This is my Christmas song.
For me, holiday season kicks off with this song. Any new years resolution, any new planner purchase, any new plans made has this song as its soundtrack.
It’s a song full of hope and dreams and wonderment.
Sleeping at Last is Ryan O’Neal. He is a very famous musician now—his songs are used in 1 of every 3 Grey’s Anatomy episodes, and he even recorded a cover for a Super Bowl ad.
None of this was true when he started the Yearbook project the same year I moved to Sweden.
Crazy ambitious. Releasing 3 new songs every month, for an entire year. Not all were hits—not all were meant to be. The dedication, the effort was admirable.
I remember him talking about his manager, apologizing to him for increasing his workload 12-fold by releasing songs so often. Administrative tasks (for copyright protections and stuff) that other managers had to do once a year, for a single album, he had to do every month.
I truly enjoyed Ryan’s process, progress, and the way he shared his journey.
This project truly inspires me still, 10 years after its release.
This song, specifically, also reminds me of my first proper place in Uppsala. It was in a student housing called Flogsta.
The memory I associate most with the song and the place is the very steep hill one has to take from the buildings to the ICA grocery store. It was a b*tch to climb up and down when it had snowed, but damn it looked gorgeous!
I had just moved in when this song was released, and the hills covered in snow accompanied a beautiful first listen. It created a peaceful moment, led by hope that the song instilled in me.
We could paint our walls a lighter shade of blue,
Or we could pack our bags and change the entire view
This became my favorite line in the song.
I’m a wanderer. About every 2 years, I’ve moved from one place to another. Be it houses in the same city, or to a completely different country—I’ve always been on the move.
I can’t wait to see what settling down feels like. Buying a house, putting down roots.
As the song goes, the future is brighter than any flashback.