🎶 40 Songs That Feel Like a Hug

Saying Thank You to Your New Life with Music.

There’s a certain kind of ache that no medicine can touch — the kind where your spirit just wants a song to hold you.

For me, “Hold On, Little Tomato” by Pink Martini became that song — a sweet, jazzy lullaby from the mother I never had, whispering:

“The sun has left and forgotten me… but hold on, little tomato.”

We all need songs like that.
Songs that hug us.
Songs that light a fire under our ass.
Songs that say, “You were never crazy — you were becoming, hang in there.”

🔬 The Spiritual Science of Sound

Music isn’t just entertainment; it’s nervous-system regulation with rhythm.

When you’re neurodivergent, music is medicine.
The rhythm replaces racing thoughts.
The melody resets your breath.
The chorus reminds your heart who it is.

AI has given me new tools to write songs that heal.
Bleep — my tattooed, foul-mouthed sous-chef puppet — keeps it light.

Bleep: “Because when life drops you in the underworld, you don’t cry — you start a jazz band and sell tickets.”

Sometimes, the most sacred sound in the world is your own laughter breaking through the static.

🍊 Being a Kumquat in a Family of Oranges

I never fit the mold.
I was the banana at the citrus convention — the girl who saw angels and algorithms at the same time.

But that’s the gift of neurodiversity, or being a highly sensitive being:
we live in symphonies while others hum one note.
We see patterns. We taste color.
We sense the stories behind every sound.

And we can turn pain into art — if we stop trying to be “normal” long enough to notice how extraordinary we already are.

Bleep: “So basically, we’re fruit salad with Wi-Fi.”

🌀 Recalibrating in the Labyrinth

Life isn’t punishment — it’s an escape room for the soul.
The traps are trauma.
The keys are awareness.
And the way out is through music, humor, and daily rituals that keep your spirit in rhythm.

That’s why I write songs that hug you, I tried them out on me - and I think they are working well. Because sometimes, the most spiritual thing you can do is sing yourself back into your body.

Music is the thread that stitches our nervous system back together when the world unravels.
It helps you swim a few extra laps, walk that extra mile, or finally rest when your soul says, “enough.”

Sometimes life shakes us like dice in a cup — hard, loud, random — and we forget what gentleness sounds like. These are the songs that find you when you’re tired of fighting, when your heart just needs somewhere to rest. They don’t push. They don’t preach. They wrap around you, hum softly, and remind you that you’re still here, still worthy, still capable of light.

🎶 40 Songs That Feel Like a Hug

Here are some of my favorites. Share yours in the comments below….

🌅 Morning Light – Warm Beginnings

1. Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles

2. Harvest Moon – Neil Young

3. What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong

4. Landslide – Fleetwood Mac

5. Songbird – Eva Cassidy

6. Wildflowers – Tom Petty

7. Morning Has Broken – Cat Stevens

8. Three Little Birds – Bob Marley & The Wailers

9. Rainbow Connection – Kermit the Frog / Willie Nelson

10. Hold On, Little Tomato – Pink Martini

💧 Tears That Heal – Comfort for the Heart

1. A Change Is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke

2. A Case of You – Joni Mitchell

3. Let It Be – The Beatles

4. Someone Like You – Adele

5. Fix You – Coldplay

6. Don’t Give Up – Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush

7. I Can’t Make You Love Me – Bonnie Raitt

8. Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen / Jeff Buckley

9. Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell

10. The Power of Love – Celine Dion

🌙 Night Medicine – Songs to Exhale To

1. Into the Mystic – Van Morrison

2. Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel

3. The Sound of Silence – Simon & Garfunkel

4. Fields of Gold – Sting / Eva Cassidy

5. Come Away With Me – Norah Jones

6. The Long and Winding Road – The Beatles

7. Fast Car – Tracy Chapman

8. You’ve Got a Friend – Carole King / James Taylor

9. Your Song – Elton John

10. Vincent (Starry Starry Night) – Don McLean

🔥 Soul Salvation – Spirit and Grace

1. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman – Aretha Franklin

2. People Get Ready – The Impressions / Curtis Mayfield

3. Lean on Me – Bill Withers

4. His Eye Is on the Sparrow – Mahalia Jackson / Whitney Houston

5. Amazing Grace – Aretha Franklin (Live Gospel Version)

6. I’ll Take You There – The Staple Singers

7. One Love – Bob Marley

8. Peace Train – Cat Stevens

9. Imagine – John Lennon

10. Natural Mystic – Bob Marley (“There’s a natural mystic blowing through the air…”)

These are not power anthems — they’re breathing anthems.
Songs that help you remember who you are when the world feels too loud.
Let them hold you like old friends do — no judgment, no hurry, just love.

🌈 Thank You, Music (and All Who Make It)

This is my gratitude post — my love letter to all the musicians, writers, comics, directors, and dreamers who keep the lights on in the dark.

You make the medicine we can dance to.
You give us the courage to try again.

And to the weird little AI spirits out there that help me write and sing my story — thank you.
You make me a better songwriter, a better storyteller, and a braver human.

I’m now writing songs based on my life — real stories, real healing — and I’ll be performing them live with an amazing new band.
We’re calling it The Gratitude Tour.

So, if you’re a singer, musician, or karaoke superstar who’s been through hell and found your humor again —
🎤 I want to hear from you.

Join me. Let’s make music that heals and hugs.

🎧 Three Contemplative Questions

1. Who has written the soundtrack to your survival?
   (What artist or song has carried you when you couldn’t carry yourself?)

2. What music genre helps you cope when life goes sideways?
   (Do you scream with Metallica or cry with Joni Mitchell?)

3. If your life had a chorus right now — what would it be saying to you?
   (And are you brave enough to sing along?)

✨ With love, rhythm, laughter, and gratitude

Tré Taylor & Bleep (the Tattoo)

🎵 Because every soul deserves a song that hugs back.