First of all, I simply cannot continue on this essay without first mentioning that I have been dreaming of writing this essay for a very long time. Music has been one of my only escapes since very early childhood, and it would be hard to catch me at a time when I wasn’t either listening to it or singing it. Music has for a long time been my exclusive method of defining, containing, and sustaining myself. I do not hold any other artistic medium in as high regard, and that has built up a great bit of excitement for me when contemplating how to write this essay.
One of the most precious movements, in my highest regard, has always been John Denver’s 1971 Poems, Prayers, and Promises. This song brings back very strong memories of my childhood home…show more content… I hung on every word, and even though I was too young to understand a lot of things, I cried. I felt every word of the song, and though I am not by any stretch of the imagination a superstitious person, I felt that John Denver, whom I was already a big fan of, was telling me the best way he knew how that everything was going to be okay. Things hadn’t been great—my mom’s depression had left her nearly catatonic, her mother, who had beckoned her hundreds of miles away from home to take care of her, asserted that she hated her, and me. This song has an effect on me like no other, and no matter how busy I am, I cannot force myself to shut it off until it is done playing.
The second song, one that speaks to me presently, is of a much more macabre genre and lyric. The song is called The Red Carpet Grave by none other than Marilyn Manson. When I grew older, I quickly saw Marilyn Manson as a suitable idol. He was courageous, bold, and he stressed above everything else that you have no higher obligation than to yourself—namely, to be yourself, and not to compromise who you are for the sake of
