EPTIt's a little shorter than I want it to be, but such is the problems with strict word boundaries.
The assignment was to pick 5 songs and show how they relate your life and to name the tracklist in a clever and unique way.
The Chronicles of an Eclectic Protagonist
Track List:
1. “What’s This?” by Danny Elfman, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas
2. “Big Shot” by Billy Joel, 52nd Street
3. “My December” by Linkin Park, One Step Closer
4. “New York State of Mind” by Billy Joel, Turnstiles
5. “What I’ve Done” by Linkin Park, Minutes to Midnight
These songs effectively show the demeanor and personality that I had during the earlier years in my life. Although I think there are more songs that could be added to show shifts in interests, these show the ups and downs of my life as I can remember it.
“What’s This?” by Danny Elfman, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas
The ever popular song sung by everyone’s favorite skeleton in Tim Burton’s movie is the essence of my youngest years of life. I was the type of child that had to know everything about everything. There wasn’t enough explanation in the world to satisfy my craving to learn. The last few lines of “What’s This?” exemplify my desire to learn: “I’ve got to know/I’ve got to know/What is this place that I have found?/What is this?” In the song, Jack Skellington, the singer, is obsessed with learning and follows questions with more questions to dig deeper into the new found world of Christmas Town. I had the very same experiences when I was young and eventually my parents had to give me a piece of candy because I could not ask questions and eat at the same time.
“Big Shot” by Billy Joel, 52nd Street
Billy Joel’s song “Big Shot,” describes what appears to be a bad date with another celebrity. This song however feels like it could be sang by my mother to me between the ages of seven and eleven. I was known for being a class clown and getting myself into all sorts of trouble. The famous lines “Because you had to be a big shot, didn’t cha/You had to open up your mouth,” would inevitably encompass my actions after learning what I thought could be everything there was to learn. I had entered my state of pre-pubescent supremacy that no dam could hold.
“My December” by Linkin Park, One Step Closer
After entering middle school I had entered my period of emotional distress as the combination of new faces, new feelings, and hormones took its toll on my emotionally devoid cold scientific demeanor. “My December,” helped me get through that time by allowing me to have something that wasn’t self-destructive to relate to. This was the first time in my life I had learned about regret and the lines “And I'd give it all away/Just to have somewhere to go to/Give it all away/To have someone to come home to” accurately detailed my emotional attachment to the first woman that I liked and the first rejection that I received.
“New York State of Mind” by Billy Joel, Turnstiles
After exiting the emotional roller-coaster that was my middle school years I entered high school to start fresh. Unfortunately I repeated a lot of my previous mistakes and caused a deep emotional rift between my parents and I. However, one positive experience that I got out of my high school years was an incredible amount of new like-minded friends and the experience of traveling into the heart of New York City. I went to school in downtown Manhattan, only a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. The symbolic everyday things that are a part of New York lifestyle are exemplified in the words of this song. I truly understand what Joel is saying when he says “But I'm taking a Greyhound/On the Hudson River Line.” The only way it could be more like what I had done is if he had written “But I’m taking the Long Island Railroad/On the Hempstead - Penn Station line.”
“What I’ve Done” by Linkin Park, Minutes to Midnight
After barely graduating from Stuyvesant High School I went to college for a year and did just as poorly as one would expect given my track record. I decided to take a break from school and worked for about two years. About three months ago I decided it was time to do something with my life. “What I’ve Done” talks about reinventing oneself by cleaning the figurative slate of life. Chester Bennington, the lead vocalist, sings the following lines that really emboss the image of what I’ve changed: “What I've done/I'll face myself/To cross out what I've become/Erase myself/And let go of what I've done.” I have taken most of my bad habits and am starting fresh hoping to get where I want to be in life in the near future. When I can quit my caffeine addiction I will consider the slate truly clean.
