A Murder Of One

A Murder of One by Counting Crows has become my latest musical obsession.  The last time I had a musical obsession, it was Stolen Car by Beth Orton.

What draws me to an obsession about this song is when they sing don’t waste your life, the way I waste my life.

It gets me thinking, did I waste my life?  And if so, am I still wasting my life?

I noticed rather quickly after browsing the site that my theory in high school honors English class had been finally proven, now over a decade too late; everybody has a different reaction to music, which is really nothing more than poetry which is sung instead of read.  A lot of emphasis is given towards the meaning in which the author / poet / musician is trying to get across, but what we fail to realize or care about is the fact that the meaning, or reaction to it, on an individual or societal level, is equally as important.

I could debate and analyze lyrics or poetry for hours (and I have) just to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the songwriter was trying to convey a specific message, but there’s really no reason to, in my eyes, because no matter what your reaction to it, someone else will ultimately have a different one.  It’s all a matter of our personality differences and a mash-up of our past life experiences that not only influences our tastes in music, but our reactions and emotions associated with the music.

The truth is that for me, no matter what I have accomplished so far, or what projects I am currently working on, whenever I am not faced with an enormous challenge or undertaking, I feel like I’m wasting my life.  This song just touches on that emotion for me, and that is why I’m calling it my latest music-related obsession.