Because We Love Metaphors

Friends may be likened to songs.

Some are catchy, like pop songs; in the moment, fashionable, a sign of the times. You make friends with people around the same age as you.

Some are like hip-hop beats with a good hook. They make you want to get up and dance or nod your head. They are smooth and cool, almost savvy.

Some are old-fashioned; not necessarily classic, but more unimaginative and common.

Some are annoying and high-pitched, repetitive.

Some are seasonal, like Christmas carols, or novelty songs.

Some songs, like some of your friends, you like especially because they reflect your background, your roots, your origins, where you're from.

Some friends you just get sick of because, like a song that's over-played, they've become too familiar and you just want something new.

Some friends would remind you of a collaboration between two musicians of different genres, a duet. You might come from opposite points of a spectrum and yet be in harmony. Aerosmith and Run DMC. Jay-Z and Linkin Park. Sting and Craig David.

Some are just forgettable in their shrillness. They hurt your ears.

The friends I like most are those that inspire me to be a better person, musician, writer. They stretch my imagination and pull me up to their level. I strain to keep up, and in so doing, unknowingly go through a certain amount of growth. They are like those brilliant songs by ingenious musicians that I look up to. Sergio Mendez. Lauryn Hill. The Beatles. Pharell Williams. Marvin Gaye. The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

What song are you?