Rolling Stones:
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes
You just might find
You get what you need
My mom sings that song about everything!
For those applying to the most selective colleges:
Pat Benatar " Hit Me With Your Best Shot"
Well your a real tough cookie with a long history
Of breaking little hearts like the one in me
That’s OK, let’s see how you do it
Put up your dukes and let’s get down
to it
Hit me with your best shot
Why don’t you hit me with your best shot
Hit me with your best shot
Fire away
A song for graduates:
How do I… say goodbye…
To what we had?
The good times that made us laugh
Outweigh the bad.
I thought we’d get to see forever
But forever’s gone away.
It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.
–
And I’ll take with me the memories
To be my sunshine after the rain.
It’s so hard to say goodbye
To yesterdayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
–> Boyz II Men
To counter @GMTplus7’s pragmatic tune, here’s a more optimistic tune from Jimmy Cliff for all the dreamers out there:
Persecution you must fear
Win or lose you’re about to get your share
Got your mind set on a dream
You can get it though hard it may seem now
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try, try and try, try and try
You’ll succeed at last, I know it
Listen, Rome was not built in a day
Opposition will come your way
But the harder the battle, you see
Is the sweeter the victory now
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try, try and try, try and try
You’ll succeed at last
Disappointed with your results? I’ve always preferred Devo’s take on the Rolling Stones classic:
I can’t get no, no, no, no
Hey, hey, hey that’s what I say
I can’t get no satisfaction
I can’t get me no satisfaction
Tim McGraw “Humble and Kind”
Hold the door, say please, say thank you
Don’t steal, don’t cheat, and don’t lie
I know you got mountains to climb but
Always stay humble and kind
When the dreams you’re dreamin’ come to you
When the work you put in is realized
Let yourself feel the pride but
Always stay humble and kind
Don’t expect a free ride from no one
Don’t hold a grudge or a chip and here’s why
Bitterness keeps you from flyin’
Always stay humble and kind…
"Flat broke and busted
it just don’t seem fair,
The Man in Heaven
don’t hear my prayer,
And these dice are loaded
and I still can’t win,
Flat broke and busted
crapped out again.
Maybe tomorrow
I’ll see the light,
And I’ll know the difference
'tween wrong and right."
– “All Crapped Out Again,”
Keb’ Mo’
My oldest is still a year away from it, but for those getting ready to sign on with a particular school by 1 May, I give you “Everything Counts” by Depeche Mode:
And, later in the same song, for those (like my daughter) who are chasing merit aid:
ABBA:
Money, money, money
Must be funny
In the rich man’s world
Money, money, money
Always sunny
In the rich man’s world
Aha-ahaaa
All the things I could do
If I had a little money
It’s a rich man’s world
Here’s a few Green Day songs which are apt for some applying to colleges and/or surviving their educational experiences:
“Burnout”
I declare I don’t care no more
I’m burning up and out and growing bored
In my smoked out boring room
My hair is shagging in my eyes
Dragging my feet to hit the street tonight
To drive along these shit town lights
I’m not growing up
I’m just burning out
And I stepped in line
to walk amongst the dead
Apathy has rained on me
Now I’m feeling like a soggy dream
So close to drowning but I don’t mind
I’ve lived inside this mental cave
Throw my emotions in the grave
Hell, who needs them anyway
I’m not growing up
I’m just burning out
And I stepped in line
to walk amongst the dead
[Repeat many times]
“Basket Case”
Do you have the time
To listen to me whine
About nothing and everything
All at once
I am one of those
Melodramatic fools
Neurotic to the bone
No doubt about it
Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I’m cracking up
Am I just paranoid?
Am I just stoned?
I went to a shrink
To analyze my dreams
She says it’s lack of sex
That’s bringing me down
I went to a whore
He said my life’s a bore
So quit my whining cause
It’s bringing her down
Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I’m cracking up
Am I just paranoid?
Uh, yuh, yuh, ya
Grasping to control
So I better hold on
Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I’m cracking up
Am I just paranoid?
Am I just stoned?
“Armatage Shanks”
Stranded…lost inside myself
My own worst friend
My own closest enemy
I’m Branded…maladjusted
Never trusted anyone
Let alone myself
I must insist
On being a pessimist
I’m a loner in a catastrophic mind
Elected the rejected
I perfected the science of the idiot
No meaning…no healing
Self loathing freak and introverted deviot
I must insist
On being a pessimist
I’m a loner in a catastrophic mind
Stranded…lost inside myself
My own worst friend
My own closest enemy
Elected the rejected
I perfected the science of the idiot
I must insist
On being a pessimist
I’m a loner in a catastrophic mind
I’m gettin’ pissed
I’m a worthless pessimist
I’m a loner in a claustrophobic mind
If your first choice college didn’t work out:
Well there’s a rose in a fisted glove
And the eagle flies with the dove
And if you can’t be with the one you love, honey
Love the one you’re with
Crosby Stills Nash - Love The One You’re With
How about one for us parents:
"I wish I was 18 again,
Going where I’d never been … "
For those who didn’t get into Harvard(Destiny’s Child): After of all of the darkness and sadness
Soon comes happiness
If I surround my self with positive things
I’ll gain prosperity
I’m a survivor
I’m not gon give up
I’m not gon stop
I’m gon work harder
I’m a survivor
I’m gonna make it
I will survive
Keep on survivin’
“Come Saturday Morning,” for somewhat hidden reasons.
Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter”
Makes me work a little bit harder
Makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Made me learn a little bit faster
Made my skin a little bit thicker
Makes me that much smarter
So thanks for making me a fighter
“The waiting is the hardest part” Tom Petty
From Hamilton
I am not throwing away my shot!
I am not throwing away my shot!
Hey yo, I’m just like my country
I’m young, scrappy and hungry
And I’m not throwing away my shot!
I’m ‘a get a scholarship to King’s College
I prob’ly shouldn’t brag, but dag, I amaze and astonish
The problem is I got a lot of brains but no polish
I gotta holler just to be heard
With every word, I drop knowledge!
I’m a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal
Tryin’ to reach my goal. My power of speech: unimpeachable
Only nineteen but my mind is older
These New York City streets get colder, I shoulder
Ev’ry burden, ev’ry disadvantage
I have learned to manage, I don’t have a gun to brandish
I walk these streets famished
It don’t come easy,
You know it don’t come easy.
It don’t come easy,
You know it don’t come easy.
Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues,
And you know it don’t come easy.
You don’t have to shout or leap about,
You can even play them easy.
Forget about the past and all your sorrows,
The future won’t last,
It will soon be over tomorrow.
-“It Don’t Come Easy” by Ringo Starr