Welcome to another #SongLyricsSunday here on ai love music! This week’s prompt is about a “hometown or [a] city where you were born or were lived in or someplace that you relate to”. This prompt made me excited for nervous as I never really had a place I really have called home. Why? Read further on to find out!
(This is part of a #SongLyricsSunday challenge, which is hosted by Jim at An Unique Title For Me. Anyone can join! Details on how to participate are found at the end of this post!)
Moving Around to Different Places
The reason why that this prompt excited yet nervous is that I never had one place to call home. My dad was in the United States Air Force for 20 years, so my family and I moved all over the country during his service. We have been to states like Alaska (which is so beautiful), Nebraska, Maryland, and North Dakota (a beautiful state too). My dad had temporary duty assignments (or TDYs) all around the world by himself as my brother had special needs, thus my mom, my siblings, and I stay in States. Although, the family was supposed to go to Italy (which had no support for my brother) and the Philippines (but the base outside of Manila closed before we moved).
After my dad retired, I still got restless and moved around by myself. I moved to Michigan for college. Then, I also moved overseas to Japan after college. I even moved around Japan to three different prefectures in the 8 years I have lived here.
The Ups and Downs
Moving frequently has its ups and downs. The downs of moving a lot were that you never had roots in the community you briefly stayed in. You knew your neighbors, but only for a while as you had to up and leave within two years. I never really had childhood best friends as I moved around. I remember having my first real best friend in 6th grade, but she had the move the following summer because her dad had orders to go to Ohio. And this was before Facebook and FaceTime as I only gave her my phone number in hopes that she would call me after she settled down in her new place. It was a painful summer emotionally.
But, one of the best things that came from moving a lot was that it made me more independent. I don’t get homesick here in Japan as much as others can be. Yes, I miss my family and the food from the US, but I know I will see them again (and enjoy all the food I want to eat) when I come back to visit.
Also, I feel like I can chat with them any time as we are connected digitally. My family and I can call or see each other at any hour on Facebook Messenger or MagicJack — an app on my phone that gives me a US number and let me call anyone in the US for a yearly fee. Even during this time of crisis, my family and I keep each other up to date with each other via Facebook (which my dad was grateful for after the March 2011 earthquakes when I was studying in Shiga as the phone lines were down).
Songs For These Places
Here are a handful of songs about some places I have lived in. Enjoy! Let me know what is your favorite song in the comments below.
“(Ready or Not) Omaha Nebraska” by Bowling For Soup
I was not technically born in Omaha, but I was born at Offutt Air Force Base which is actually part of Bellevue. But, Bellevue is a suburb of Omaha, which I can say that “I was kind of” born in Omaha, right?
“(Ready or Not) Omaha Nebraska” was written for ESPN’s coverage of the College World Series. This college baseball series is held annually in Omaha. Also, Bowling for Soup was popular when I just entered high school with songs like “1985” and “High School Never Ends”.
“Anchorage” by Michelle Shocked
I lived in Alaska when I was very little. It was a paradise for me as I could stay up and play till midnight during the summers. I also went fishing for fresh salmon with my dad and my Snoopy fishing pole. The only bad experience I had in Alaska was when I got Scarlet Fever and had to be hospitalized a week.
I have never heard of “Anchorage” by Michelle Shocked before this post. It seems like a calming and mid tempo song about the city up north. I feel like this song really envisions Anchorage musically with its slow beats and country-like melodies to represent living in Anchorage.
“Waldorfworldwide” by Good Charlotte
After my dad retired from the Air Force, the family finally settled down in Waldorf, Maryland. Good Charlotte is from Waldorf too, but they were long gone when I moved there as they were already popular. Although they are gone, long-living locals can give you still a tour of the places they frequented: their high school, their church, and the small live house that they often played at.
My friend and I saw them live a long time ago and we decided to scream “We are from Waldorf” in the crowd to get their attention. Sadly, they never heard us. Hahaha.
“Shuto Iten Keikaku” (首都移転計画) by Team Syachihoko
I currently live in Nagoya which I have called home for the past 5 years. It is no Tokyo, but I love it here. It is a city but I live in an area that is very laid back and filled with lots of nature. I also love that everything is easy to get to by train, bus, or by bike. Also, the local food in Nagoya is great: some are misokatsu (fried pork cutlets dipped in miso), tenmusubi (a rice ball with tempura), and hitsumabushi (a rice bowl with boiled eel).
“Shuto Iten Keikaku” Plan for the Relocation of the Capital by Team Syachihoko is a cute, fun song. It is about Team Syachihoko — which is an idol group from Nagoya — and their plan to move the capital of Japan from Tokyo to Nagoya. I really love this song but also Team Syachihoko as their songs are cute, catchy, and some are about Nagoya!
You can check out the English translation of the song on this site.
If you want to participate, here are the rules:
- Post the lyrics to the song of your choice, whether it fits the theme or not.
- Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due.
- Make sure you also credit the singer/band and if you desire you can provide a link to where you found the lyrics.
- Link to the YouTube video, or pull it into your post so others can listen to the song.
- Ping back to this post will eventually work, as long as you are being patient, but you can also place your link in the comments if you don’t like to wait.
- Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
- Feel free to suggest future prompts.
- Have fun and enjoy the music.
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Great music Amy.
The Japan is awesome place to visit…. I really like the songs…
That was a quick trip around the world! I just imagined myself traveling while listening to these songs! Thanks for this awesome post! ♥️
You’ve seen a lot of the world. What do you see as the biggest difference in the places? The biggest sameness?
I didn’t see any way to listen to the songs.
Still, your moving around experiences are so similar to our own, and especially for my girls when they were kids. We moved a lot with the U.S. Army, including Japan. I’ve probably mentioned it before. Anyway, they’d make a few friends, then either we or they would move on to another base. Great way to see the world, but so different from staying in one home town. 🙂
Something is very strange with jetpack and WordPress. Since I updated, jetpack is hindering Youtube videos. I need to find a solution to the problem.
I don’t travel much. But always love to . The song list, i will listen to them when ever i have time. I will book mark them.
Thanks for sharing! You’ve had such amazing experiences and an even greater soundtrack for it all!
I have often wondered how kids who move around a lot cope. Great post. I love Anchorage, (the song, never been to Alaska) great memories. Thanks for sharing
You and I have something in common, aside from a love of music. I also lived for a while in Japan (Osaka) and spent some of my schooling there studying Japanese language (speaking, reading and writing) and culture. Loved my time there and it is so true that certain songs take you back to various places you have lived or visited around the world. I hope you are enjoying your time there as well.
It looks like you’ve traveled the world a lot.you are living my dreams.
I love Japan.
Wowo!! A creative sharing from you with songs to tell us the places you have been to 😀 Enjoyed my read & also the songs list
I miss my travelling badly & this sharing easing some of my travel bugs 😀
cheers, siennylovesdrawing
I hope to visit Japan in the future. I wish to travel again once the Covid19 lockdown is over. I like the songs
Bowling for Soup and Good Charlotte were my faves back in the day!
Your muse really is music and all the lyrics. It seems your real life moves as fun and as sweetly as the music.
I really like the songs. I never visited Japan but I hope once in a life time I will visit there..thanks for sharing.
And I thought I moved around too much 🙂 You beat me by at least 5x lol! I love Japan, such a lovely place to visit and to live. These are such interesting music choices.
This is great song and would love to listen to japanese songs because I have only listned to a couple of them.
The sweetness of music is in how you relate to the lyrics. The ways these music shows how much you’ve lived, is just great.
My husband grew up as an Army Brat, so he moved around a lot, too, and doesn’t have any one place he considers his hometown. I was born and raised in the same city and lived there for 18 years before moving just a few hours away for college. While I am from across the state, the song Miami by Will Smith comes to mind because 1. it is about a Florida city and 2. I love Will Smith! Oh, or the Kokomo song since it mentions a lot of the Florida Keys.
Great post. I travel a lot too and move around the World. But I am sure it must be challenging with the kids.
Manila, Manila
I keep coming back to Manila
Simply no place like Manila
Manila, I’m coming home
Yeah, this post got me singing this song… It’s “Manila” by Hotdog 😀
I’ve always wanted to move to Japan. I can’t (or wont) since I run a business here but I try to visit every year (except this year). I could only dream!
Wow you’ve lived in so many amazing places! What an amazing experience!
Its fun how certain songs can remind you of different places. I love when there are references to a particular place that you only “get” if you know the place well!
Hello Ami! I really enjoyed your article. I would love to visit Japan more, i ve only been to Narita and Osaka and i fell in love of the culture. Your selection of music is very nice and good to have it in the playlist when going on a trip. 👋😁❤️
I’m sure moving around a lot has been challenging, but like you said—it makes you so much more resilient! Love the list <3
I’ve seen quite a lot but definitely not enough!!! The journey continues…the huto Iten Keikaku song by Team Syachihoko is awesome, super like it.
That was a quick trip around the world! I just imagined myself traveling while listening to these songs! Thanks for this awesome post! ♥️
First time to hear those musics and they are beautiful.
Frequent moving to a different places are really hard but the good thing from that experienced was you were able to see different beautiful places and you were able to meet new friends.
This is a really interesting concept! I’ve never seen this challenge before and have lived in a handful of places so I might take this on if I can think of a song for each! x
Marina Rosie x
https://www.marinawriteslife.com/
There were 4 years where every single year, we moved houses. It was soooo hard! But it also taught us how to be resilient.
Absolutely love the post. My husband moved a lot like you when young. He attended 9 different schools between 1st and 8th grade. That experience made him want for stability for his own children. We do like to travel though!
At this time, locked at home, I feel like I had a glimpse at so many and tried so much. I enjoyed this venture with this fabulous blog post.
This is perfect! Thanks so much for sharing!!
I love your diving into the history, culture and sharing it so freely. Loved the facts.
This reminds me of the joy and the pain of sojourning. I have separation anxiety so it feels bad when you leave a place even if you stay in a hotel fro 48hours only. hahaha. Thanks for sharing your adventure.
This was super cool! thanks for sharing!
Manila is a great place to visit but we are also planning to visit Japan and hopefully when this nightmare virus is all over, we get to realize our dream.
Ooohh nice songs there, thanks for sharing here. Love it!
Great songs! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
You have been to many places. I see Manila and miss the Philippines. Been a while since the last time I visited that country.
I like how your blended travel and music. I am an avid traveler myself!
This is such a great idea to tell what places you’ve visited. I love traveling and my next travel place is the Philippines.
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