From: DeadStrings
To: StringTheory27
Date: May 18th, 1997, 12:02 AM
Subject: Midnight, So Here It Is
I couldn’t sleep(as usual).I figured if anyone was awake, it might be you.
You seem to be a big fan of Erasure.I saw them at a festival once.You would’ve loved them.
I don’t think I have a band I can say is my go-to when I need something specific.I do have five songs that might be my favorites.
So here’s a strange little mix from me to you.No theme.No throughline.Just five songs that, for whatever reason, never let me down.
“Dream On”—Aerosmith
It’s the sound of holding on before things get good.That scratch in Steven Tyler’s voice?That’s someone who’s lived through every lyric he’s screaming.The piano that opens it is practically fragile—like it knows what’s coming.And then it builds, and builds, and rises.
It's about getting older, making peace with your failures, still hoping for something better—even when everything around you is falling apart.I don’t listen to this to feel okay.I listen to remember that I might be.
I feel I identify even more with it now that I type all this.You know, redoing your life, hoping for a second chance at everything.Are second chances even possible?
“Clair de Lune”—Claude Debussy
This feels like a secret someone left in the air.It moves like thought, not melody.I play it when the noise in my head is too much.When words fail.When I want to be alone with something, not from something.
“My Favorite Things”—John Coltrane
The original was sweet.Coltrane’s version?It’s longing with lungs.It takes something familiar and makes it unpredictable again.The sax doesn’t just speak—it wanders, like it’s searching for something but not sure what.There’s warmth in it, but also restlessness.This one reminds me that even the simplest things can mean more when you let them breathe.I don’t always understand jazz.But I feel this.
“Stairway to Heaven”—Led Zeppelin
Yeah, maybe it’s obvious.Maybe it’s been played to death.But there’s a reason people keep going back to it.It’s a journey—one that never really lands, just shifts under you like time.The acoustic beginning pulls you in soft, and then everything starts to crackle underneath.By the time it peaks, it’s not just music—it’s some primal howl.It’s about searching for meaning in things that probably won’t give it to you.But searching anyway.
“De Música Ligera”—Soda Stereo
Rock en español doesn’t always get its due.But this song—this song—is immortal.The riff is iconic, yes, but it’s the feeling behind it that lingers.It’s about fleeting connections.That someone hit you deep, even if it didn’t last.“Nada más queda”—nothing else remains—and yet, the music insists that what did exist still matters.This one plays loud when I want to feel alive again.It works every time.
I don’t know if these are your kind of songs.But they’re mine.
And they’ve carried me through more nights like this than I can count.
I'd take if you’ve got any late-night songs that feel like company when nothing else does.
I’m still awake.
ChapterSixty
StringTheory27:Mind if I jump on the chat instead of sending messages?
DeadStrings:So you were indeed awake?
StringTheory27:Yeah, I couldn’t sleep at all.It’s been a couple of weird days.
DeadStrings:You want to talk about it?
StringTheory27:Not specifics, but, yeah, I ended one relationship, put the final nail on another one, and I’m thinking about doing the same with a few more.It’s liberating.
