My F#$k You Playlist

Is it any surprise that I would have a Fuck You Playlist? These are songs that speak the words I want to say or carry an angry tone that I recognize. Some are about break-ups while others are just in response to hurts or betrayals. So I dedicate this latest list to Grumpy, someone close to me who admitted to feeling a bit grumpy lately.

My list in no reasonable order:

Fuck You by Cee-Lo Green
The song title says it all which is interesting since the song has an upbeat tone.

Kiss Off by Violent Femmes
This is truly my favorite Violent Femmes song. Decades later and I still relate to the angst during the what is wrong in life countdown at the end of the song.

I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
The anthem for any woman who has ever left a man.

The Pretender by Foo Fighters
I'm biased here because I am a major Dave Grohl fan. While explaining this song he remarked, "you know, everyone's been fucked over before."

Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood
In my angriest moments, I would have loved to make my exes who cheated pay. Alas, I feared being arrested.

So What by Pink
First off, this song is fun to sing and has an upbeat tempo. The lines that speak to me are "You weren't there, You never were, You want it all, But that's not fair, I gave you life, I gave my all, You weren't there, You let me fall."

Warning: we're about to get dark here:

One Step Closer by Linkin Park
The gals can attest that I always end up front row, singing at the top of my lungs, when TOA covers this song. This song came out during the darkest period of my life and I fully comprehenend the anger and rage that is expressed in the screaming lyrics.

You Make Me Completely Miserable by Lit
With lines like, "I give up all of my plans but who needs them when you mean everything," or the chorus of "you make me com-, you make me complete, you make me completely miserable," this song speaks to me on so many levels.

I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace

Living through a dysfunctional relationship is hard to explain but these lyrics try. The hateful words of this song still resonate with me.

Thank You by Sister Hazel
The first time I heard this song, it could have been my words. More than a decade later and this song is my true fuck you anthem to my ex while explaining my belief that I had to live through that experience to become the person I am today.

"I had to walk away down the road just to clear my head
On another fun filled day, was doin' fine but you're back instead.
Now, I'm not the only one who saw you for just what you were
You pushed me, an' I'd keep tryin', I'd leave you, but you'd start cryin'.

But you won't fool me, I'm smarter than that

You were the one who taught me what I don't need
And I thank you, I thank you for that.
You were the one that brought me to my senses
And I thank you, now just leave me alone.

I had to drive away, far away 'til you could not find me
And it was a beautiful day, liberated and you're far behind me.
What you did I'll never mention, where you were, I don't want to know..."

Hopefully Grumpy will enjoy some of these songs. Considering that many of us have our favorite break-up songs or anger songs, does anyone care to share their Fuck You songs?

It's a Groove Thing

A month ago

Road trips, GNOs, my wild party past, and anger management share a common thread in my world ... music. The words, the rhythm, and the emotion are reflective of my own feelings and temperment or they can influence my mood and trigger memories. Certain songs and bands immediately make me think of specific individuals from my life and associated memories and feelings. Since I have such a deep relationship with music, I plan to share some of these dynamics over the coming weeks by sharing some of my playlists. I have an eclectic taste in music so one never knows what genre might make an appearance though I may focus more on general rock and pop music, but that doesn't mean my country girl roots will be ignored, that I've forgotten my love affair with Frank Sinatra, that more than one Eminem cd is in my collection, or deny that I should have lived during the big band era.

Last weekend

For today, I'd like to discuss musical therapy. I admit to the similarities between my siblings and I concerning our tempers, but we dramatically differ in how we manage our anger. I learned to view it as something combustible that could be burned off rather than acting like a powder keg and exploding. This is why dancing in cages and on catwalks became a routine part of my life during my darkest period. All the built up resentment and anger could be channeled into my dancing so that at the end of the evening, I was spent. Blasting the stereo and singing at the top of my lungs is a typical way to calm myself after a stressful day of work. It is a basic release of intense emotions that does not harm me or anyone else. This has truly become the way my mind and body expects to deal with certain stresses, which is why I regularly have a soundtrack to individualized moments in my life.

My completed project

For those of you who are aware of the object that resided in my living room for nearly a month and it's significance, you might find it humorous that I put on a great show this weekend as I vented my spleen over the log rack. Due to the low temperature, I rustproofed the log rack in the open garage providing the neighbors with a great view of my performance. With my iPod blasting a mix of rock, pop, and dance songs, I bopped, shimmied, and shaked my way around the rack. It was a performance worthy of my cage days as the lower rungs of the log rack required me to kneel or to reach across on my hands and knees. It must have been quite a show because a few days later, after I declined one of my neighbors offer to help me move 14 thirty gallon leaf bags, he sent his two kids over to help with the bags.

I have to say I am quite proud of my work on the log rack. I built the rack by myself, rustproofed it, and loaded the logs. And as you can see from the pics, the blanket of leaves that have dominated the yard are getting cleared up as well, though the space opened by the cut trees makes me debate planting replacements.

My soundtrack for this musical therapy session was:
Lady Gaga Just Dance
Lady Gaga Telephone
Rihanna S&M
Justin Timberlake SexyBack
Usher DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love
Fall Out Boy My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark
Imagine Dragons Radioactive
Adele Rolling in the Deep
Train Drive By
OneRepublic Counting Stars
Seether Country Song
Rage Against the Machine Killing in the Name
Rise Against Savior

And for those of you who are opinionated, please feel free to comment on my choice of music. Do others have soundtracks for life's moments? I know there are a few of you who listen to music as a stress-reliever, so what songs would you listen to while trying to blow off some steam?