I know it’s easy to imagine,
but it’s easier to just do...
see, if you can’t do what you imagine,
then what is imagination to you?
If you know the song that accompanies these lyrics, congrats! This set of lines may be some of my favorites from Scott Mescudi’s discography. As Sonika called out in her review of Man on the Moon 3, Cudi has long been known for his connection to mental health, but for this piece and forthcoming playlist we’re focusing on a faint theme that Cudi alludes to in a few of his songs: Imagination.
My imagination, as I’m sure it does for others, runs wild from time to time. It’s a timeless sandbox where the only limitations to the mental sand castles you construct in your head is on you. And while some of those proverbial sand castles won’t ever see the light of day, Kid Cudi’s lyrics serve as a reminder that on occasion you should act on those imaginative thoughts. Besides, why keep all of those thoughts in your head if some of them can make you truly happy just by acting on them?
Music has the ability to transport me to my own mental sandbox; a sanctuary where I replay moments in my life based on the lyrics I hear or the beat drumming in the background. As time has gone on, I turn back to Cudi’s reminder that whatever you conjure up in your head, doing something about it matters.
So let’s dive into the playlist for a sec, shall we? The order doesn’t matter, but at the very least let the first few run through. We start with the song that spurred all of this, Enter Galactic from Man on the Moon: The End of Day. From there, we jump into a song (Bedroom by Litany) that immediately takes my imagination to some of those moments where you’re interacting with someone you care for a lot, but you haven’t built up the courage to act on those feelings. Now that you’re in your feels it's time to be serenaded by the beautiful keystrokes of FKJ (10 Years from his Ylang Ylang EP) as he reflects on being young and not being able to feel time. If you’re wondering, “Joe, what's up with the sandbox talk?”, look no further than the Surfaces song Kid Kingdoms; a tribute to being a kid and building sandcastles. And finally, to cap off the first five songs, you have Pork Soda by Glass Animals, a tribute to people you still want to be in your life even if it’s a chaotic relationship at times. I could go on and on about all of these songs, but I digress.
With that, enjoy this playlist of songs! Do I expect every song to resonate with you? No, but if you have songs that make you imagine, I’d love to hear them. At the very least let these songs and the aforementioned string of lines serve as a reminder that the next time your imagination runs wild and you start building those sand castles in your head, do something about them :)
Joe
What's your opinion?