Still listening
Lost in music
[Source: Youtube.com]
150,804,144,189 views 116 years ago
502,801 Comments
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Anyone listening in 2025?
My dad used to play me this song when I was little. He died in the pandemic and I couldn’t even visit him but when I listen to this song I can remember him and it always makes me feel better.
*****
I used to listen to this song as a teenager staying with my grandmother after my dad would get drunk. She used to make me feel so loved, so important and so safe.
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I listened as a teen. I’m now 43 years old and this song and lyrics are haunting and intriguing.
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You guys have no idea how many times I’ve cried to this song. It literally helped me get through the most terrible times of my life.
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I love how recent the comments are on here, like this was freshly released. Legends truly never die.
Is anyone listening in 2031?
I’ve suffered with depression all my life after I lost my dad in the coastal floods in ’28 and this was his favourite song, I can understand why.
*****
The love of my life just got engaged to someone else and I’m destroyed. The pain within is really big, but I’m finding a lot of comfort in this song.
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Dedicated this to my mum, tonight is the anniversary of her passing, she died last year in the earthquakes like so many others. But like mum always told me, “keep going, son, no matter what”. Love you, mum, wherever you are in the heavens.
Is anyone listening in 2044?
This song owned the world for a while.
*****
This was my husband’s all-time favourite song. He wanted to go to Mars but we never did and then we sang this at his funeral and every time I hear the song, I think of my man who gave me 20 years of love and wonder. I miss you.
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A message to the future generations. Don’t let this song die.
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We don’t search for old songs, we search for old memories.
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I’m 62 years old and I can’t explain why this song makes me feel so young and free. They say the climate’s getting out of control but we’re still here and so is the music.
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I remember hearing this song for the first time in 2022 when it came out. I was 7 years old then, I’m 29 and still love it!
Is anyone still listening in 2061?
This song just randomly popped into my head this morning while I was working salvage in one of the old coastal towns. I can’t think where I heard it but I love this song.
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A message to the future generations. Don’t let this song die.
Anyone listening in 2078?
My dad passed away when I was 19, they uploaded him to the new heavens but it didn’t take and he was gone. I never really felt he loved me. I have kids of my own now and at least I know they will never have to feel the same thing.
*****
Still sounds as fresh as the day it came out.
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This tune is like visiting an old friend.
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I sang this to my wife while she was dying from grey goo dust. It got into her lungs back in ’62 during the nano-plague. So many died but she held on. For weeks, months. Fifteen years ago. I don’t sing good but she loved it anyway.
*****
Looks like we’re getting older but this song will never get old.
Anyone listening in 2083?
I’ve been married to my husband for 16 years, this is the first song we listened to together, we met fighting in the Battle of Australia against the last undersea folk and every time I hear it, it takes me back to when I was 17 again and first fell in love.
*****
I was born in 2060. I don’t have much hope but when I listen to this song I feel better. If you’re from the next generation, please don’t let this song and many other old ones die out.
*****
Takes me right back to the 2050s when everyone I loved and who mattered to me most in the world was still alive and all in the world was perfect and still magical.
Anyone listening in 2097?
This song makes me cry. In the nursery pods I had a crush on a girl. I wish I told her I liked her. She died in that last attempt to go back to space.
*****
If you grew up in the 2050s, it’s hard not to shed a tear hearing this now.
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I suffer from depression and anxiety. Whenever I am sad or have a panic attack I listen to this, I was only a small child during the AI Wars but the machines would always sing me this song to calm me down. I still miss them sometimes.
I just came here to check out this song, anyone listening in 2117?
Is anyone still listening in 2124?
Is anyone listening in 2138?
Anyone listening?
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Is anyone still listening?
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Is anyone —
The story behind the story
Lavie Tidhar reveals the inspiration behind Still listening.
I often sit up late and, especially towards the end of writing a novel, I inevitably end up on YouTube surfing ’90s rock music. The comments to music videos are often heartbreaking. Music has the power to touch people’s lives, and — perhaps somewhat like ancient graffiti on the walls of Pompeii — people leave their most heartfelt notes on the Internet for anyone to find. The songs become representative of moments of hope or despair, the sad death of a parent mingled with the fond memories of a child. And running through it, in video after video, is the refrain — is anyone still listening? People discover and rediscover old songs and seek them out online, trying to find if they are no longer alone. Is anyone still listening?
I’ve been haunted by these comment threads for years before eventually taking the step to writing this story down, asking how far into the future will we be listening — and what will happen if one day there is no one left to listen any more?
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02187-x
This story originally appeared on: Nature - Author:Lavie Tidhar
