I can't help my unconditional love for Saves the Day after all of these years, and it's impossible to not be nostalgic about things whenever I listen to them. In honor of procrastination and how I'm randomly listening to them a lot at the moment, I figured I'll make a list of my favorite songs by them (trust me, I hate a lot of them too, I promise) and mention a brief bit of nostalgic memories related to each:

• Can't Slow Down
  • Handsome Boy
    • I was at a show with Kyle at Traxx in Ronkonkoma, and some random band ended with a cover of this song. It was a great surprise, seeing that this band was absolutely terrible but played this song marvelously. At the chant of "There's just something about his smile!" everyone piled onto the singer to sing into the microphone, Kyle and I joining in and then looking at each other in complete adoration and we mutually exchanged some of the sincerest smiles I've ever seen.
  • Three Miles Down
    • One of the first songs I've ever downloaded by Saves the Day, and I loved it instantly.
  • Houses and Billboards
    • This song is just so fun. I remember upon first looking up the lyrics (and loving them) a bunch of people were arguing about the "breakdown" on a forum. I was amused. It also reminds me a lot of Long Island in general and randomly Emma Thursland and how awesome she is
• I'm Sorry I'm Leaving
  • I Melt With You
    • This reminds me of stealing Kyle's entire iTunes library because he had tons of songs that I was way too lazy to download (I didn't know how to use torrents, how primitive!), and this was one of them. It reminds me of frolicking through Hoyt Farm in the summer and setting up volleyball nets and picnics when I first got my license.
• Sound the Alarm
  • I actually highly dislike this album. In my opinion, it's the first outcoming of Saves the Day's "whiny" new sound that I can't stand and refuse to listen to. This album still has a sense of nostalgia to it though, because it was when I first started talking to Alex Sclafani and he sent me it when it leaked and was really excited. I was too, but immediately let down!
• Stay What You Are (my favorite album)
  • At Your Funeral
    • Cliche, I know. Everyone knows this song. I actually hated it at first, but it's suddenly growing on me more NOW. A little late, I'd say. Anyways, I can't ignore putting it on here because it's been played so much throughout my life because of everyone else loving it, and it deserves some honor.
  • See You
    • DRIVING. And I learned this song on the guitar once, it's one of the very few songs I know that I could somewhat sing and play at the same time, randomly.
  • Cars and Calories
    • Getting ready before driving to Hauppauge High School, my typical morning routine.
  • Certain Tragedy
    • I would always force Kyle to come on driving adventures with me, and the only way to convince him to come was to play Saves the Day. This song was always enjoyable, and always on.
  • Jukebox Breakdown
    • I randomly chose to learn this song on the guitar once, sometimes Kyle and I would be a really weird couple and "jam" in his music room; this was one of the songs that was played. He played the drums, and I usually sat on the top of his tiny couch and play his guitar through his massive amplification system.
  • Freakish
    • I just absolutely love this song, and always have. I also played it around the time of Courtney's passing, so it's got a lot of sentimentality to it.
  • As Your Ghost Takes Flight
    • Kyle would always bounce around and sing this song like an idiot, but I liked it.
  • Nightingale
    • I love this song unconditionally as well, and it's another that was played around the time Courtney passed away. It reminds me a lot of December and the amazing and somewhat odd snow on the day of Courtney's burial as I was standing in Kyle's driveway afterwards. She apparently promised her family that she would send snow down as a sign to let them know she was okay, and it only snowed in Smithtown and Hauppauge, nowhere else.
  • All I'm Losing is Me
    • Parties in my basement!
  • This is Not an Exit (my favorite song of all time. ever.)
    • Upon initially listening to this album, this was my least favorite song. I thought the metaphors in the lyrics were way too heavy to the point that it was tacky. When I told Kyle this, he was highly offended and told me "It's one of my favorite songs ever! The lyrics are absolutely beautiful! And the song as a whole is perfectly simply beautiful!" I doubted him at first, but then it kept coming on shuffle a lot. The more I listened, the more I absolutely loved it, and I was kind of ashamed to admit my sudden change in opinion to Kyle (I never liked to give him credit for being right). For some reason, I now find the lyrics absolutely perfect, and if I had to choose one song to listen to for the rest of my life or emblazon as some sort of insignia for myself as a whole, it would be this. It was also my senior quote. I use the quote "Just sail, belly up to the clouds" for everything encompassing my being, for whatever reason. (Wow, that was a long description.)
  • Firefly
    • I always really liked this song, but after the second Hauppauge High School Acoustic Cafe of senior year, I can't help but think of this one specific event. It was right after I broke up with Kyle, and he was going to sing and play guitar at Acoustic Cafe. His first song was this one, and he sang it perfectly (I never knew he could sing...I always discouraged it), capturing every sense of anger and hate that the lyrics and the emotion of the song possess, and it was without question directed at me. I was sitting blatantly on a couch in the front and center of the stage, staring at him as he sung this, and he refused to acknowledge any sense of my existence.
• Through Being Cool
  • Shoulder to the Wheel
    • Before any of us could drive, Kyle would always say "This is the perfect driving song!" I always thought it was cheesy as hell, but liked it a lot at the same time. I got Bruce the Mustang as an early birthday present, and I couldn't legally drive it on my own for the first to weeks that I had it. One summer day my parents were at the boat and Kyle came over, and we deemed it completely necessary to eat Boston Market chicken pot pies. We technically had no method of transportation, but there happened to be a brand new white Mustang in my name sitting in the garage. Shockingly, Kyle was actually willing to do something that was technically illegal for once, and agreed to take Bruce out for the first time (to Boston Market for chicken pot pies. Yes this was the destination of my first historical drive in my beloved vehicle.). We put on this song, and it was just really cheesy and tacky and fun and applicable. And the chicken pot pies were memorably salty.
  • Rocks Tonic Juice Magic
    • One of the easiest songs ever to figure out on the guitar and applicably angst-y from time to time; Kyle and I played this all of the time in his music room. He always got bored and stubborn with it thought because the drum part was really repetitive and that always annoyed me.
  • Holly Hox, Forget Me Not
    • This song never really did anything for me, but Kyle loved it, played it all the time, and I basically adapted to having a significant appreciation for it. Kyle made me firgure out how to play this on the guitar, and it's the only song that I've ever published a guitar tab online for (it took me about three hours to figure it out and transpose into tablature format, so my effort made me appreciate the song a lot more). We ALWAYS played this in the music room, and it was really fun. It also reminds me of Kyle's little brother Christian and his dad running around dancing in the basement.
• Under the Boards
  • I for the most part highly dislike this album as well; it's a continuation and confirmation that Saves the Day seems to be permanently staying in their dreadful whiny stage. Some of the songs are catchy in their own right though, if you considered this a completely separate band, in my opinion.
  • Under the Boards
    • I enjoy the brooding quality of this song, I used to be one of those cheesy people that listened to cheesy emotional songs when I was feeling that way.
  • Can't Stay the Same
    • Kyle, Katie and I always were intrigued by the main rhythm of the song, and we used to test listening to it from different perspectives, because we were strange people that lacked stimulation.
  • Bye Bye Baby
    • Jill always liked to play this song (she really, really liked this album as a whole) and I would secretly be angered about her song selections
  • Kaleidoscope
    • The only song I like on this album, I like how dramatic and moody it is. This is usually not what Saves the Day does, either.
• Ups and Downs: Early Recordings and B-Sides (one of my other favorite albums of all time)
  • Ups and Downs
    • This is randomly one of the very few albums I have actually physically purchased, and when I did, this was the first song I heard. I was in Bruce and it was a really fresh sunny Sunday morning, and the beginning of this song just captured the mood perfectly.
  • Sell My Clothes, I'm Off to Heaven
    • Another song Kyle angrily sung at Acoustic Cafe that night, and once again totally applicable to our situation. It scared me how accurate the lyrics of the song seemed, and his parents were standing behind me ignoring my presence. I felt like Kyle was actually speaking, and that he knew things. It was terrifying. I really like this song though, and this memory for some reason makes it a little better and more powerful now.
  • I'm Sorry I'm Leaving
    • This reminds me of going to local beaches with Kyle when we were bored, even if it was raining. It was always a really cute, fun time and still makes me cheesy and sentimental.
  • Hold
    • The lyrics are SO cheesy, but I loved it when I was in 10th grade. It actually reminds me of my relationship with Dylan Kelly, so that ruined it a lot. I tried to still like it after all of that, but when I purchased the cd I read Saves the Day's commentary on each song (provided on the insert), and they said they wrote this song as a really cheesy joke but people started to listen to it seriously and like it. This immediately killed any love I had left for this song.
  • Jessie & My Whetstone
    • Parties in Derya's basement (during newfound single-ladydom), when the masses would leave and only our good friends would be left, heavily intoxicated and equipped with an acoustic guitar. Jake Kim is obsessed with Saves the Day and has every song memorized on guitar, and would always start drunkenly playing and singing this song (with his heavy drunken Korean accent which made it really funny...he would leave out crucial prepositions in the lyrics). We would all sit around it a circle, drunk off our asses and singing this song at the top of our lungs, Melissa Bunning and I would always find the harmonies crucial.
  • Take Our Cars Now!
    • Another song that was sung by drunken happy friends at the end of parties when everyone left.
  • The Way His Collar Falls
    • One of my favorite songs ever, and I also know how to play it on guitar. It's really basic, thank god. Melissa and I would always sing this, it just reminds me a lot of Long Island and good united happy friends together. Another that would be sung in Derya's basement, as well. Also, I specifically remember always listening to this song on the drive home from working at Coldwell Banker, after I got all of my homework done there and had a free evening ahead of me to take advantage of. I would always belt this song out loud in the car by myself on the Long Island Expressway as the sun was setting ahead of me.