Serious talk for a moment. 2025 has been a godawful year, not just in general but for my family. I won’t go into detail but a lot of shit has come our way and it has meant that I have been thinking about life in general. Like, is this how it’s meant to be? Being buried under mounds upon mounds of shit and looking for any little escape, just a small gasp of fresh air to avoid suffocating.
Thank God music can make you forget about it for a moment. Until now, when I have to find a track that makes me think about life.
Day 19: A song that makes you think about life
2020: “That’s Entertainment”, The Jam
When I did this last time around, I took this particular day to mean choosing a song about life, hence I went for one of the Jam’s best songs (And I’m pretty sure the first I ever heard, during the end credits of an Inbetweeners episode of all things). Summing up life for the working class as the 80s got underway, and it’s fun to see how many of Paul Weller’s lines you can relate to, how many of his observances you yourself have spotted recently? Police cars and screaming sirens, pissing down with rain on boring Wednesdays, watching the telly and thinking about your holidays. That last one is perfect for the Christmas season.
Now for today’s choice, I think I may be swayed by a nagging thought I’ve had the further into my twenties I’ve gone – How old is old? I’m 27 now, much closer to my thirties than I’d like to be (Jeez, even as I type that I get a shiver down my spine), and I feel I’m in a strange limbo where I’m not quite young enough to be in with the burgeoning grads, but not old enough to be weighed down by all the responsibilities adulthood promises. God knows I’d like to have gone further than I am at right now. But then again, I could be further back.
Huh. I’ve just made up my mind for today.
2025: “D’Yer Wanna Be A Spaceman?”, Oasis
I mean, I know I was going to end up going for on Oasis song sooner rather than later, but I didn’t expect myself to be weighing up three b-sides which are all about the carosuel of changing dreams we have as we grow older.
“Flashbax” was my initial instinct, moreso for the unabashed bombast Noel has to offer with lines like ‘In my well paid opinion’. “Fade Away” is an early Oasis triumph. But “…Spaceman?” strikes the most chords for me, it’s got the most optimistic yet realistic message of the three. We all dreamt high, wanting to be spacemen and such. We miss the days of innocence we once thrived in, much like the Coral’s “Bill McCai” (but not to such a fatalistic extent), as they make way for the bills and the kids. But then towards the end Noel quite rightly says ‘All the dream stealers are lying in wait/but if you wanna be a spaceman, it’s still not too late’.
And it’s now I realise I’ve still got plenty of time. All those ‘no’s from dream stealers can be easily drowned out with a firm ‘yes’. Even if that loudest dream stealer may itself live in my head but surely that little bastard’s got to lose its voice eventually. Hell, I just went abroad for the first time in twenty years last week. Sure, the journey home was a disaster but the trip itself was great. I did things I’ve never done before, and I can do it again. World’s my oyster. Dreams are still waiting to be made real.
Should probably start writing up those New Years resolutions. They likely won’t hold but hey, thought that counts, right?
A-Side Glance 