-- KeithEdelman - 23 Apr 2009

-- AndrewMcCormick -23 Apr 2009

At risk of being mainstream, I'd suggest The Killers: This is Your Life

Crooked wheels keep turnin'/Children are you learnin'?/Climatize but dont you lose the plot A history of blisters/Your brothers and your sisters/Somewhere in the pages we forgot... And the sky is full of dreams/But you don't know how to fly/I don't have a simple answer/But I know that I could answer: Something Better.

When I arrived in my old set of clothes/I was half a world away from my home/And I was hunted by the wolves and I was heckled by the crows/Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know....

Sometimes your path is marked in the sky/Sometimes you're forced to fit in between the lines/Sometimes all that you can do is say "No"/Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

Phil Ochs - "I'm Gonna Say it Now"

(except, alas, that we are not)

-- AndrewCase -22 Apr 2009

Belle & Sebastian - "I Don't Want to Play Football"

Live, sketchy YouTube version

Lyrics

-- JosephLu - 21 Apr 2009

Mother, should I run for president? Mother, should I trust the government? Mother, will they put me in the firing line? Ooooowaa is it just a waste of time?

Such is the way of the world / You can never know / Just where to put all your faith / And how will it grow

Gonna rise up / Find my direction magnetically / Gonna rise up / Throw down my ace in the hole

The song is from the movie Into the Wild, which itself was based on a book that profoundly moved me in high school. I think the story is particularly relevant to our discussion of children running away from home: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_McCandless. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for inspiration.

-- YoungKim - 21 Apr 2009

Safety of Distance by Lior

"there is hope in the land of ruins / in the village of old enemies / who come to join hands for they share the knowledge / compassion is the measure of a man / won’t bring back lovers and friends / but it might make for a happier end"

(bad bootleg video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1BMv_J2F5Q)

-- AnjaHavedal? - 21 Apr 2009

Disconsolately, "Is That All There Is" performed by Peggy Lee. ("When I was 12 years old, my daddy took me to a circus, the greatest show on earth / There were clowns and elephants and dancing bears / And a beautiful lady in pink tights flew high above our heads / And as I sat there, watching / I had the feeling that something was missing / I don't know what, but when it was all over / I said to myself, 'Is that all there is?'")

Obscurely, "What Is Not But Could Be If" by the Silver Jews. ("We could be crossing this abridged abyss / into beginning" ... "The truth is not alive or dead / the truth is struggling to be said")

Optimistically, "All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles. ("Nothing you can say / but you can learn how to play the game / It's easy")

-- GregOrr - 21 Apr 2009

Personally I think 'Gimme Shelter' by the Rolling Stones would round up the semester well.

Post your other ideas...

-- TheodorBruening - 21 Apr 2009