look, i really donât think iâm poetic, and iâm pretty dense about that kind of thing anyway. and iâm pretty new here (âhereâ being a fan of the maine and a person who understands the reference to 8123 rather than a person who makes a confused face and figures itâs a joke sheâs not in on) so maybe youâre not supposed to define it. maybe johno was right and the whole point is you canât explain but you donât have to. and i mean, most people call that love, right? you canât really explain it, but you donât really have to, because the people you love already feel it too. what heâs describing as 8123 is actually just love. maybe thatâs the point. maybe theyâre the same. maybe whenever you feel this elusive ~8123~ thing youâre supposed to think wow, this feels a lot like love. that youâre supposed to conflate the two. i guess that would make sense to me. i think i like that idea.
but we keep trying to define love anyway, in smaller and smaller increments. and i donât know if anyone has tried to define 8123 since johno said it couldnât be done. but hereâs what it means to me:
when the maine reached the end of their festival set, they closed the show with another night on mars. and all i could think was how many times i had heard this song sitting alone in my dorm, alone in my bedroom, playing it alone in my car, listening in headphones, singing along at the top of my lungs but alone, alone, alone. i never would have known about it if not for my friends. i never would have found american candy, or 8123 fest, or the maine, if not for my friends. and i never would have met those friends if not for music. itâs a uniting force, a connection, a bridge, and yet i had spent most of my time listening to another night on mars alone.
and suddenly i was surrounded by people who loved music the way i love music, and people who loved me the way i love them. johno said this one goes out to my closest friends, the ones who make me feel less alien; i do not think i would be here if not for them, and it was actually true. i never would have found my way to phoenix, arizona if not for my friends. i can probably count on one hand the people i know in real life who really get it - who really love music the way i love music, or even understand the way i love music. and finally here i was, within armâs reach of the people who make me feel less alien.
whatâs another night on mars? johno said. with friends like ours, anywhere is home.
whatâs another night on mars? what does it matter if weâre weird, if weâre crazy, if we love in strange ways, if we care about things that no one else cares about? whatâs another night telling stories we wouldnât tell anyone else, gossiping about things that donât matter in the grand scheme or even in the smaller scheme, communicating in a vocabulary the general public couldnât even begin to decipher? whatâs another night as aliens, as long as weâre aliens together? with friends like ours, anywhere is home.Â
music is so much better to love when thereâs someone to love it with you. and you donât always get someone like that. when i fall in love with a song, the first thing i want to do is share it with the people i love. i want someone to hear it and feel what iâm feeling. i want to put it on in the car and roll the windows down and play it at max volume so i canât even hear myself screaming along, and i want to look over and see that the person in the passenger seat is feeling it too. thatâs how it felt to be at that concert and sing along with the crowd and turn and look at my friends and see them all singing it, too. it felt like finding my way home. and as long as i have my fellow aliens on mars with me, iâm home. whether mars is maryland or texas or arizona or the interdimensional kitchen table.
so i donât know. maybe thatâs nothing. maybe iâm waxing poetic for no reason. but they played another night on mars and for the first time ever i got to put my arms around my friends and sing it straight to them, and i think - i think - thatâs what 8123 is supposed to be. it is for me, anyway.
love you guys. @tirednotflirtingâ @reveriesofawriterâ @pxrxmooreâ
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