3rd Planet by Modest Mouse

While I do not often listen to Modest Mouse, this song makes me think I should. With its circular beat, the story gradually becomes more and more clear as the song goes on: It is about a man coming to terms with the loss of his child, and how every human is in a way their world. The title, in this way, becomes a double meaning, as it is not only a reference to Earth but also the child at the heart of the song, who is the third in the family. There is a sense of nostalgia for what was, “The third had just been made, and we were swimming in the water/Didn’t know then; was it a son? Was it a daughter?” In the end, the song is an ode to beginnings and endings as a whole, and how it is both earth-shatteringly sorrowful and quietly peaceful that everything begins and ends the same way, which is further enforced by the song’s first and last lines is the same. A great song for having thoughts in the sunset hour.