"Innocence"

Being 19, I feel like I'm caught between some unspoken age gap.  Everyone older still treats you like you're slightly older than you used to be but still not old enough.  Maybe when I'm 21 I will feel completely different..only time will tell.  Anyways, although when I'm out in this crazy world it still feels like I'm a little girl...However, I didn't feel like that tonight.

Tonight was my elementary school's annual bazaar.  Since I entered kindergarten my family and I have never missed it.  Well, tonight there was not remnant that reminded me of that.  Almost every face I saw or voice I heard, I did not recognize.  Of course, you see old teachers, the principle, the priest. (I went to a Catholic private school)  But I felt something crazy that I just can't even explain.  Although it was completely packed and the most people I have ever seen there, it felt like a ghost town.  I felt for once in my life like a chapter had completely ended.  I guess this means I'm growing up.  Out of all the songs I have ever heard in my life, this song was in my head the whole night.  I am so happy that I am where I stand in my life, but sometimes there's that little voice inside you that wants to go back to that time where the world was a mystery and life was simple.  I guess what I wanted to rediscover was that "young girl, wide eyed innocence."  

From the beginning of this blog, I knew I had to find a way to incorporate this song.  Since I discovered this song, probably 5 or 6 years ago...yes, yet another Myspace discovery.  I remember finding Sarah Buxton and becoming memorized.  She has this rawness that is apparent in her vocals and lyrics that I have never seen before.  She understands rhythm like no other.  One of my all time favorite songwriters.  You'll be seeing a lot more of her!  And as many million times as I have listened to this song, it never rang more true than tonight.  The key to a well-written song is that ability to be applied to any situation, relatable, and to be interpreted many ways.  Well, that description is this song.  I am puzzled as to why this song didn't shoot up to #1.  This song has everything!  And Sarah Buxton is a total dark horse.  She has released one of the best albums that I have ever heard.  Just an unbelievable talent that everyone should know about!!

FM Radio:
Singer: Sarah Buxton 
Songwriters: Sarah Buxton, Georgia Middlemen, Jeremy Stover, Dave Berg
Song: "Innocence"

It's the first time that I've been here
Since I was here with him
I remember all the wildflowers
Waving in the wind

Life was an undiscovered river
I was jumping in head first

It was sink or swim, do or die
Sneaking out on summer nights
Stealing wine from my pa
The thrill of not getting caught
And now and then I miss those days
But coming back to this place
I realize it ain't him I miss
It's that young girl, wide-eyed, first love
One time innocence, yeah

We ran off to the corn field
Just outside the county fair
There were butterflies in my stomach
And fireflies in the air

He tried hard not to show it
Oh, but he was just as scared as me

And it was sink or swim, do or die
Sneaking out on summer nights
Stealing wine from my pa
The thrill of not getting caught
And now and then I miss those days
But coming back to this place
I realize it ain't him I miss
It's that young girl, wide-eyed, first love
One time innocence, yeah

And coming here
Has made me come to this
The one thing I can't get back
Is the one thing I miss, yeah

And it was breaking rules, flying blind
What you see through younger eyes
It wasn't what I thought it was
Man, I swore he was the one
And now and then I miss those days
But coming back to this place
I realize it ain't him I miss
It's that young girl, wide-eyed, first love
One time innocence, yeah

It's that young girl, wide-eyed, first love
One time innocence, yeah
It's that innocence


Best Performance:

"American Honey"

Today, I became a college sophomore.  Today, I became one step further away from the curly haired little girl I used to be.  And today, I wished I had a chance to go back to that childhood, fresh-faced, innocence that we all lose along our way.

I listened to, undoubtedly, the most uninteresting teacher I have ever had in my lifetime while I prayed that I would get the opportunity to show the world I could be more than the overachieving, straight A student that I am.  I value education but I also value skill.  I know I've been fully blessed with a gift not many have, I just want to find the right outlet...and today that was not my 2 hour lab or lecture.  

Some carry around a certain memory from their childhood, I carry around the feeling.  That feeling that no matter how hard you try, you'll never fall; nothing is worth worrying about; and life was nothing more than the simple things.  In between the awkward silence and boringness of my classes, I wondered what it would be like to go back to that mentality now that I have seen and experienced the opposite side of it.  It would be liberating but captivating at the same time.  However, I didn't need those childhood moments...what I needed was "American Honey." 

Since I had the idea of starting this blog, I just knew I had to write about this song.  For some reason, I always carry this song with me.  Artists release new CDs filled with new songs and for some reason I always come back to this song.  What captivates me about this song is that there is more unspoken than said.  What is beautiful about this song is the fact that there is not one person that cannot be the person in this song...we all are.  This isn't a detailed a song about a busy life filled with waking up to an alarm clock, it's trying to find who you were in the midst of who you've become.  Unfortunately, the trials and tribulations that we all have to experience shape us into the person we become.  Some become bitter, jaded, heartbroken, the list goes on.  However, it's the values that we all learn in childhood that keep us running on the right path.    

I could endlessly fill this blog about the incredible songwriters that I have discovered but these three are on my bucket list of dream co-writes.  Myspace became like a musical heaven for me years ago and I discovered songwriters who are better than any artist that you hear on the radio.  By now I think the world knows how much I idolize Hillary Lindsey...the fact that I become obsessed with every song she writes and word she sings.  She has a voice that goes unmatched.  I love you all, but there's God and then there's Hillary in my life...haha!  The woman can do no wrong in my eyes.  I discovered Shane Stevens and Cary Barlowe through Hillary's myspace and fell in love with their abilities to marry a lyric and melody unlike anything I have ever heard before.  Individually, they are incredible...together, they are indescribable!!  You MUST hear their demo it is blows away the recorded version, LOVE!!!      

One of my favorite songs of all time!

FM Radio:

Singer: Lady Antebellum

Songwriters: Hillary Lindsey, Shane Stevens, Cary Barlowe

Song: "American Honey"

She grew up on the side of the road
Where the church bells ring and strong love grows
She grew up good, She grew up slow
Like American honey

Steady as a preacher, Free as a weed
Couldn't wait to get going
But wasn't quite ready to leave
So innocent, pure and sweet
American honey

There's a wild, wild whisper
Blowin' in the wind
Callin' out my name
Like a long lost friend
Oh, I miss those days
As the years go by
Oh, nothin' sweeter than summertime
And American honey

Get caught in the race of this crazy life
Tryin' to be everything can make you lose your mind
I just wanna go back in time
To American honey

There's a wild, wild whisper
Blowin' in the wind
Callin' out my name
Like a long lost friend
Oh, I miss those days
As the years go by
Oh, nothin' sweeter than summertime
And American honey

Gone for so long now
I gotta get back to her somehow
American honey

There's a wild wild whisper
Blowin' in the wind
Callin' out my name
Like a long lost friend
Oh, I miss those days
As the years go by
Nothin' sweeter than summertime
And American honey
And American honey 

Incredible Original Version:

Lady A's Video: