Music For Graduations

[koganbot]

I went to a high school graduation yesterday afternoon. The music was:

During the processional: "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1," Sir Edward Elgar.

During the slide show: "Little Wonders," Rob Thomas; "Here Comes The Sun," The Beatles.

During the recessional: "Don't Stop Believin'," Journey.

Comments

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Remember kids, maybe someday you won't need to turn tricks to earn a buck either!

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

^Interesting, this was a sort of "received" reading of the song I've somehow absorbed and/or invented for myself, but the song isn't about this at all! Just lonely people in the niiiiiiiiiiiight, not altogether inappropriate for life immediately after a graduation.

Streetlights people

[koganbot]

It's not an absurd reading, with the references to night and to paying anything, but the words are too oblique to say they're specifically about turning tricks. At least, I don't think the phrase "streetlights people" is definitive. In any event, they're not as direct as "He's not sellin' any alibis/As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes/And say 'Do you wanna make a deal?'" or "She's been massagin' all day but she's thinkin' about you daddy/Thinkin' about you daddy till they all go away." In any event, these are the lyrics, though my guess is most people only notice the supposed uplift at the end:

Just a small town girl
Livin' in a lonely world
She took the midnight train
Goin' anywhere
Just a city boy
Born and raised in South Detroit
He took the midnight train
Goin' anywhere

A singer in a smokey room
A smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on and on and on

Strangers waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching
In the night
Streetlights, people
Livin' just to find emotion
Hidin', somewhere in the night

Workin' hard to get my fill
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin' anything to roll the dice
Just one more time
Some will win
Some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on

Strangers waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching
In the night
Streetlights, people
Livin' just to find emotion
Hidin', somewhere in the night

[Instrumental Interlude]

Don't stop believin'
Hold on to the feelin'
Streetlights, people
Don't stop believin'
Hold on
Streetlights, people

[koganbot]

Reminds me of "Self-Control," though that's set in clubs rather than on the streets.

[koganbot]

And "Self-Control" doesn't tell you to not stop believin'. It's in having creatures of the night that the two songs are similar.

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

What kind of high school graduates in the middle of December?

[koganbot]

Ones that hold graduations after each semester rather than once a year.

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

Freaks.

[koganbot]

I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes more and more common in urban settings, where youngsters shift schools, drop out, come back, and so forth; this way, if you're behind a semester you don't have to wait a full year to graduate. (I don't know this particular school's rationale, however.)

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

Don't Stop Believin' does seem to be this year's Hallelujah, it's everywhere...