My Life in 5 Songs: A Foreshadowing of Gender Nonconformity

Favorite lyrics hinted to a once-repressed, non-binary newcomer

Never underestimate the role music plays in the psyche of humans with empathy. But realize 95% of popular music falls into three basic categories:

1. Falling in love
2. Falling out of love
3. Sexual pleasure.

Listeners inevitably hear lyrical content that can be applied to their own lives. Sometimes, certain words stick for reasons that aren’t fully understood. For example, like any rock fan circa 1978, I eagerly anticipated Bruce Springsteen’s album Darkness On The Edge of Town.

Song #1: While I liked the entire album almost as much as Born to Run, it was the following verse from the title track that hit home.

Well everybody’s got a secret, son / Something that they just can’t face / Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it in / They carry it with them every step they take