Sometimes it's not about the song at all. For me, this evokes one morning driving my 10-year-old son to school. He thought I'd like the song, and we drove in silence, listening. I looked east where the sun was rising. It was one of those pearly gray mornings with huge, spectacular clouds, and suddenly I saw it all—the morning drive with mother and son, the beauty and grandeur of the morning, of the whole world, and this song’s melody over all of it. I thought, “This is heaven.” And I could feel the universe, glad that I had noticed.

Post Malone & Swae Lee, “Sunflower,” 2018. Written by Post Malone, Carl Rosen, Carter Lang, Swae Lee, Louis Bell & Billy Walsh.

This post is part of Music 100, a love letter to songs. 100 words on 100 songs in 100 days, running from Groundhog Day to May 31, 2025.

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