What does your soul sound like?

There are things in this part of the known universe that I consider essential to even begin to grasp the full scope of what it means to be human.
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There was a time when I just couldn’t seem to get a handle on anything in my life. Okay, there were actually several of those times. But the period I associate with this song was the beginning of my college years. Things were going really badly, and by the end of my second semester, I just wanted to get out of there. The solution? Study abroad ftw!
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This song will always hold a special place in my heart. I associate it with a time when two very powerful emotions seamlessly merged: the end of grief and the beginning of hope. Liminality is the term used to describe this phase of transition. But let’s not make it more complicated than it is.
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I’m not entirely sure which stage of my life I associate this song with or what exactly I connect to it—but it belongs here nonetheless. It grabs me every time.

Maybe it has something to do with Adam Thompson’s charming accent. Or maybe because, as a child, I grew up imagining that one day I’d be able to fly around with a jetpack myself, and ever since then I’ve always felt a bit cheated. Or perhaps it’s just a damn good song.

Sometimes, I need “These Four Walls” when I want to break out of these very walls myself. And “It’s thunder…” is the first choice when things are getting serious. Chances are that, after that escalation, my vocal cords will file a complaint.

It’s late 2019, early 2020, and it’s the story we all know: global pandemic, society at a dead stop, lockdowns, and social distancing—all backed up by this creeping, pervasive feeling that the world is completely falling apart.

When the pandemic hit, I burned out of my job at almost the same time and found myself stuck at home in the midst of all that madness, suffering from severe depression. Although the start of the pandemic and my burnout weren’t related, the story fit together in that strange way the universe always seems to tell us. It was a terrible time, but one day it was finally over.

The virus became endemic, “the new now” became everyday life, and what remained was “That Funny Feeling.” It’s been with me ever since. There’s no song that better captures the zeitgeist and the underlying feeling in internet culture for me. Thanks, Bo.

[Here is the post on my blog.]

Whenever this song comes on, I’m instantly back in the basement with my best buddies. “The Weekend…” was an opener for “After School on Fridays.” A room filled with thick air, and we were incredibly stoned while we played video games. We’d keep at it until either the 386’s internal memory ran out or we ran out of weed. Usually, it was the latter.

The feeling of being young, the first kiss and falling in love for the first time, and gradually coming to understand the incredible freedom – and also the uncertainty – that opens up before you as a teenager. This song is a direct link to my past and to a part of my soul, and I’m grateful for the memories I associate with it.