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Advice for graduates: Listeners share songs, lessons from high school

By Stephen Thompson,
Robin Hilton
Published June 4, 2024 at 10:04 AM EDT
Janelle Monáe gives a commencement speech at Loyola Marymount University's 2024 Graduate ceremony.
JC Olivera
/
Getty Images
Janelle Monáe gives a commencement speech at Loyola Marymount University's 2024 Graduate ceremony.

With graduation season here, we asked listeners to tell us about a song that takes them back to their final days in high school, when they said goodbye to old friends, left home and struck out on their own. On this episode we share some of the memories we received and the songs they shared.

NPR's Stephen Thompson joins host Robin Hilton for this look back as they share their own song picks and reflections on what it means to make it through one of the most formative chapters of life.

Featured artists and songs:

  • Baz Luhrmann: "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)"
  • Feist: "I Feel It All," from The Reminder
  • Brad Paisley: "Letter to Me," from 5th Gear
  • Green Day: "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," from Nimrod
  • Wiz Khalifa: "See You Again (feat. Charlie Puth)," from Furious 7
  • Rickie Lee Jones: "We Belong Together," from Pirates
  • Cloud Cult: "You'll Be Bright (Invocation Part 1)," from Light Chasers
  • Ke$ha: "TIK TOK," from Animals
  • The Head and the Heart: "Rivers and Roads," from The Head and the Heart
  • Simple Minds: "Don't You (Forget About Me)," from The Breakfast Club

Copyright 2024 NPR

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Stephen Thompson
Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)
See stories by Stephen Thompson
Robin Hilton
Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.
See stories by Robin Hilton
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