Songs, and The Emotional Connect With Them

I seriously have nothing to write. Last week has been one of the most hectic weeks in office, and the coming week is also expected to be the same. All I have been thinking about for the past one week is my stupid project. It has literally given—and is still giving—me some really sleepless nights (I am dead serious). On top of that is the stress related to the MBA entrance exams and college applications. Basically, my thoughts are swamped with so many different things that sometimes I feel my brain is just going to explode—KABOOM!! Anyway, so to take my mind off these various stressful topics, I decided to post something truly random and useless.

I just love music. I can listen to any type of song, be it hard rock, romantic numbers, sad songs, pop music, Hindi songs, English songs, basically every song under the sun. Also, I have very varied tastes and start liking even the most terrible song. In other words, I can listen to munni badnam hui, tandoori nights, switty switty, jalebi bai, amplifier, and other such songs, with the same amount of likability (don't know if it's the appropriate word) as romantic and sad songs, and songs with meaningful lyrics. That's why, it's a common occurrence that whenever I am sitting with my parents and sister, and listening to the radio, watching a music channel, or listening to songs through some other medium, my trademark line for almost every song that is played is, "Please don't change the channel. This is such an Awesome song. I so totally love it." More than half of the time my folks ask me, after the song ends, "What was so great about it? It was just an ordinary song!" In short, I find almost every song fascinating to listen to and a song has to be really really crappy for me to dislike it. A few days back, my sister and I were switching between music channels to watch a good song, and predictably, I would ask her to stop at nearly every channel, as I liked the song coming on it. After a while she got really irritated and switched off the TV. Then she asked me, "Do you like each and every song in this world?" My reply was, " No! Obviously not." Then she asks me,"So what are your all-time favourite songs?" I told her that there are billions of songs, how can I possibly choose a few out of them. At which she twisted the question and said,"I understand that. But, just name a few songs, which, when played either on the radio, or on your phone/I-pod, you would never change them, irrespective of your mood and the work you are doing."

Hmmmm..now that got me thinking, and I started bouncing off names of some songs randomly. After I had named 4-5 songs, she stopped me and said,"So, all your favourite songs are sad songs!" Well, I had never really dwelled on that. Thus, I began thinking of more songs I consider to be my favourites, and have come up with a list of around 10 songs, which I can listen to at anytime of the day, or night, and in any mood—happy, sad, dancing, excited, depressed, busy, sleepy. Quite surprisingly, all songs given in the list are either sad, or have a melancholy feel about them. For someone who has never been in love, does not exactly know what loss is (touchwood), and is happy in life, it is very unusual to have such an emotional connect with songs of lost love, despair, and a bleak future. Anyway, here I present to you my most loved songs. Majority of them are recent ones, simply because this is a very random list, made after a few minutes of thinking and glancing at the Most Played list of my phone.

1. Tujhe Bhula Diya (Anjaana Anjaani): This has to be the best song of the decade. The first time I heard it, I just fell totally and completely in love with the song. Its music, its lyrics, its singers, its picturization, everything is perfect. From the time I added this song to my phone, it has been on top of my playlist. Also, it was my ringtone for the longest time ever. Even now, whenever I listen to it, I get completely lost in some other world.

2. Tadap Tadap Ke (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam): I heard this song for the first time when I saw HDDCS on TV, a few days after its release (thanks to Cable wallahs and pirated CDs). The way this song was picturized on Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan, WOW!! I had goosebumps on my arms and tears in my eyes. It has such beautiful lyrics (jism mujhe deke mitti ka, sheeshe ka dil kyun banaya. Aur uspe de diya fitrat ki woh karta hai mohabbat, waah re waah teri kudrat!) The very next day, I rushed to the nearest music store, bought the cassette of this movie, and kept on playing this song over and over again for months. Till now, whenever HDDCS is coming on TV, I make it a point to watch it, at least till this song.

3. Teri Meri (Bodyguard): I would say just one thing for my love of this song. I went to the cinema hall to watch Bodyguard, only because I wanted to see this song on the big screen. Oh, and also because of Kareena Kapoor, but that was only secondary. Again, I am truly smitten by the lyrics (my favourite line in the song -ek dooje se hue juda jab ek dooje ke liye bane), the singers (Rahat Fateh Ali Khan + Shreya Ghosal = MAGIC), the music, and yes, in this case, the lead pair (what sizzling chemistry I must say). So, I have all the three versions of this song (normal, remix and reprise) and keep on listening to them.

4. Yeh Dooriyan (Love Aaj Kal): Mohit Chauhan..sigh..sheer brilliance! Also, the lyrics are such that you can actually feel the distance between two people, as if it is something tangible. Lastly, the way it has been picturized - WOW! Kudos to Imtiaz Ali for coming up with such a concept for this song.

5. Lehrein (Aisha): I came to know of the existence of this song, when I watched Aisha, which was quite some time after its release. I had heard such negative reviews about it, that I was actually avoiding watching it. But, I quite liked the movie, and was totally floored by this song. So much that, for weeks after watching the movie, as soon as I used to reach office, I would put on my headphones, put this song on repeat, and keep on listening all through the day. Such was my obsession with this song that at night I would start the movie on my laptop, forward it to this song, and then keep on listening to it.

6. Kehne Ko (Anjaana Anjaani): This song did not gain much popularity, but at the same time it is quite amazing. The music by Vishal-Shekhar and lyrics by Neelash Mishra are just so mesmerizing that you can actually feel the loneliness of the characters. And yes, the singers—Nikhil D'Souza and Monali—have sung it really well.

7. Bin Tere (I Hate Luv Storys): I have to confess that the first time I watched (rather than heard) this song, I did not like it much. After that, I started hating it, simply because it used to be on EVERY music channel I ever switched on. In the movie, I found it quite good, but not very extraordinary. However, one of my closest friend in office is completely in love with this song, and used to tell me how beautiful it is. That got me curious, and so one day, I just listened to the song without watching its video. I have to concede P, that you were absolutely right. It is indeed a very lovely and at the same time, sad song. It has got beautiful lyrics. Over time, this song has found its way into my all-time favourite list.

The rest three are English songs, and I like them purely because of their lyrics and music. Hence, I won't go into any detail about them. They are:

8. Leave Out all the Rest (Linkin Park)


9. Quit Playing Games with my Heart (Backstreet Boys)


10. Apologize (One Republic)


For someone who did not have anything to write, I surely have written quite a long post. So, I'm gonna stop right here for now. Do tell me about your favourite songs. Let's see how many of them are common with my list.

Signing Out,
The Music Lover!