Dakota - by Stereophonics

Dakota (2005)

by Stereophonics

I'm fairly certain that I first heard this song on the radio at work, and I'm pretty sure that I liked it immediately. Now, if my iPod decides to shuffle it to me, I will probably replay it several times before moving on to something else. I happily lap up the fact that I may not have heard it for a few weeks, and I wallow in the surprise of hearing it again.

And that's funny because the song itself seems pretty nostalgic. The lyrics seem to reminisce about past moments in a relationship -

"Thinking about thinking of you
Summertime think it was June
Yeah think it was June
Laying back, head on the grass"

- and towards the end they even predict getting sentimental.

"I wonder if we'll meet again...
Talk about why did it end"

The odd thing is though, that even before I became particularly aquainted with the lyrics, this song already 'felt' nostalgic. I love a good song intro, but I really think that Dakota's is the key - setting up the rest of the tune entirely whilst also giving me that wistfullness. And getting this flood of memories isn't exactly unusual for me with music; there's a whole bunch of songs that can take me to a particular moment, or feeling, or person. Sometimes they are big events, sometimes just a few seconds that occurred whilst the song played. With Dakota, it is different.

Dakota doesn't take me back to anywhere. I got nostalgic the very first time I heard it, so there was nothing I could link it with, as such. No, what this song seems to achieve is making me feel nostalgic about being nostalgic. It brings to mind other songs that I have that kind of relationship with, and sparks up the memories that are linked to them. Or it just generally makes me consider things from the past. Yes, lyrically, as I said before, this should be no surprise, yet I feel that it's not the words alone that do this. From the awesome intro to the quick fade of the outro, each beat seems to be trying to remind me of something nonspecific.

And that's why I adore it: for inviting me to consider memories without telling me exactly which ones.

"Without music life would be a mistake" - Friedrich Nietzsche

So what's this?

I like music.

I mean, I really like music.

There's plenty of stuff in this world that I could do without, but I think I'd have a real issue with being music-less. I certainly don't claim to like all of it - in fact, chances are, I probably like a very, very tiny percentage of what's out there, and there's a plethora of stuff I really don't get a kick out of at all. Some songs I might even go so far as to say I hate. But, like everyone else I imagine, I love what I love.

I don't really have any intention of reviewing albums, or commenting on each new release, or making chart predictions. I'm more looking to write about particular aspects of music I love, or hate, or at least find interesting. There's every possibility I might rave about an individual artists or album, but I'm more likely to natter on about my relationship with a particular song, or perhaps I'll talk about a particular feature of music.

So, basically, what I guess I'm actually saying is: I'm gonna be selfish and write about what I want, regardless of whether there's something more topical that everyone else is going on about.

Sorry-ish :)

"music can change the world because it can change people" - Bono (U2)