music monday: "freedom park" by marah

If you accumulate mp3s on your iTunes without knowing it like I do, your shuffle function is probably one of your closer friends. I came across this song that I already have the other day, and I was just blown away. Really blown away.

First it was the childhood chant "shimmy shimmy coco pop, shimmy shimmy rock!" that served as a refrain that caught my attention. Then it was the Bruce Springsteen-like vocals and a melody and instrumentation that screamed "Americana." I liked the carefree, summertime feel...

Then I read the lyrics.

Without listening too carefully, you'd think he's reminiscing about the greatest memories from his hometown, kinda like Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69" (but cooler). But if you read the lyrics, you'll see that the happy, breezy tone of the song is total irony. It's about going back to where you grew up (Philly, for these guys), and seeing "broken bottles, broken glass / $5 baggies on the ground" and revisiting "a swing set / where a little girl got shot."



(And yes, that's me - I was the one who uploaded the song onto YouTube! I couldn't find a full-length song to link to, so I made one myself! That's how much I love this song!)

I think I've stumbled into...greatness.

So whoever gave me this mp3, thank you!