As June approaches, my senior year is coming to a close. I am excited for the next chapter of my life, but I will miss this school and the people I’ve grown up with. This playlist is full of songs that I can relate to during this bittersweet time, and hopefully others will relate to as well. 

Rivers and Roads  – The Head And The Heart

This is a slow, folk tune with bittersweet lyrics pouring out the sides. Throughout the song, it is shown that it is about growing up and going different ways than the people you have spent your life with. An example of this is, “A year from now, we’ll all be gone/All our friends will move away,” followed up by the line, “and I miss your face like hell.” It shows how as the singer moves on with their life that they will always look back on the formative years and remember the people that helped them through it. 

To me, this song represents how I think I will look back on my high school experience, remembering the good with the bad, but mostly remembering the faces of the people that stayed by my side.

Joyride – Adam Melchor

This song by up-and-coming indie singer Adam Melchor is about a truck that Melchor grew up with getting stolen. It was barely drivable, but it was a staple throughout his childhood. The line “Wish we took it for a joyride/Before the joy died” in the chorus shows how he didn’t miss it until it was too late. This is the case for many high school students; they don’t live in the moment, and eventually they realize the moment is gone. The line from this song that sticks with me the most is, “Maybe letting go isn’t so bad.” By the end of the song, Melchor has learned how to say goodbye and move on. I just hope leaving for college is as simple as this.

Slipping Through My Fingers – ABBA

One of the ABBA songs that made it into the jukebox musical movie Mamma Mia!, “Slipping Through My Fingers” is about a mother saying goodbye to her daughter that is growing up and moving out. The start of the chorus, “Slipping through my fingers all the time/I try to capture every minute,” shows that the singer feels like she is losing time with her child. This song represents the bittersweet feeling of a parent not wanting to let go of their child, but also wanting them to succeed. 

The lines that I relate to the most, being in the last days of my senior year, is “Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture/And save it from the funny tricks of time.” Looking back on old yearbooks and photos that I’ve taken the past four years gives me that bittersweet feeling of wanting to go back yet also being proud of how I have grown since then. 

Bless the Telephone – Labi Siffre

Off of his 1971 album “The Singer & The Song,” Siffre sings about missing someone that you love but being able to connect with them over the phone. As Siffre puts it, “Strange how a phone call can change your day/Take you away/Away from the feeling of being alone/Bless the telephone.” Even if he is not able to see this person face-to-face, they are able to call each other, and it makes everything feel right again. However, like everything, it is not permanent: “But very soon it’s time to go/An office job to do.” 

This song hits a chord with me because I have a childhood friend that moved to a different country after graduating high school. I don’t get to call her very often, but when I do it is like nothing has changed. I hope to be able to keep bonds like that for the rest of my life. 

Golden Slumbers – The Beatles

Brought to you by the band that needs no introduction, “Golden Slumbers” is a slower song about missing childhood moments that you can never get back. The opening lyric, “Once there was a way/To get back homeward,” reflects this idea. Once upon a time there was a way to get back to your childhood, but now it is time to grow up. This line is repeated throughout the song, accompanied by the lyrics: “Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry/And I will sing a lullaby.” This second line brings in an aspect of childhood that the singer might be missing, being comforted in a way that only children can be. All of these lyrics together create a bittersweet tune about getting older. I have grown up with this song, and it has never meant as much to me as it does now.

April Come She Will – Simon & Garfunkel

Folk-rock legends, Simon & Garfunkel, wrote this peaceful song that can represent many relationships from the beginning of summer to the end of it. To me, it represents the ebb and flow of relationships as people change and grow up. Lyrics such as “July, she will fly/And give no warning to her flight,” represent how young adults are usually not set on one path, or the same relationships. The song ends with the line “September, I’ll remember/A love once new has now grown old,” showing, in my interpretation, that the friendships we make in our formative years may or may not stick through college. 

As I move through the waves of emotions at the end of senior year, one of my biggest fears is that I will lose contact with the friends I have made. While I do not want it to happen, I know it is a natural part of growing up. Bittersweet endings, indeed.

As my senior year comes to a close, I am feeling as sentimental as ever. If I ever want to bask in this feeling, these are the songs I listen to. Whether you are just beginning your high school career, or ending it, I bet that you can relate to some of the things mentioned in these songs.