What are the songs that defined your year?

Day 7 of the 2024 review.

Photo by Krists Luhaers on Unsplash

“Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.” — Charlie Parker

My year started with me teaching my son how to drive.

He came home from uni for Christmas, and after his shift working in a bar, he’d invite me to sit in the driver’s seat as we drove around the dark country roads of my corner of wild Northumberland so he could practice before he took his test.

I had little old red mini then, and I tried to sit still and calm as my 6-foot-5 son curled himself like a question mark into the driver’s seat and hurled us round corners in the dark. He put on his music and we listened to everything from gangster rap to Dexy’s Midnight Runners - it (have you heard this brilliant song, mum - ‘C’mon on Eileen’?)

I felt like I had a ring seat to his soul—his fears, his hopes, this jumble of energy pouring out of him through the music he played. We didn’t talk much but listened, sang, hummed and at one point cried together. (Billy Eillish anyone?)

Think I forgot how to be happy
Something I'm not, but something I can be
Something I wait for
Something I'm made for….

The song that had us both singing loudly the most was Don’t Look Back In Anger by Oasis?

(“Have you heard of them, Mum? How do you know the words?)

Please don't put your life in the hands of a rock n roll band...

Here I was watching my almost adult son literally get into the driving seat of his life and it felt like finally - I’d got him over the line.

And it was time to let go of the past (not in anger) and look to the future.

2024 has definitely been a big turning point for me where my son is suddenly self-supporting—he passed his driving test, finished Uni, got a job. I have stopped grieving his departure (I had suffered unbearable empty nest syndrome as a single parent to an only son), and suddenly I am free to build a new life for myself.

2024 has been about building a new foundation and asking questions like, what do I want? What do I need? What is enough? What feels fun? How can I turn my face to the sun?

The best song my son and I sang together on those dark nights of January was Feeling Good by Nina Simone. “It’s a new day. Great song!”

This became my anthem for 2024.

What was your anthem for 2024?

I invite you to create a playlist of songs that defined your year.

Think about what each song represents: a specific moment, a person, or a feeling.

Then ask yourself:

What anthem do you want for 2025?