The lyrics of a song are usually written to captivate and relate to the listeners. Ho Hey by the Lumineers brings me back July 1, 2012. One day earlier, on June 30th, I received the dreadful news that I have ever received, one of my best friends and two other boys I knew personally had died in a car crash. I was in Denver at the time and was evacuated because of the Waldo Canyon, but I rushed home the next day after I found out. I can remember walking up to one of the boy’s houses, breathing heavily as if I had thousands of pounds on my chest, and seeing all my friends; their heads down, crying, and comforting each other with this song played in the background.

Losing someone is a devastating experience for anyone to have to go through. This song is about a person who is trying to find themselves. They do not believe this other person is right for their true love. Although Ho Hey is mainly about loving someone romantically, I think of it as loving people who need someone there or who needs your help. After this accident happened I felt very disconnected, lonely, and out of place. I lost many friends because I could not socialize like I used to without feeling like an outcast. Although I lost friends I gained a variety of new ones. These were people I could relate to and fit in around, these were the people who comforted each other at the house when I first heard this song.

“I don’t know where I belong, I don’t know where I went wrong” is the song’s opening line. This is how I felt this summer, and sometimes I still feel that way. I remember having this song on repeat as I cried myself to sleep for nights on end I wondered how I would be able to push through it. I was losing people who I thought would have always been there for me, but they left me when I needed them the most. Then this next line opened up my eyes even more “And love, we need it now. Let’s hope for some, Cause oh, we’re bleeding out.” These words made me think, about who I needed to surround myself with, about who I could trust and most importantly who I truly loved. This song did not help me shove through the ordeal this summer, but it did assist me in realizing who would assist me through.

You always hear about teenagers passing away in car crashes. But we never think about it happening to us. We believe we are indestructible. This song’s message is trying to encourage people to come together and love one another. Today, six months later, I still listen to it every morning, it helps me remember Paul, Nick and Alex, and what amazing people they were. The very first words are “I’ve been trying to do it right.” From that day on, “doing it right” is appreciating what I have, focusing on the one’s we love. I never know when my time with them will end.