Songs for Introverts

 

I’ve recently been shown the joys of a band called The National. I’ve fallen completely in love and so far I’ve only listened to the album High Violet. There’s something about the lyrics that really strike a chord with me.

“Say you stay at home / Alone with the flu / [I] find out from friends / That wasn’t true. / Go out at night / With your headphones on / Again / And walk through the Manhattan / valleys of the dead.”

(from the song “Anyone’s Ghost”)

I’ve done that before.

I remember a time in Canada when I was invited to a party but I made excuses not to go and instead crept out unseen to go for a long, long walk along the river in the freezing weather, listening to music. I find comfort in music; I always have and I always will, and I’m sure most people do.

I’m an introvert. Anyone who knows me is aware of that. Put me around groups of people and I say nothing. I won’t contribute to a discussion unless specifically asked and even then I’ll screw up my words and feel more awkward and like I’m speaking to a panel of judges who are about to sentence me to death by rap music.

Even if you get me in a nice one-on-one situation with a few drinks and talking about something I’m interested in, I get exhausted. I recently met someone from couchsurfing in Cambridge and had a nice lunch. I talked more than I’d talked in a long time, but when we’d parted ways after 3 hours, I was absolutely exhausted. I don’t think most people understand that about introverts – being social, even in good company, really, really tires us out. I’m heading to London this weekend to see several friends scattered across 3 days; by the time I get home afterwards, I’ll feel shattered. Not from drinking, not from standing up, not from travel, nope, I’ll be tired quite simply because I’ll have been around people for too long.

So I’ll take the bus home after dark (takes longer than the train) and I’ll listen to The National, scrunched up in my hoodie, staring dead-eyed out the window, and I’ll take comfort in music.

Over to you then. Any other introverts out there who have a “comfort song” they return to again and again?