[ 1 0 0 * s o n g s ] International Love Song – 검정치마

oh my eyelids are heavy
but my heart’s filled with bright lights
sleep all day to see you
you’ll be in my arms tonight

I really really wanna be with you
I’m so very lonely without you
I can hardly breathe when you are away
without you I might sleep away all day

I admit my interest was piqued because of the name “The Black Skirts” when it is obvious that The Black Skirts is only made up of one member – Bryan Cho, and it doesn’t look like he wears black skirts to me . But I found the songs from the album, Don’t You Worry Baby, I’m Only Swimming an easy listen to the ears, reminiscent of my obsession with Death Cab for Cutie or She & Him (yes, I want to be related to Ben Gibbard or Zooey Deschanel) .

The honest simplicity of its lyrics and the languishing feeling that the singing gives me is enough for me to attach myself to it. This describes the stage of loving where nothing else matters except the object of your affection. Like time is in a standstill and you have lost all interest in everything  but your lover.

I tend to listen to this song when I have lazy afternoons to myself, especially lazy afternoons when I am at home and it’s lightly drizzling outside. Sinking myself into my favorite novel.

I hope this week has been good to everyone!

[ 1 0 0 * s o n g s ] 流れ星 – Mika Nakashima

Shooting star, something I lost, something I never should have
I always want to feel you close, closer than anything
Shooting star, hey, in these passing days we spend together
We held hands and looked to the sky, I want us to see the same future
- 流れ星, 中島 美嘉

The first song on my list of 100 Songs to Save My Life is by Mika Nakashima. It’s called Nagareboshi (流れ星) or shooting star. This is the song that I fell asleep to during 2009. I love Mika Nakashima’s voice and knowing a bit of her background I admire her more. I’ve noticed that she likes to sing about stars, and for me stars have played a small but significant role in my life.

This song reminds me of the time when I saw two shooting stars in one night. I was lying on the school quadrangle with my cadet officer friends as we were watching over the Boy Scouts camp-out. We were just looking out at the rectangle dark indigo sky, laughing about nothing and everything at the same time. Just then we saw a shooting star that ran from the right to the left, and we were like, “Whoa!” a few seconds later, we haven’t gotten over the surprise of seeing a shooting star, another ran across from the left to the right, and by that time we had stood up jumping and shouting.

At that time, I thought my friends and I were looking towards the same future. But now years later we’ve grown apart. Looking at their pictures in Facebook, I can barely recognize them but sometimes in their smiles I see the flicker of what we were that night. Friends forever…

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