Traveling Songs (and Saudade)
You know the one overused Instagram audio that goes “Travelers do live with a deep sense of… saudade…”? Yeah, you do. (God, I hate reels. Have I said that enough recently?) Anyway.
For those who do not know what saudade is, the Oxford definition is as follows: a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia that is supposedly characteristic of the Portuguese or Brazilian temperament (especially with reference to songs or poetry).
There is a reason said audio has been trending for what feels like a million years, and it’s very simple. The saudade statement is excruciatingly true — especially regarding music. You will never again be able to hear that song without thinking of that person, that place.
The songs included here are reminiscent of travel in general, or rather, the heightened experience of life it brings forth. They are also personal. There’s an order here somewhere, a plot line of sorts, though it is not exact. It is hazy as memory. It is less story, more feeling.
I’m a sucker for saudade.
Follow along — I made a playlist.
Weightless - All Time Low
“This is my reaction to everything I fear
‘Cause I've been going crazy, I don't wanna waste another minute here.”
The itch. Once you get it: scratch. If it bleeds, don’t worry, it just means you’re alive. I promise you. Scratching feels so good.
Oh, I have to get out of here. Okay. Dream. Plan. Go.
America - Simon & Garfunkel
“Kathy, I'm lost", I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why.”
I remember shortly after “discovering” Simon & Garfunkel, I found myself driving down the New Jersey Turnpike as that one line rang out. It struck me - and still does to this day - with the most complete sense of wonder, and in doing so, turned a perfectly average, ugly Jersey drive into something existential.
The beauty of this song lies in its duality: it magically captures the wonder of future possibility and the inevitable melancholy of leaving something behind.
It also has no rhyme scheme.
(The First Aid Kit cover is beautiful, too.)
Pierre - Ryn Weaver
“I danced in the desert, in the pouring rain
Drank with the devil and forgot my name
Woke with somebody when the morning came
No one there to shame me for my youth.”
Youth! Freedom! Mistakes! Life! It’s all so beautiful!
Vienna - Billy Joel
“Slow down, you're doin' fine
You can't be everything you wanna be before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight, tonight
Too bad but it's the life you lead
You're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you're wrong
You know you can't always see when you're right.”
Once you get going, it’s easy to want to keep moving. (The law of forward motion compels us, remember?) This is okay as long as we continue moving towards something — not running away.
Stay present in your movement. Be where your feet are.
Someone New - Hozier
“God knows I fall in love just a little, oh
a little bit every day with someone new.
Love every stranger. The stranger the better.”
Some people do indeed fall in love with someone new every single day. For me, this has always been falling in love with newness period. There’s excitement. Restlessness. Recklessness.
Jackie & Wilson plays a part here too, somewhere.
Amsterdam - Gregory Alan Isakov
“Churches and trains […] they all look the same to me now.”
The melancholy. Fuck. Walking around empty city streets at dawn, or sitting on a train…
In spite of the above lyric, this song somehow encapsulates the unspeakable sensation of arriving in a place you’ve never been. Or, in a place you once knew that has since changed. Or, maybe you’ve changed too.
Moments in the Woods - Into the Woods
”Oh, if life were made of moments
Even now and then a bad one!
But if life were only moments
Then you'd never know you had one.”
One of my favorite musical theater songs of all time. For those fleeting moments you know you’ll never get back, even while you’re in them.
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
“And one day we will die
And our ashes will fly
From the aeroplane over the sea
But for now we are young
Let us lay in the sun
And count every beautiful thing we can see.”
Wonder. Impermanence. Departure. Nostalgia. The facts of travel and of life.
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard - Paul Simon
“Well I'm on my way
I don't know where I'm going.”
Image: me, in yesterday’s outfit, listening to this song, dance-walking down the street in Wrocław on my way to catch a midnight train to Bratislava. Just me, my backpack, and two cans of shitty Polish beer.
Not a care. Not one.
Me & Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin
“Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose
Nothin', don't mean nothin' hon' if it ain't free.”
Another song of loss and gain. There is such opportunity in loss. There is freedom. This is not a sad song. I rock out to the ending every single time.
I’ll Be Seeing You - Billie Holiday
“I’ll be looking at the moon
But I’ll be seeing you.”
Self-explanatory.
Portugal - WALK THE MOON
“Take me with you
'Cause even on your own
You are not alone
Take me with you
'Cause even by yourself
My love, you are something else.”
I did in fact first encounter this song prior to my one and only visit to Portugal. So, that was fun. It was my first true solo trip. The day to day solitude and freedom to do as I pleased was liberating. I loved it from the start.
It was also a time of loneliness; a time I was learning how to be on my own in a completely new way.
Traveling Song - Ryn Weaver
“Nobody knows where they are going
Oh, how we try to wrap our minds
Over the edge of all our knowings
Be it a bang or the divine.”
It feels like Ryn Weaver wrote this at the end of the journey that Pierre began with. She’s seen a thing or two. Broken some hearts. Had her’s broken. She’s learned something — but not nearly everything. And she’s ready to pass it along.
Goodbye Stranger - Supertramp
“Goodbye, stranger, it's been nice
Hope you find your paradise.”
Everything is temporary. Luckily, music and memory are forever. Kind of.
Long Strange Trip… - Cisco Adler
“It’s all a mystery, lookin’ for our history
Somebody once told me
If you're looking for trouble you will find it
And I did.
Got on a big old plane
Said, take me far away
No place to go today
But I wanna see everything I can.”
In my autobiographical indie/rom-com travel documentary, this plays over the credits. There’s an ellipsis in the title for a reason. There’s no epic conclusion. No ending wrapped neatly in a box with a pretty bow. It just sort of stops. “What’s next?” I wonder.
I wonder.
ONWARDS,
Mag