Together, fellow Copy Editor Addie Kinnaly and I make up approximately 67 percent of The Heights’ New Hampshire representation. Our paths had probably crossed well before Boston College on the beaches, on the boardwalk, or in the restaurants of Hampton, N.H.
So when I agreed to do an iEdit with Addie, I thought I knew what to expect. I thought our music experience couldn’t possibly be that different.
Boy, was I wrong. Addie’s playlist took me on a path of discovery that I never would have imagined.
The playlist began with “With Or Without You” by U2, which provided the theme for most of the rest of the playlist. The song focuses on a relationship where the singer can’t live with or without his lover, almost like an addictive substance that kills you while you use it, but is impossible to give up.
“With or without you / I can’t live / With or without you,” sings Bono, the band’s lead vocalist.
The song sets up the playlist’s focus on songs about relationships, especially ones that don’t go so well, but the playlist takes an immediate detour from that theme with the second song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel.
It’s an upbeat song with an impossible-to-not-know chorus that has stood the test of time. I could imagine Addie listening to this song while driving a convertible with the top down along the New Hampshire coastline.
“We didn’t start the fire / It was always burning / Since the world’s been turning,” Joel sings in the chorus.
The playlist then gets back on theme for the next several songs with “Love is a Laserquest” by Arctic Monkeys, a song about trying to move on from an ex-lover, and “Sister Golden Hair” by America, a song about a guy with issues committing to a lover.
I had never heard “Sister Golden Hair” before, and it was a really fun song, despite the slightly less fun lyrics. The song’s sound reminds me of a bonfire or a barbecue on a cool summer night.
The playlist then gets decidedly more modern for two of the next three songs with “Tough Love” by Gracie Abrams and “Nothing New (Taylor’s Version)” by Taylor Swift featuring Phoebe Bridgers.
In “Tough Love,” Abrams makes several references to Boston while talking about ending a relationship that wasn’t serving her.
“The benches by the Charles gave me somewhere to go / I feel like I’m home,” Abrams sings.
Knowing Addie’s love for Abrams, she’s probably sat on the benches along the Charles River herself, searching for a glimpse of Abrams in her reflection in the water.
Swift’s “Nothing New (Taylor’s Version)” describes getting old and the fear that comes along with it. With the fast-moving life of a college student, I could imagine Addie using a song like this to ground herself and using the bridge as a source of optimism.
Sandwiched in between these two tracks was “Romeo and Juliet” by Dire Straits. I couldn’t stand this song, and the fact that it was over six minutes long felt like a form of torture. The story element of the song demonstrated what Addie had told me prior to our iEdits, though, namely that she loves a song with a good story.
Song number eight was “Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leon, another upbeat song perfect for a long drive with the windows down.
The penultimate song was one I hadn’t heard by a favorite artist of mine, Lana Del Rey. The song is backdropped by a piano, and Del Rey’s signature singing creates a listening experience nothing short of beautiful. Addie is known in The Heights’ office for being proud of her music taste and unafraid to get on the aux, and with music like this I can’t blame her.
The final song on her playlist, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” by Bob Dylan, is about unrequited love and the want to be fought for. The song’s guitar and harmonica made me think of the dirt roads and lakes that populate rural New Hampshire.
Overall, Addie’s playlist is one of a girl who’s still searching—searching for a way to get over her last love, searching for a way to get through her current love, and searching for a way to find her next one.
But amid all these relationship woes, Addie offers an important lesson in having fun. Whether that’s singing “We Didn’t Start the Fire” in the car with your parents or belting the lyrics to “Sex on Fire” at karaoke night with your friends, sometimes we all just need to let loose and have a little fun.
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