What I’ve Done

Linkin Park

This song by the American rock band Linkin Park’s album Minutes to Midnight (2007) is a reminder of all the evils humanity has had a hand in. Chester Bennington’s singing gives you goosebumps, even more so when you watch the video, which has visuals of nuclear bomb tests, drug abuse, racial attacks and war.

In the midst of the revelry of the new year, this line from the song resonates the most:

“Put to rest what you thought of me
While I clean this slate
With the hands of uncertainty
So let mercy come and wash away
What I’ve done”

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– Ramakrishnan M

Time

Pink Floyd

“And then the one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun”

Even though the lyrics of this track from the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon (1973) seem sad or depressing, to me, they have an inspirational undertone. The song urges listeners to take charge of their lives and not “fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way” while “waiting for someone or something to show you the way”.

Pink Floyd in general, and this song in particular, has helped me form some of my most enduring friendships. The best times and jam sessions have always had Floyd present. – Manas Sharma