more songs

that I would love to include now.

But I'll do as I'm told.

Those three songs genuinely are the ones I would choose 

if I could only listen to three songs for as long as I live.
I heart them.
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