# Songs that accurately describe your feelings. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235 "2006-05-25T19:31:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/1 "2006-05-25T19:31:14Z")
What songs are perfect descriptions of your attitudes toward a subject? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/2 "2006-05-25T19:32:37Z")
Well, it depends on the situation, I guess. At any time during a day, I can range all the way from the Carpenters’ “Top of the World” to Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty”. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/3 "2006-05-25T20:12:26Z")
“A Man I’ll Never Be” and “Peace of Mind” by Boston. “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas. “Imagine” by John Lennon. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/4 "2006-05-25T20:51:17Z")
“Gimme the Car” - Violent Femmes ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/5 "2006-05-25T20:57:39Z")
Right this moment, my attitude is well described in Meredith Brooks’s [Bitch](http://www.musicfanclubs.org/meredithbrooks/bitc.html). ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/6 "2006-05-25T20:58:00Z")
“Positively Fourth Street” once…sadly… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/7 "2006-05-25T21:01:06Z")
“The Pretender” - Jackson Browne “The Price You Pay” - Bruce Springsteen “Math Sux” - Jimmy Buffett ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/8 "2006-05-25T22:31:03Z")
“Still in the Game” by Steve Winwood “Misunderstanding” by Genesis [“Space-Dye Vest”](http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/dreamtheater/awake.html#11) by Dream Theater ---
**Author:** ![Hogwash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e57/32.png) [@Hogwash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogwash)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/9 "2006-05-25T22:42:46Z")
“Time” - Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd Perfectly describes my current situation and feelings, especially the lyrics: > [@](#): > > Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town > Waiting for someone or something to show you the way Gilmour’s guitar work slays me every time. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/10 "2006-05-25T23:23:10Z")
Modest Mouse - “World at Large” or Camper Van Beethoven - “Ambiguity Song” I am getting ready to head off to school next year, and every major thing in my life right now I have not yet made up my mind on yet. They are both amazing “what the hell am I doing with my life” songs, especially for the up and comers. “Went to the porch to have a thought, Got to the door and again I couldn’t stop You don’t know where and you don’t know when, But you still got your words and you got your friends Walk along to another day, Work a little harder, work another way” Modest Mouse just describes everything perfectly it seems. And then the Ambiguity Song has a lot of words, but it mostly repeats one line: “Everything seems to be up in the air at this time.” Indeed it does. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/11 "2006-05-25T23:30:58Z")
_I Won’t Grow Up_ from **Peter Pan** _Fat Bottomed Girls_ by **Queen** _I Go to Extremes_ by **Billy Joel** ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/12 "2006-05-25T23:54:27Z")
Most days: “Lovely Day” - Bill Withers “Ground” - Assemblage 23 “Sing Your Life” - Morrissey “Liberation” and “Red Letter Day” - Pet Shop Boys In darker times: “Light” or “You Haven’t Earned It” - Assemblage 23 “Brute” - KMFDM ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/13 "2006-05-25T23:59:25Z")
Many times over the last three years: [“Give Me Some Truth”](http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/john_lennon/give_me_some_truth.html) - John Lennon ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/14 "2006-05-26T00:20:55Z")
“Unsatisfied” by **The Replacements** ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/15 "2006-05-26T00:29:22Z")
“New World Man” by Rush (not Limbaugh) describes what I think America _should be_ quite well. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/16 "2006-05-26T05:15:50Z")
“Prince Hal’s Dirge,” Loudon Wainwright. It’s the Anthem of a Young Humanities Major, I think. ---
**Author:** ![gern47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gern47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gern47)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/17 "2006-05-26T10:20:39Z")
[Noah’s Dove](http://www.alwaysontherun.net/10k.htm#aaaa) by Natalie Merchant and 10,000 Maniacs. It mirrored a part of my life so accurately and so astonishingly that it just floored me! > [@](#): > > You won a prize for that, for telling lies like that so well that I believed it. > I never felt cheated. Sure, a great many people have been cheated on and lied to about it, but it sure as hell happened to me and thus this first lyric sharply caught my attention. > [@](#): > > You were the chosen one, the pure eyes of Noah’s dove. Also like many other people, I had been burned badly in love and had opted out of relationships as a result for years. But after the proverbial 40 days and 40 nights, like Noah I very tentatively dispatched my feelings again. Over time, it very much seemed that my new partner of several years was far above and beyond any kind of betrayal, yet I was eventually crushed again when I learned: > [@](#): > > Choir boys and angels stole your lips and your halo. The song goes on with the refrain: > [@](#): > > In your reckless mind, **you act as if you’ve got more lives**. > In your reckless eyes, you only have time and **your love of danger** – to it you’re no stranger. I eventually learned that my beloved was not just cheating, _he was heavily frequenting the gay bathhouses all around town and seriously risking his (and my) life in the process!_ He clearly thought he had more lives. He rarely took adequate safety measures and, of course, caught HIV and later contracted AIDS. No one can know just how many other men he passed HIV to, but fortunately, I was not one of them. This is all incredibly personal and I can’t believe I’m going to post it, but given the OP, I just had to bring this out. No other song has reflected such an enormous emotional facet of my life like this has! ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/18 "2006-05-26T12:30:46Z")
“What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye written during the Vietnam era and appropriate today. For my happy side, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, by Cyndi Lauper. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/19 "2006-05-26T12:52:38Z")
Right now I have a crush someone, so Matthew Sweet’s _Sick of Myself_ describes my feelings. \*You dont know how you move me Deconstruct me And consume me I’m all used up I’m out of luck I am starstruck By something in your eyes that is keeping my hope alive But I’m sick of myself when I look at you Something is beautiful and true In a world thats ugly and a lie Its hard to even want to try And I’m beginning to think baby you don’t know\* Also _The Middle_ by Jimmy Eat World is a reminder to me that when things aren’t going well, I’m in the middle of a situation and I can’t see how they’re going to end. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235/20 "2006-05-26T17:13:19Z")
Two specific sets of lyrics describe my relationship with music better than I ever could. Not surprisingly, both are by Harry Chapin. From “Mr Tanner,” which I’ve considered to be my personal theme song since the first time I heard it: _Music was his life, it was not his livelihood And it made him feel so happy, and it made him feel so good And he sang from his heart, and he sang from his soul He did not know how well he sang, it just made him whole_ And from “Let Time Go Lightly”: _Music has been my oldest friend, my fiercest foe It can take me so high, it can make me so low_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-accurately-describe-your-feelings/358235.md?page=2)