Writer’s Records Vol. 1: Coming of age
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More stories from Abby Lee
Writer’s Records, Vol. One: Coming of age
As I speed through senior year and find myself coming closer and closer to adulthood, here are some songs about growing up and looking back that keep me company.
- “August”, No Vacation
“Truth is, I miss those summer days. Oh, the good ol days /
Can’t even find a second to catch my breath”
- “Two Slow Dancers”, Mitski
“It would be a hundred times easier if we were young again /
To think that we could stay the same”
- “Wildflowers”, Soccer Mommy
“Wildflowers don’t grow in the city. My heart turns gray and shriveled now. I want to be who I wasn’t. I want to dance in my field of blue, a child runnin’ for nothing”
- “Vacation”, Florist
“I don’t know how to be what I wanted to be when I was five / Bike rides, snow hikes, and Christmas lights / Sometimes freezing, sometimes warm / I don’t know if I can love that anymore / Maybe I just want to get married, or maybe I just want to fall asleep”
- “Grow”, Conan Gray
“I look about seventy years older / I made it out, it seems /
I think I’m ready to grow”
- “The Kids Don’t Wanna Come Home”, Declan McKenna
“I don’t know what I want, if I’m completely honest /
You don’t know how to give love to anyone / You don’t know how to pretend / You told your kids they’d live long forever / But the kids don’t wanna come home again”
- “Heat Wave”, Snail Mail
“I’m so tired of moving on / Spending every weekend so far gone /
Passing phases where you thin / Same old world that you’ve been sleeping in / And I hope it never spends you up / I’m feeling low, I’m not into sometimes”
- “How’s It Going to Be”, Third Eye Blind
“I wonder, is there anything I’m going to miss? /
I wonder how it’s gonna be when you don’t know me”
- “Colors”, The Head and the Heart
“I saw the colors fade away /
And it feels like a storm, but it’s all in your head”
- “Waves”, Chloe Moriondo
“Sometimes I wanna go back to a time before my mind was black /
I want you to help me from growing older / Just let me snot on your shoulder when all that I’m thinking about is her”
- “Don’t Cry, 2020”, COIN
“You’re so concerned about your future, yeah / But tomorrow’s just another day”
- “Mother”, Jerry Williams
“In a way, everything changes / Maybe for the better through the ages / I run through the rain in the town I was born / I need to get back to where I started / Mother, I don’t feel myself”
- “26”, Paramore
“Hold onto hope if you’ve got it / Don’t let it go for nobody / And they say that dreaming is free / But I wouldn’t care what it’d cost me / Reality will break your heart / Survival will not be the hardest part / It’s keeping your hopes alive”
- “How They Want Me To Be”, Best Coast
“I don’t wanna be how they want me to be”
- “Down the Line”, Beach Fossils
“Couldn’t really tell you what I’m trying to find / Everyone’s so boring / Make me want to lose my mind /
These days I feel like I do nothing right / So come with me and we’ll go down the line”
- “Dirt”, Snail Mail
“I’ve seen two open doors / And I can’t help but wonder what the second is for / I can’t tell myself anything / Even when it feels so seamless / Don’t get caught in the dirt /
It’s a weight and I feel it and it’s pressing down / And it won’t be for nothing, and it won’t stick around / If it is about anything that I can fix / Then I’ll see you on the other side if it really exists /
Let’s forget it now / Baby when I’m thirty, I’ll laugh about how dumb it felt”
- “Fractured and Dazed”, The Kooks
“In a world where we try to hurt each other / I know you feel bad / For what you did and how you recovered /
You’re so fractured and dazed / And if I was you, I’d have done the same”
- “Prom Song”, Surfer Blood
“You tell me things aren’t fair / Like I was unaware /
Something else is out there for me / I just can’t be bothered”
- “Mother & Father”, Broods
“I am getting older, and it’s starting to show /
It’s much harder to know / How to make my own life here / How to make my own home /
I don’t wanna wake up lonely / I don’t wanna just be fine / I don’t wanna keep on hoping”
- “Hopefulessness”, Courtney Barnett
“Take your broken heart / Turn it into art / Can’t take it with you /
Your vulnerability / Stronger than it seems / You know it’s okay to have a bad day”
- “4EVER”, Clairo
“You called me wondering why I changed or why I don’t look the same / Why I think so differently now / Is it ever gonna change? / Am I gonna feel this way forever? / Are you gonna be around for me to count on?”
- “Only a Moment”, Sunflower Bean
“It’s only a moment / You don’t have to hold it / In your hands /
You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be”
- “In Undertow”, Alvvays
“When you get old and faded out / Will you want your friends? / What’s left for you and me?”
- “Keep Growing”, Camp Cope
“I never wanna do anything / Maybe I haven’t learned anything / I loved you more than anything /
But I’ll keep growing my hair out / I never wanna do anything even when you’re around / I’ll keep growing my hair out / It’s not for you”
- “Me & My Dog”, boygenius
“I never said I’d be all right / Just thought I could hold myself together / But I couldn’t breathe, I went outside / Don’t know why I thought it’d be any better / I’m fine now, it doesn’t matter /
I wish I was on a spaceship / Me and my dog and an impossible view”
