Fickle

December 22nd, 2024

I am fickle. I have my favorites that I neglect, sometimes even for years. I don't forget them, but just put them aside, for a while. I look for something different, something better? Well, I find a lot of interesting things, but never better. I still keep on neglecting my favorites and keep on looking for something else until one moment I go back and realize that they are my favorites for a reason — there is nothing better to be found…

It started as a simple question — “what is your favorite R.E.M. song?”. I thought the question stupid — I cannot name just one. And even if I did, then tomorrow I can just as easily name another and be just as right. So I tried five songs. Then ten, then twenty and there were still more that I just remembered I could put on that list. I stopped that pointless exercise and went back and had me a good relisten of R.E.M's body of work (only the first five albums so far…) and reinforced my belief that R.E.M is my favorite band. Among musicians, I find Dylan and Young still on top, but as a musical ensemble those boys from Athens, GA are the best.

And there is something else, I listen to a lot of music — from all genres and periods — and enjoy a very wide spectrum of compositions and songwriting. No matter that, I know I will never feel what I felt as a teenager when I first heard the R.E.M song which is the song below. I will never feel awe and understanding at the same time that I felt then. And this is not nostalgia, it is simply an acceptance of the fact.