It's a Strung Out Day

Not so much in the actual sense of the phrase, but in the mood of the music of the band. I have this one friend and she would say things like, it's a 311 day, Def Leppard, day, etc. I never really thought about days in those terms before until the last couple when I started listening to music more appropriate for my mood. Here are some other days off the top of my head:

• James Taylor- nostalgic, sentimental, folksy
• Ben Harper/Jack Johnson - chill...so chill
• 'N Sync/Backstreet Boys/Kelly Clarkson - sappy, sassy
• Blink 182/Newfound Glory/MxPx/The Ataris - playful, bummed that the girl you like is going to the jock party instead of the skater party you were going to after the football game
• Bon Jovi/Poison/Guns N Roses - feeling youthful (if you're over the age of 25), ready for a party/night-out/karaoke
• Sublime - for porch monkeys, having a barbeque, sippin' on brews

So what does a Strung Out day feel like? Filled with a nervous kind of energy, ready to burst at the seams. Maybe you're upset about something that went wrong, pissed about work, or you're frustrated about your personal life. Perhaps you just finished up your finals and you need something with guitars loud enough to match the release you feel from being done. Maybe even feeling a little militant. It's not necessarily a negative kind of energy; it can go in either direction, negative or positive, so long as the underlying feeling is just looking for some kind of loud, sometimes physical expression. That's what a Strung Out day is for me.

What's really awesome is how not only the tone of music can perfectly capture what you're feeling, but the lyrics of the song also feel like they were written just for what you're currently experiencing. That's what so cool about music. It's poetry, although not quite as precise as the literary form (although sometimes it's one in the same), it also has an accompanying tonal quality that expresses emotion through vibrations reverberating through the air: sound.

The song I never get sick of and that I'm always in the mood for is in the 'video' posted below, Matchbook. These days this song is the perfect marriage of both my feelings and music. Most of the time I just really dig on the song. Strung Out has closed every show that I've ever been to with this same song. And I've been to at least a dozen of their shows. The music is slightly juvenile, but then again, so am I so I guess it's fitting.

Here are the lyrics:

I can see it in your eyes
I can hear it in your voice
the signs are obvious
that all we had has run its course
and I don't mind giving up the upper hand
in this little charade
cuz I've spent too many nights here on the floor
waiting for something inside you to change
don't look back in anger now is all that you can say
cuz angers all I got to keep me warm when you're away
and I know that this is nothing new
but tonight is all I know
disconnect myself from your memory
and never feel anything at all
and all your words and all your actions
don't mean anything to me
cuz I've cut you off
so here we stand and face each other
we've got nothing to say
a flashback to another time
when silence was a welcomed friend
now I'm sorry I can never really say
all the things goin on inside my head
silence is a justified expression of my war
now nothings like it was before

chorus

Don't look back in anger its just a memory
its easy to forget your face
and it's easy to survive in this place
without you without you
I just comb my hair and wash my face
keep straight ahead and keep my pace
just think about nothing, and it will be alright
well I got my friends I got my pen
I got a million distractions to keep me warm
and I all I know is that it will be alright.

My favorite part of the song is right around the 2:42 mark, when the drums usher in this rhythmic guitar cadence and in the live show, the whole audience starts bouncing up and down in tune to the beat. Love it. Live for it.

It's a Strung Out day. What kind of days do you have?