Lithium

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Almost everyone has a favorite song, a song that takes them back or sends them forward to a place and time that is not the present. What makes us pick out our favorites? What kind of affect does a song have that it requires us to constantly hum it or sing it at the top of our lungs? While I cannot speak for others without some kind of group consultation, I can explain the things that make me feel so intensely about this song, "Lithium," preformed by a 1990s grunge rock band, Nirvana, and sung by Kurt Cobain.

The introduction to this song makes me think of a nursery rhyme. It takes me back to being a young child singing "Ring Around the Rosie" and laughing and playing with others without a care in the world. Though this feeling only lasts a few seconds, and I know that the feeling is going to fade, I delight in the happiness that I feel during this brief time of being taken aback. I find it amazing that I receive this feeling with only an electric guitar introduction, music only, no lyrics.

As Cobain sings "I'm so happy 'cause today I found my friends/ They're in my head" (nirvana-music), the opening lyrics state of a great happiness, so you expect the song to continue on with happiness. If you listen to only the music, which makes you want to bounce around, and not the lyrics, you will continue on with this perspective. The important thing is to keep an open mind when listening about how he finds his friends in his head. I like to think that he believes that he can only trust the voices in his head because of a mistrust issue that has formed from a past aggravation. At least that is how I feel and I would like to think that the author would have the same feelings that I do about the lyrics. I remember sitting i...

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...have that around me. If I gave into what they were doing, I would be giving up my freedoms, just like the person in the song will not give up freedoms.

I also feel that this song is very personal to the singer. I sense a lot of emotion when I hear the song and read the lyrics. There seems an immense amount of individualism and freedom referenced. Someone tries to hold down someone else because of different views, but the latter of the two stands up for themselves and overcomes. I believe that is why many people hold onto this song. It grabs you with a memorable introduction, and holds onto you with its powerful and true lyrics.

Work Cited

Cobain, Kurt. "Nirvana Lyrics, Nevermind." Nirvana-Music.com. 1996-2004.

http://www.nirvana-music.com/nirvana-lyrics-nevermind.html.

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