I'm always wondering whether things have an association with Autism (or not), and often need others to educate me regarding this matter. In that spirit, this thread isn't about our favourite songs or about what are called 'musical earworms'; instead it is about unusual affinities you might have with certain songs. Not necessarily obsessions, but songs that somehow seem uncannily relevant to you in one way or another. Hopefully, once posted about, others may offer their insights on your choices (in this regard, it's probably best for us to list only one or two songs). So, as the prophets Duran Duran once warbled: 'Would someone please explain...the reason for this strange behaviour?'
My choices are absolutely nowhere near my actual favourite songs. Not are these my actual favourite artists. Only one of the respective songs features lyrics that resonate with me personally as an autist; the other song has stayed with me for no obvious reason and that's a real mystery to me. ~
Pet Shop Boys - Left to my own Devices:
The production is marvellous - striking orchestral moments, a tremendous beginning and a 'cinematic' ending, operatic touches etc - it's an experience just to hear the music, like imagination soaring in flight. To enter into its world promises us grandeur and drama both harmless and amusing; it knows us so well. But, though I love the music, the lyrics are perhaps more important to me. These are wilfully odd, almost detached from ordinary living and actually celebrate the singer's perceived 'oddness'. The words are blithely defiant, a way of saying 'The world might consider me strange, but that is because the world lacks imagination. I dare to be different'. It's wry, mocking and self-mocking, ridiculous yet serious; and contemptuous of what passes for normality. It scorns action, and it's a life determined to live within the imagination. Even the cover is deliberately, defiantly...odd - these are passionate, interesting people humorously posing as dullards, as merely emotionless and awkward flesh-machines; the way the wider world thinks them to be. The unbending stiffness of the armour is part of the joke - it seemingly restricts them (us), but it protects them (us) too. It is in effect a shield. In contrast, *our* armour is worn on the inside...
The flat vocal implies that the singer couldn't care less what that cynical wider world may say about him; he can't even be moved to respond in kind. As an autist, the lyrics speak to me:
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(Extract)
I was always told that you should join a club
'Stick with the gang if you want to belong'
I was a lonely boy, no strength, no joy
In a world of my own at the back of the garden
I didn't want to compete or play out on the street
For in a secret life I was a Roundhead general...
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Finally, what could better express - admittedly, in a very brief manner - our ambiguity and ambivalence, the constant shifting of our thoughts, and how our passions are unusually fixed...and yet transitory?:
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'I could leave you
Say good-bye
Or I could love you
If I try
And I could
And left to my own devices
I probably would'
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Please post your own choices. I might post my second choice once you've all had the chance to post your own selections. Thanks for reading. 
