The musicto curator community turns inward
So we asked the community for songs that expressed a deeper understanding of their own personal identity – (‘cos you know – that’s the kind of thing we do here – see Exit Songs For Your Funeral) – along with a description about what the song means to them. Unsurpirsingly, it turned out really interestingly!
Twelve tracks to go deep
No Pride’ – Daffodildos
A pogoing, provocative, punk rock chant to get in the face of every person from the cis-het-patriarchy who thinks they can show their support for the LGBTQIA+ community by shopping at their local supermarket. The message here is clear and oft-repeated: being queer is still a struggle and one that lasts all year; it doesn’t evaporate in July when the rainbow colours of your Pride Month shopping bag have already begun to fade. Sounding like Martha meets Panic Shack, this Brighton trio want you to know there’s “no pride in police brutality… no pride in transphobia… no pride in TERFs… ” and to make sure you understand that the annual Pride party isn’t fit for purpose if straight people silently allow intolerance to go unchallenged for eleven out of every twelve months. Also, they have an excellent name.
My Wave – Soundgarden
I’m going to go with ‘My Wave’ by Soundgarden, because it pretty much encapsulates my life philosophy. Which is, you know, we’re where we are, we’re human. We’re going to do the things that we need to do. And if you need to do those things, then go ahead and do those things. But don’t stop me from being me because I have a good grasp on who I am as a person at this point in my life. And I love the lyrics that Chris Cornell uses in that. He says, ‘cry if you want to cry, if it helps you sleep, if it clears your eyes. So pray if you want to pray, if it keeps you safe, if it makes you sane. But don’t come over here, piss on my gate, save it. Just keep it off my wave.’ It’s such a good tune on superunknown, which is my favorite Soundgarden album.
Hell Yes – Alkaline Trio
It’s a song about God, and the absence of a religious belief – which I relate to, but it’s more directed towards the many people who have all come and gone. I’ve often been left waiting and all my friends have moved on with their lives sadly.
A little depressing but it’s been a recurring theme up till now and kinda sums up my life.
I Can – Nas
I had this song in mind that serves as a direct affirmation. Its chorus presents a powerful self-empowerment statement that can resonate with anyone who hears it. It’s the kind of song you can tell yourself every morning, and it will still hold the same significance, inspiring you to embrace each day with unwavering self-belief. This song instills in you the confidence that you can conquer any challenge and achieve whatever you set your mind to. It’s a constant reminder that with determination and belief in oneself, there are no limits to what you can accomplish.
Hold You Down – Childish Gambino
Being born Biracial has informed my identity, my perspective, and my social placement. Being raised Biracial has influenced my palate, my mission, and my curiosity. This album in general, and this track in particular, could’ve been penned by me, if my pen was as sharp as Gambino’s.
Race is a literal black and white social construct that was not built for nuance. Although Donald Glover is not Biracial, his experience as a non-stereotypical Black kid resonates with my non-categorizable (outside of bastardized slavery terms) existence. Many critics dismiss this album, which makes it resonate with me even more – it was made for those of us living in between.
Lone – Hidden by Horizons
When shadows grow long and doubts arise,
A quiet thought whispers in good guise,
Hold tight to patience, though paths may bend,
For in the end, all wounds will mend.
Trust in the light, though distant it seems,
For space and time are not supremes,
Soon you’ll awake from restless dreams,
And find that peace within your beams.
On the Radio – Donna Summer
This song was a huge part of my childhood and one of the first I remember as a kid listening to on the Mighty 690 AM radio station and on our record player. Donna Summers lived near me and I remember often passing by her house in the hopes of seeing her. She had this huge white house with a big iron gate and trees lining it, but never did get a glimpse of her taking out the trash! Being a child of the 70’s, disco was the hit music of the time and I absolutely adored her and her outfits and watching people dance on Soul Train. Ahh the memories and to be a carefree kid again listening to disco.
Hindsight – Jake Wesley Rogers
It’s about living and loving (and dancing) to your fullest potential right now. I’m reminded to live life in the moment, and in my 20s this has such hard hitting lyrics.
The way this song captures feelings of self-empowerment is truly inspiring.
Hindsight encourages embracing all of these experiences in life, both good and bad, as integral parts of one’s identity. It speaks to the idea that understanding and accepting one’s past is crucial for personal growth and self-acceptance.
Sidewalk Stars – Yonder Mountain String Band
I spent some formative years in the Appalachians, so I have a special place in my heart for blue grass. Bluegrass isn’t a genre that wiggles its way into everyone’s rotation, but it pops up in mine from time to time. This song, Sidewalk Stars, from The Yonder Mountain String Band, might peak some interest.
People tend to compare tragedy. A particular tragedy is more or less horrific than another. Someone’s trauma is more or less traumatic than someone else’s. While an adversarial experience can seem more or less critical from the outside, to the person who has experienced something traumatic there is no “worse” trauma. So, in effect, if you love someone, they love a tragedy. How we see each other is always, always clouded by our own experiences – or lack thereof.
Universal Traveller – Air
This song summarises a big part of me, or of the me I used to be. I have been moving many countries and every time I was feeling in between places during the start of a new chapter, this song was always echoing in me and ease any source of stress. Eventually, this is the longest and most stable period of my life in one place. I started looking at that side of me with a warm and nostalgic feeling, but deep inside I know I am still that person too.
Suddenly – Drugdealer feat. Weyes Blood
This was the song that immediately popped in my head (well, because the chorus just suddenly started playing in my head too haha). And I really do think it’s all about self-identity and discovery. The first chorus goes, “I know that you want to be seen, and to be heard, oh to be loved, it’s not a crime” It gave me the big picture that It’s not a crime if you wanna just be yourself – It’s not a crime if you operate a certain way because we really are all different. This will always be a track that I’d go back to, listening to it gives me some sort of reset.
Welcome to the Machine – Pink Floyd
I didn’t really think of identity before I got to really get into music like this. I mean, I had some kind of identity, but I’d never really thought about it a lot, or as to who I was and really what I was doing.
It took dramatically changing my life at the age of 29, 30, where I moved from identifying as somebody who worked in corporate retail and was going to be an executive director and have a wife and two or three kids and live in the home counties of England and play golf and go on business trips and get fat.
So with a life change, everything kind of shifted, and I moved from London to Los Angeles and joined a rock band and grew my hair, and took an awful lot of stimulants and listened to a whole different bunch of music, and one of those albums was Wish You Were Here.
I was familiar with the track Wish You Were Here, but I’d never really spent much time with the album, and certainly not taking shrooms or smoking bowls and spending entire nights listening to this thing in a lockout studio in Playa del Rey. So while Shine On You Crazy Diamond is just insane and starts the trip, there was always something about Welcome to the Machine that got me.
I mean, it literally spoke to where I had come from and what I’d been doing, lines like, “it’s all right, we know where you’ve been, you’ve been in the pipeline, filling in time, provided with toys and scouting boys.” Yes, that was me. I didn’t buy a guitar, but I certainly did play the piano & bunk off school to go play music with friends.
So it just spoke to me directly and helped shape the musician identity that I have basically developed or have become since that time, and it’s getting on for 25 years later, but the song still moves me.
If youy like this playlist, you’ll probably enjoy Songs for Finding Your Personal Identity too 🙂
Want more musicto playlisticles like Self Identity Songs? Check out our previous playlisticles: https://www.musicto.com/community/
Playlist Image by GPT4o
This playlist is part of The Human Collective. Each week we take a prompt and create a playlist and accompanying articles. Learn more about The Human Collective here.
