In relation to my previous entry, one of the songs I've been addicted to since I started listening to indie music was "Hard To Be You" by The 88.

RF: Hard To Be You was featured on The OC. Wink wink. ;)

The first time I heard it, it magically brought me back to my distant childhood past like a time warp. It was amazing, really. There are few songs that bring you back to a specific memory or time in your life and for me, this song was it.

The song reminds me about the good old 90's. I was a kid then, coloring books, watching cartoons and anime, playing outside with childhood neighboring friends. 10PM was already past bedtime.

I remember how I lived my life in simplicity. Closing my eyes, I can picture what our living room used to look like. It was all neat and organized. The floor was always polished. Our aquarium, with the names of my sister and mine written on a masking tape, displayed perfectly on the side table in the corner of the room. Every Christmas, we used to put up a Christmas tree and decorate them and hang our socks by the window. On the 25th, we'll jump for joy as we open our gifts and see a peso bill inside our socks.

There was also a time when a power outage occurred and all we did was tell ghost stories, play with the shadows on the walls and ceilings, and if my father's friends were in our place, they'd be having a jam session by the candle light to kill some time. Then I would listen to them singing music from their time like The Beatles, E-heads and other acoustic ones they find in their songbooks. Pretty much the type of songs they love to sing to was like Hard To Be You. The soothing blending of the voices, the soft and delicate music they made from an acoustic guitar, bass, and drums. Such dreamy and nostalgic music.

After the song's last note, it would snap me back to reality. I would look up to our living room today, full of disgusting mess together with intolerable acrid smell, while both my grannies sleep on the dusty couch that we used to sit on and not worry having bitten by bugs. My father's friends? They all grew apart. Some of which he had never spoken to again due to some reasons and some.. just lost touch. Unlike before, there were no unresolved issues and family problems.

The 2-minute song made me realize how my life was completely different 10 years ago. I thought how lucky I was to actually have that kind of life setting and I will do almost anything to have it back. I try my best to look at the brighter side, but there are things here constantly remind me of broken dreams and relationships, life frustrations, and regrets.

"I know it's hard to be me
Drug from the line in the sea
Doesn't it offer the
Doesn't it offer the
I know everything's changed"

I am not to entertain such personal questions covered by this post, esp. what problems and issues something something. If it's about the song and childhood memories, I'm cool. :)

Labels: indie rock, nostalgia, rants, the 88, thoughts