Is there a song that changed you?

This is a question that I have asked friends over the years, and I find the answers fascinating.

I will lead off with this one. it was released in 1998, but I don't recall listening to it until 2004. I had heard it before then, but hadn't listened to it. This song was part of a lightbulb moment for me, of sorts, and remains on my playlists to this day. It is a reminder; my own musical memento.

Pretty self-explanatory- and with NSFW lyrics, so warning for that.

See my post in the thread for the song- It is What it's Like by Everlast.

I see why.  I can't think of just one song because there are many that have had an impact on me, mostly labor and protest songs from folks like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Utah Phillips etc

Three songs changed my attitude to life, the parent and child relationship, and I still am welcome to hear to them today.

"The Living Years" is a ballad written by Mike Rutherford and B. A. Robertson, and recorded by Rutherford's British rock band Mike + The Mechanics. It was released in December 1988 in the United Kingdom and in the United States as the second single from their album Living Years. The song addresses a son's regret over unresolved conflict with his now-deceased father
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGDA0Hecw1k


"Father and Son" is a popular song written and performed by English singer-songwriter Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) on his 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman. The song frames an exchange between a father not understanding a son's desire to break away and shape a new life, and the son who cannot really explain himself but knows that it is time for him to seek his own destiny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yERildSsWxM


"Anak" (Filipino for child or more accurately my son or my daughter) is a Tagalog song written by Filipino folk-singer Freddie Aguilar. It was a finalist for the inaugural 1977 Metropop Song Festival held in Manila. It became an international hit, and was translated into 26 languages. The lyrics speak of Filipino family values.
Original version, in Tagalog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n-2lPzH7Do

English version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oklvyDqCem8


I put the links for YouTube for many video in one reply slows the webpage down.

There are so many. The one Philip mentioned-Father and Son could have been renamed Mother & Daughter and it would have been about me and my mother.

Some others:

Let it Be-The Beatles. This one takes me back to another place, another time. Actually, it reminds me of a dream I had when I was about 7 or 8. I didn't realize how meaningful it was until many years later.

Taxi-Harry Chapin. I remember the first time I heard it. I must have been about 9 or 10 when it first came out and they played it on the radio. I sat there and listened to it and it pretty much blew me away (even at that young age).

I'm OK-Styx.  This came out when I was a teenager dealing with the issues of not fitting in and such. After hearing this song, I realize that "I'm Ok this way yes, I'm OK."


I'm sure there are more but these are the ones I can think of at the moment.



Cat

There are so many. The one Philip mentioned-Father and Son could have been renamed Mother & Daughter and it would have been about me and my mother.

Some others:

Let it Be-The Beatles. This one takes me back to another place, another time. Actually, it reminds me of a dream I had when I was about 7 or 8. I didn't realize how meaningful it was until many years later.

Taxi-Harry Chapin. I remember the first time I heard it. I must have been about 9 or 10 when it first came out and they played it on the radio. I sat there and listened to it and it pretty much blew me away (even at that young age).

I'm OK-Styx.  This came out when I was a teenager dealing with the issues of not fitting in and such. After hearing this song, I realize that "I'm Ok this way yes, I'm OK."


I'm sure there are more but these are the ones I can think of at the moment.



Cat
Currently on the radio I am listening to right now, another of for the list of songs that changed me, "Dance With My Father" by Luther Vandross

Currently on the radio I am listening to right now, another of for the list of songs that changed me, "Dance With My Father" by Luther Vandross


That song (the Celine Dion version) my sister used for a memorial slideshow when our dad passed away.  :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat

That song (the Celine Dion version) my sister used for a memorial slideshow when our dad passed away.  :\'( :\'( :\'(



Cat
:\'(

The feeling something when I was listening to it too back then, a very sad song for when you have experience such events.

Three songs changed my attitude to life, the parent and child relationship, and I still am welcome to hear to them today.

"Father and Son" is a popular song written and performed by English singer-songwriter Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) on his 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman. The song frames an exchange between a father not understanding a son's desire to break away and shape a new life, and the son who cannot really explain himself but knows that it is time for him to seek his own destiny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yERildSsWxM



The truly amazing thing about "Father and Son" is how the writer, Cat Stevens (now Yusef Islam) , a young man himself when he wrote it, had a compete grasp on the point of view of both the father and the son. I was around when it first came out. We all loved the "Tea For The Tillerman" album.  Naturally, being so young at the time, I related to the son's point of view yet still thought "what an understanding, open minded father".  Now I am so much older and I relate to the father's point of view yet still easily understand the son's restlessness. A very prescient piece of writing. Many very young singer/songwriters of that era, from Cat Stevens to Bob Dylan to Donovan to Joni Mitchell and so many more seemed to have a wisdom beyond their years which they put into the songs. 

Song that goes with the first post:

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Song that goes with the first post:

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'Love' by Lana Del Rey last year came about at a turning point in my life. You could say it gave me hope in a way.

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Taught me to be comfortable with who I am.