I think its interesting to mention that when Nicolas Ealy came into the class he talked about how desire was the ultimate cause of all pain. Many of the songs I listened to were written as a response to unfulfilled desire. Sarah McLachlan literally says in her song "Possession", "Would I spend forever here and not be satisfied". This song, like many other songs, is describing a situation of unrequited love, which is really unfulfilled desire and is indeed one of the most painful lessons to learn. Alanis Morisette knows what I’m talking about too. "You oughta know" is a song all about being replaced. One side moves on and the other side is left pining. Taylor Swift’s song "Teardrops" is about unrequited love in the sense that the person she loves will never know or love her back and yet she can’t give up her feelings for him.

I find a lot of pain comes from feeling isolated and lonely. Like in the Travis song he thinks he is the only one persecuted by the world. He asks "Why does it always rain one me? Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?" as if his pain comes as a result of some karmic retribution.

I found the Eamon and Frankee duo very interesting. They sing to each other and like Frankee says "There are two sides to every story". They are both on the defensive about each other and I’m sure Frankee really ripped into Eamon’s ego when she released her song. Its funny because after you put your walls down and get defeated by love its natural to be on the defensive, building back your walls in attempt to not get hurt again.

Top fourty songs don’t really inspire pain in me. I think it’s because I feel like these songs are fabricated and not necessarily written from experience. They have ulterior motives of making money and I don’t trust the singers so I can’t feel their pain. But I had never before heard the song "Soap and Water", or a song so bluntly talking about divorce so it was more poignant than many others. And I clearly know that Kurt Cobain was a very distraught individual so I don’t feel like his songs are faking. When I think of the most painful songs I immediately think of Jeff Buckley. He has some real tearjerkers I’ve cried along to.