TWRM Radio: “Vernal”

“Is the spring coming?” he said. “What is it like?”…
“It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…”
-Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Friday is here again and what a busy week it has been. Springtime is the time for busy-ness, for projects and cleaning and sunlight. It never got too moody here in the Southern California Winter. I think it rained a handful of times?

Anyway, Spring is now upon us and so to rain in the vernal equinox (hehe, Spring joke) I thought we’d take a musical walk with TWRM Radio through the flowers with some Springtime-themed video game music. Putting together this mix was pretty difficult with that theme, after all of the farming sim games I could think of were exhausted. Ultimately, though, the wealth of game music gave up its treasures and I discovered a host of tunes that fit the bill of this motif: bright, cheerful, happy, light, hopeful, optimistic, even cute music.

With “Vernal”, I imagined the story of exploring the woods in the bloom of this time of year and coming upon the ruins of an old church, then a gardened glade where the sunlight pierces the dark canopy and sets the ground aflame with color and life. I tried to capture that feeling of discovering some magical, hidden place away from the usual tourist routes and well-tread paths, a verdant place where you’d never want to leave.

But the mix closes with “Cherry Tree Times” from Katamari Damacy, a song about taking pleasure in the little things as time passes on and you grow just a little older (lyrics here). Springtime only lasts for a short time, just like life itself. No wonder it and its blossoms have been the subject of many a poem about the brevity of life. That’s why it is so beautiful.

Sappy or not, this life is all you’ve got. Make the best of the time.

Thanks to everyone who helped put this mix together! It was a challenge and I look forward to many more! Speaking of which, let’s go harder next week and put together another TWRM Radio adventure with Shmups music as the theme! It should be an energetic time.

Please tell me about any of your favorite shoot ’em up game tracks and maybe they’ll make it into the next TWRM Radio entry. Until then…

Play it with feeling,

-The Well-Red Mage

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