Day 37 – Smashing Pumpkins
“Today is the greatest day I have ever known“
WHO: Smashing Pumpkins
WHAT: “Siamese Dream“
WHERE: To be honest I think I came into procession of my first Smashing Pumpkins album by accident. I remember not being that big of a fan of SP when they were big in the 90′s. I think it was when I went to college that I either found the “Siamese Dream” CD or to be embarrassingly honest I may have just bought it because of the commercial success of the song “Today.” Regardless of how I came about owning “Siamese Dream,” I remember becoming obsessed with “Disarm” and actually not ever listening to “Today” all that often. Go figure.
WHY: Although the song “Today” was not my favorite on the “Siamese Dream” album, it did become of personal importance to me by my 18th birthday. Let me just get out of the way that I am fully aware that the song, contrary to what the lyrics might lead you to believe, is actually a song about committing suicide. It is actually because of the subject matter that made this song become important to me. The song is essentially about completely giving up on your life because things seem to be too hard. Let’s just say I went though a lot of shit growing up, and I played this song on my 18th birthday as a reminder to myself to continue to strive and not to give up. Using a song about giving up as a reminder not to give up may seem a little backwards, but it works for me. After playing “Today” on my 18th birthday, I have continued to make it a point to listen to that song on every one one of my birthdays as a reminder that I made it another year without giving up. Today marks my 10 year anniversary of not giving up… oh yeah, did I fail to mention it’s my 28th birthday today?! Oh and Smashing Pumpkins are from Chicago too so they still work into my Chicago themed picks for the week… BINGO!
CHECK OUT: TWLOHA: To Write Love On Her Arms – “A non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.”
