aspie anthems

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Defying Gravity from Wicked The Musical. The lyrics say it all, especially towards the end - Everyone wants to destroy Elphaba because she's different, everyone assumes she's wicked because she has green skin. She tries to fit in, but at this song, she decides she's had enough, and she's going her own way even if it kills her. I would be shocked if there's anyone who could listen to the finale of this song without getting goosebumps.

Glinda:
Elphie, listen to me - just say you're sorry...

You can still be with the wizard
What you've worked and waited for
You can have all you ever wanted...

Elphaba:
I know...But I don't want it - NO - I can't want it
anymore...

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap

It's time to try
Defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity
And you can't pull me down...

Glinda:
Can't I make you understand, you're having delusions of grandeur...?

Elphaba:
I'm through accepting limits
'Cuz someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But 'till I try, I'll never know
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love - I guess I have lost
Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost

I'd sooner buy
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
And you can't pull me down...

Elphaba: Glinda, come with me. Think of what we could do - together.

I'm Limited
Together we're unlimited
Together we'll be the greatest team
There's ever been, Glinda,
Dreams the way we planned 'em

Glinda:
If we work in tandem

Both:
There's no fight we cannot win
Just you and I
Defying gravity
With you and I
Defying gravity

Elphaba:
They'll never bring us down...
Well? Are you coming?

Glinda:
I hope you're happy
Now that you're choosing this...

Elphaba:
You too - I hope it brings you bliss

Both:
I really hope you get it
And you don't live to regret it
I hope you're happy in the end
I hope you're happy, my friend...

Elphaba:
So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky
As someone told me lately -
Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me -

Tell them how I
Am defying gravity!
I'm flying high
Defying gravity!
And soon I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!

Glinda:
I hope you're happy!

Citizens of Oz:
Look at her, shes wicked!
Get her!

Elphaba:
...bring me down!

Citizens of Oz:
No one mourns the wicked
So we've got to bring her...

Elphaba:
Ahhhh!

Citizens of Oz:
Down!

For some odd reason, "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls really strikes me that way, especially the chorus.

^:( you beat me to saying "Iris" o well
Loser by 3 doors down

Metallica's "Wherever I May Roam."

About twenty years ago or so, I felt like Supertramp's "Rudy":

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17aFMz4oRVs[/youtube]

Rudy's on a train to nowhere
Halfway down the line
He don't wanna get there
But he needs time

He ain't sophisticated
Nor well-educated
After all the hours he's wasted
Still he needs time

He needs time
He needs time for living
He needs time
For someone just to see him
He ain't had no loving
For no reason or rhyme
And the whole world's above him -

Well, it's not as though he's fat
No, there's more to it than that
See, he tried to play it cool
Wouldn't be nobody's fool

Rudy thought
That all good things
Come to those that wait
But recently
He could see
That it may come much too late
Too late, too late..

All through your life, all through the years
Nobody loved, nobody cared
So dim the lights, dark are your fears
Try as I might, I can't hold back the tears
How can you live without love? It's not fair!
Someone said "give", but I just didn't dare (I didn't dare, didn't dare)
What good advice are you waiting to hear?
Hearing's all right for them that's all there
Hearing's all right...

You gotta
You gotta gain control now
You gotta show them all now
You'll have to make or break now
You'll have to give and take now
You have to push and shove now
You have to find some love now
You gotta gain control now...

Now he's just come out of the movie
Numb of all the pain
Sad, but in a while, he'll soon be
Back on his train...

Today, I feel more like Queensryche's "Someone Else" (sorry about the vid, no idea what it's about):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=169Dh5bBh7A[/youtube]

When I fell from grace,
I never realized
How deep the flood was around me;
A man whose life was toil
Is like a kettle left to boil,
And the water left these scars on me

I know now who I am
(If only for a while) -
I recognize the changes;
I feel like I did
Before the magic wore thin
And the baptism of stains began...

They used to say I was Nowhere Man,
That heading down was my destiny -
But yesterday, I swear,
That was someone else, not me!

Here I stand at the crossroad's edge,
Afraid to reach out for eternity,
One step - quick - I look down,
I see someone else, not me -
Looking back
Looking back and I see
Someone else...

All my life, they said I was going down,
But I'm still standing, stronger, proud,
And today I know
There's so much more I can be!
I think I finally understand -
From where I stand at the crossroad's edge,
There's a path leading out to sea,
And from somewhere deep in my mind
Sirens sing out loud
Songs of doubt
As only they know how,
But one glance back reminds, and I see
Someone else, not me!
I keep looking back
At someone else...

...Me?

Katatonia said it perfect in one of their songs when he sang "words are stones in my mouth". He also sang in another song "I have no name, my face a blur. I only speak to answer them. White noise, a constant sound. Is this the time to decline?" or something like that. The song was titled 'Complicity".

Personally, I think Jonas P. Renkse IS an aspie.....just based on his lyrics and the way he is. Very quiet, shy. But I've never actually met the guy....but honestly, I really feel like he is one just because I can relate to EVERY song he's ever written. If any of you are interested I highly suggest their latest album "The Great Cold Distance" and 2003's "Viva Emptiness". If you like bands like Tool, A Perfect Circle, Interpol or Cold then I believe that you will enjoy these Swedes as well.

Of the ones that were posted, "Solitary Shell" and "Things The Grandchildren Should Know" appeal to me the most as 'anthems for autism'. I haven't given this much thought, as I usually don't stop to consider that a song might relate to autism but rather to more universal feelings of isolation and alienation, but two songs that came to me while reading this thread were "Only" by Nine Inch Nails and "Miniature Disasters" by KT Tunstall.

"Only", Nine Inch Nails:

I'm becoming less defined
As days go by
Fading away, oh well, you might say I'm losing focus
Kind of drifting into the abstract
In terms of how I see myself
Sometimes I think I can see right through myself
Sometimes I think I can see right through myself

Sometimes I can see right through myself

Less concern about fitting into the world
Your world, that is
'Cause it doesn't really matter anymore
No it doesn't really matter anymore
None of this really matters anymore

Yes, I am alone, but then again, I always was
As far back as I can tell, I think maybe it's because
Because you were never really real to begin with

I just made you up to hurt myself
I just made you up to hurt myself
I just made you up to hurt myself
I just made you up to hurt myself

And it worked
Yes, it did

There is no you, there is only me
There is no you, there is only me
There is no f(...)ing you, there is only me
There is no f(...)ing you, there is only me

Only

Well the tiniest little dot caught my eye
And it turned out to be a scab
And I had this funny feeling
Like I just knew it's something bad
I just couldn't leave it alone
Kept picking at that scab
And it was a doorway, trying to seal itself shut
But I climbed through

Now I'm somewhere I am not supposed to be
And I can see things I know I really shouldn't see
And now I know, and now I know why
Things aren't as pretty on the inside

There is no you, there is only me...
(etc.)

"Miniature Disasters" by KT Tunstall:

Don't wanna be second best
Don't wanna stand in line
Don't wanna fall behind
Don't wanna get caught out
Don't wanna do without

And the lesson I must learn
Is that I've got to wait my turn

Looks like I've gotta be hot and cold
Gotta be taught and told
Gotta be good as gold
But perfectly honestly
I think it won't be good for me
'Cause it's a hazard to my health if I'm a stranger to myself

Miniature disasters, minor catastrophes
Bring me to my knees
Well, I must be my own master
Or a miniature disaster will be
Will be the death of me

I don't have to raise my voice
Don't have to be underhand
Just gotta understand
That it's gonna be up and down
Gonna be lost and found
Because I can't take to the sky
Before I like it on the ground

And I need to be patient, and I need to be brave
Need to discover how I need to behave
And I'll find out the answers when I know how to ask
But I speak a different language and everybody's talking too fast

Miniature disasters, minor catastrophes
Bring me to my knees
Well, I must be my own master
Or a miniature disaster will be, will be
Well, I've gotta run a little faster
Or a miniature disaster will be, will be
Well, I need to know I'll last
If a little miniature disaster hits me
It could be the death of me

Definitely an Aspie anthem: WOLFSHEIM - Kuenstliche Welten

Browse for the video of this song and read the translated lyrics. Very aspie esque, both the lyrics and the video. It is about escapism into a dream world. The lyrics are in German but there should be some translation somewhere out there.

Creep - Radiohead is a fairly obvious one, I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned already. The chorus especially:

But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo.
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here.

Captain Beefheart's stuff is very aspergerish too, the way on the outside it sounds chaotic, but on the inside its carefully planned and ordered. Plus, judging by how the Captain spent all of his childhood alone in his room sculpting, while his mum slid his food under the door, it goes without saying he was probably an aspie himself.

I don't know why, but it does. But he is a Freddie Mercury clone, I'm sure of it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPUpxIBkcjM[/youtube]


M.

As for my own:

Syd Barrett, "Jugband Blues"

It's awefully considerate of you to think of me here...
And I'm most obliged to you for making it clear that I'm not here.
And I'm grateful that you threw away my old shoes...
and brought me here instead dressed in red.

And I'm wondering who could be writing this song.

And I don't care if the sun don't shine
And I don't care if nothing is mine.
And I don't care if I'm nervous with you...
I'll do my loving in the winter.

And the sea isn't green
And I love the queen
And what exactly is a dream?
And what exactly is a joke?

Also, I really relate to the entire the Madcap Laughs album. I guess it is the recurrent themes of being detatched from others, and having others ignore or seem unaware that he is still human inside. There is also something about the way that Syd uses language that strikes me as Aspie.