This is my entry to @galenkp’s Weekend Engagement #135. I picked the first topic:

Music feels on the weekend

Tell us about a song, just one single song, that makes you feel something deeply - What do you feel and why?

There are many songs that cause strong emotions in me. Some are cheerful (merengues and salsa), but most are sad or nostalgic (romantic music, boleros, pop, and ballads). One of them that came to mind as soon as I read the prompt was Adele's A Million Years Ago.

The first time I heard this song I cried as if I had just been told a dear relative had died. I just could not hold it and I could not understand why.

Even though the lyrics can be interpreted in different ways and can be read as allusions to different kinds of things people regret, my first reaction was purely emotional: The cadence of the guitar, Adele's amazing voice, and probably an altered state of mind.

The song makes me feel very nostalgic every time I listen to it. I have actually found myself avoiding it if I can and listening to it when I want to deeply reflect about something troubling I or someone close to me is going through.

According to the singer, the song was meant to be a reflection about fame and what it does to an artist, but for me it brings mixed feelings about time, distance, and the consequences of our actions. Even though I did not have what we can call a rebellious adolescence, this songs takes me back to those years and all the stupid things teenagers do when they feel they are entitled, immortal, and omniscient.

I think of some of my childhood friends or relatives who did screw up big time and came back too late to try to make amends.

The song makes me think about all that is lost with the passage of time; all the nostalgia of lost opportunities, friendships, or loves. The feeling of being a stranger in a place that was once your backyard, or around people who once loved you is heartbreaking. All that comes to me with this song and the feeling is not exactly as if all those things happened a millions years ago. In fact, the power of this song lies in its ability to make me feel that whatever it is that makes me feel nostalgic has just happened.

I think of every youth who is doing something they will surely regret and wish they could just listen to the song and foresee how painful it will feel to want to take all back and not being able to. However, we know we do not learn from any cautionary tale and some mistakes are inevitable.

Thanks for stopping by