Against Me! makes me cry...

So with the recent uproar about how the lead singer of Against Me! (I will be refering to them as her and Laura if I need to.) came out as trans*. The attention this punk rocker was getting from her confession made me consider listening to some of the old Against Me!'s discography.


I was pointed to a few songs to listen to first. 

Listening to the lyrics, and the anger in the singers voice as they try and tell a story, it is easy to pick out the signs Laura left for her audience. Those that really embraced those lyrics and understood them most assuredly snapped to attention as soon as they heard the news. Those signs are so obvious sitting there now that its hard to not see where they were coming from. 

 “If I could have chosen, I would have been born a woman/My mother once told me she would have named me Laura/I’d grow up to be strong and beautiful like her.”

There is a lot of regret in the sound of the singers voice when those words are given out. It becomes obvious to me that they came from a place of a a lot of pain and possibly regret. 

When those words first hit me. I instantly started to cry. It was my first experiance with this group. I had never really heard of them before. And to be honest I had first brushed the whole situation off as "Oh that is cool." But now that I sit down and listen in repeat the lyrics of these songs. I hear bits and pieces of my own life whispering back. And those whispers make me cry.

So thank you Laura.
Thank you for being strong, and telling us your story.
Thank you for the music you have made that has made other people happy.
Thank you for the music you have made that has me now crying.

Laura, I've never met you. I may never meet you.
But thank you, and I love you.

Max.