Let the music play: our staff’s all-time favourite songs

In the midst of a crisis, here are the songs that bring us comfort and joy

A person’s favourite song says a lot about who they are. Whether it’s attached to a special memory or maybe there’s just something about the way it sounds, we all have those special songs that we keep coming back to, no matter how much time has passed.


Katelyn Thomas, Editor-in-Chief

Lego House,” Ed Sheeran and “Walls,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

There’s an Ed Sheeran lyric on my left forearm from his song “Lego House” that represents how I felt when I dropped everything and drove to New York for the first time to watch him play at Madison Square Garden. I guess you could say that’s my favourite. But I feel like I have different favourites for different periods in my life. Tom Petty’s “Walls” is one of them because of how beautifully simple it is: “Half of me is ocean, half of me is sky” is a lyric I’ve loved forever. It can mean so many things.


Matthew Coyte, Managing Editor

Miracle,” The Darcys

It’s the soundtrack to all of my good memories. It just seems like whenever I think back to a good time in my life, that’s the song that’s playing. It’s got a killer 80s electro-pop feel to it and my favourite musical moment ever about halfway through: just a quick snap of the fingers between the verse and chorus. It just radiates cool, and there’s no song that pumps up the confidence and swagger like this one does.


Alex Hutchins, Creative Director

I’m God,” Clams Casino

This takes me back to summer 2014 when I worked in Algonquin Park as a canoe trip guide, sitting on this massive rock that hung over crystal clear water while the sun set. It was magical.


Jad Abukasm, News Editor

Ophelia,” The Lumineers

I love this song for personal reasons, but just in general I have so many good, bad, happy and sad memories related to that song.


Kayla-Marie Turriciano, Life Editor

Bed of Roses,” Bon Jovi

I grew up listening to rock music with my dad and Bon Jovi was one of the bands we would listen to together. The song reminds me of times spent with him and it’s just my favourite song ever outside of that anyway. A lot of people can’t name their favourite song right off the bat, but that one is my holy grail.


Chloë Lalonde, Arts Editor

Maps,” The Front Bottoms

I have this very special connection to “Maps” by The Front Bottoms. The lyrics are directly @ing me. First of all, anyone who knows me knows I have big, big plans (among other things!) I’m always trying to sort through what big plan is realistic enough to accomplish and which isn’t. I love the noisiness of this song and the kind of group and call response—the way they are just kind of yelling myself at me. They’re saying everything that I have ever felt back to me, forcing me to face my own thoughts. Other than this song being my biography, I’m obsessed with the main singer’s Tom Delonge-ish way of pronouncing things (think I Miss You: “voice inside my yhead.”)

Please enjoy this video.


Matthew Ohayon, Sports Editor

Spit Out The Bone,” Metallica

I’ve seen Metallica twice. The second time was during their Hardwired…To Self-Destruct tour which is the album that the song is on. Unfortunately, they didn’t play it live that time, but it’s a song that is really becoming more and more of our reality as it’s about how machines and technology are taking over. So that covers the meaning behind the song, but other than that, it’s my favourite type of music: fast and heavy metal.


Youmna El Halabi, Opinions Editor

Layla,” Eric Clapton

When you have an eclectic taste in music, pinpointing a song as your favourite can feel overwhelming—but not for me. The answer has always been crystal clear: Eric Clapton’s “Layla.” Preferably a live version of this masterpiece because the minute that guitar solo starts, goosebumps arise—every damn time. This song, whether it’s on an acoustic or electric guitar, transports me and makes me believe in magic.


Fatima Dia, Head Copy Editor

Habibi,” Tamino

I’ve always had a struggling relationship with faith and letting go of control. This song is poetically written and talks about a love so deep there’s no end to it. I’m a highly sensitive person—too sensitive, I feel too much—and his voice is angelic to say the least. I listened to it every day during the time me and my boyfriend were broken up (we’re back together now, happiness!) and things were happening with my family. It brought me closer to faith.


Maggie Morris, Copy Editor

“Monday Morning,” Death Cab for Cutie

I deeply love pretty much everything DCFC has ever done, but this one hits me right in the feels. Codes and Keys, the album this song came from, came out in 2011 just a few months before my dad took my brother and I to his home country in Wales. Every time I hear this song it transports me back to driving through the Welsh countryside.


Aviva Majerczyk, Copy Editor

Buzzin’ Fly,” Tim Buckley

Tim Buckley is, in my opinion, a severely underrated singer-songwriter, and this song exemplifies his brilliance. The psych-folk instrumentals are warm and inviting, and they feel as if they wrap around you to shelter you as you listen. This mood echoes Buckley’s lyrics, which describe falling in love like finding a home. This song, as well as all of Happy Sad, has an almost magical ability to calm me down from any stressful situation. It’s good for both deep, headphone-wearing listening sessions and for creating a chill background mood (I use it for the spin-down on my radio show!). Once you listen, I think you’ll agree that Buckley should be placed with the 1960s folk greats.

*BTW, do yourself a favour and check out Aviva’s radio show The Alley on CJLO 1690 AM Wednesdays at 2 p.m.!


@sundaeghost, Graphics Editor

Pictures of You,” The Cure

It captures longing in a really beautiful way: how you can miss someone and it’s devastating, but you feel cheerful about it because you have the memories of them and that belongs to you. It’s a wonderful example of the way The Cure used instruments to create a space. The guitar has this spacial quality: it’s lush and happy, but it sounds huge and layered like a big echoing cave, which is what I love about all songs by The Cure.


Clara Gepner, Video Editor

Alchemy,” Above & Beyond

It’s sad but beautiful, has great beats and melody, the singer’s voice is amazing and you can really hear the emotion. Definitely one of my favourites!


Lillian Roy, Assistant Life Editor (me)

Please, Please, Please Let me Get What I Want,” The Dream Academy

Picking just one song was difficult for me, as I’m sure it was for everyone else. In the end, I chose this cover of “Please, Please, Please” because of the way it makes me feel every time I listen to it. Originally written by The Smiths, the song was used as the soundtrack for one of the most iconic moments in cinematic history: the museum scene of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Like a lot of folks out there, I really identify with the character Cameron who, like me, is an anxious mess. For whatever reason, the moment he stares into the Seurat painting makes me blubber like a baby every time. The song certainly doesn’t help, I’ll tell you that much.


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Graphic by Sasha Axenova.

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