Top 10 Aaron Lee Tasjan Songs

Helping bring Tasjan to the national stage when he appeared in 2017 on Conan 2017’s “Little Movies” is a ditty about how each of our lives is filled every day with moments in which we are the main characters, helping to define our lives for decades to come. With dramatic arrangements to match, the song explores how, even in the most difficult times, we all have the ability to take back control of our own “little movies” to begin building the life we ​​want to live.

Tasjan transports himself to the 1980s on the nostalgic sound “Computer of Love,” a track that dives headfirst into the confusing nature of the internet and social media phenomenon, and the toxic behaviors and attitudes that often thrive in these spaces. He references everything from late 80s beauties staring at him through his screen to “Fake friends who tweet two cents / Just to annoy me” and other dangers on his screen.

Tasjan’s wit and humility collide in ‘Dime’, an uplifting folk-rock number about finding joy in the bright side of life rather than letting a few ‘dimes’ of bad times get you down. This is best represented in the song’s chorus, which has Tasjan singing “And everybody knows it / They tell me all the time / I’m worth at least a million / And I barely have a dime.” The track is a delightful reminder that no matter how you feel inside, there will always be people who will love and appreciate you as an artist, colleague, friend, partner, family, and person.

Despite the drastic transformation Nashville has undergone over the past decade, Tasjan can’t help but ruminate on its long last days of prominence as a railroad town on “ENSAAT,” better known as “East Nashville Song About aTrain”. The song sees Tasjan’s spirit shine through dark lyrics about the struggles of traveling to East Nashville while writing songs about trains — a strategy attempted by countless country music hopefuls over the past decades. A place ripe with booze and pain pills, Tasjan touches on the dichotomy of Music City being both a destination to flourish as a songwriter and a place to slowly fade into insignificance. , the latter of which he shows no sign of doing anytime soon.

Like many of his other songs, Tasjan taps into life’s tough times in the swampy sidewinder “Hard Life”, calling out to those who know how hard it can be to get by but still insist on stepping on your toes. and give you loose gravel instead of a solid base, adding further instability to your life. The track also references specific examples of this instability in his own life growing up, singing “There’s a dumb redneck in a H2 Hummer / And he really hates fags / Guess some life choices are cries for help / No one ever hears.” Lyrically, Tasjan shines a light on how some people lock away their emotions, only to then release them into the world through anger and hatred rather than addressing them more constructively.

This deep cut from Tasjan embraces the pain and ongoing struggle associated with personal growth, both in personal and professional aspirations, and how to navigate through adversity to be a better person every day. This message is illustrated in the lyrics “Success isn’t about being better than everyone else / It’s about being better than yourself” easily one of the most profound lyrics for me as a writer, trying to find my way in the world. At the same time, Tasjan’s lyrics also help ground the listener’s perspective in empathy with licks like “Took her first world problems from a third world person / And asked for a shoulder to cry on / She got embarrassed because a poor person’s problem / Is mostly just trying not to die.” illustrating that no matter how bad our problems are, there is someone out there who has far worse things.

Tasjan leans fully into his country rock side on “Dangerous Kind,” a stomping, ominous song about love gone cold. The fiery instrumentals of the tune fan the flame of its fiery lyrics, which find Tasjan singing a dangerous love that “Breaks the body and destroys the spirit.” It’s this passion that leads him to feel stuck in a world that feels like a hospital, where everyone hands out medicinal popsicles rather than telling the truth.

On the ELO and Tom Petty-esque confessional “Up All Night,” Tasjan reflects on the real reasons behind his insomnia worries. The scintillating pop song about confronting hard truths sees Tasjan reference everything from his bisexuality (“I broke up with my boyfriend / To go out with my girlfriend”) to the effects of alcoholism (“I went to the doctor / She said you might have a problem”), all in a charismatic and optimistic way that exudes wisdom, confidence and authenticity.

Tasjan tells the stories of encounters he had in smoky lairs from Nashville to New York on “12 Bar Blues.” The avant-garde leaning ballad finds Tasjan touching on everything from bars to bad memories (“I went out with the waitress at the third bar I think of / There’s four bars in this town I can’t even get in”) to water points with unusual attributes (“So hang some taxidermy on the wall, mute the TV / That pool table over there gives all the other games for free”) and the characters (“One time this guy came into our bar and sang Hootie and the Blowfish karaoke style / We had to ask this guy to leave”). Ultimately, he and the song revel in those quirks that make these holey bars full of stories to tell.

Tasjan’s levity and blue-collar mentality shines through in old gem “The Trouble With Drinkin’.” To the screaming tune, Tasjan concludes there’s no problem drinking “Unless I’m short on cash / Or too high on the grass.” He goes on to describe how, rather than getting unpleasant for a few drinks, he just gets happier. It is because it helps him to forget the problems in his life, which are “usually too much” and “usually from a box.”