In the words of House Stark, “Winter is Coming,” and so are the dreadful Dead Week and Finals Week. One of the best legal ways to push ourselves through the stress is having good music to keep morale and motivation up. Here are some songs to keep you motivated.

“Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey

With hometown, plain folk lyrics that hit close to our Americana-driven hearts, the song is about two American kids making the best of their lives by believing in themselves and each other. The same can be said about many of us WSU students in having faith and believing in our GPAs and exam grades.

“Crosstown Traffic” by Jimi Hendrix

Hendrix’s 1967 recording off his amazing ’68 record “Electric Ladyland” is an explosive song that easily relates to how this semester has gone — far too quickly, that is. It also relates to how some students (myself included) have been blindsided by finals as if they were a car going 90 mph. The song is a classic and one of Hendrix’s most underrated. The driving beat will keep you awake while you study.

“What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye

This is such a great song because it poses a question students often ask themselves in class … “What’s going on?”  It’s a perfect fit for when you’re deep into an all-nighter, as the words in your textbook start morphing into tiny woodland creatures and you pass out from sleep deprivation in your study chair. You’ll most likely wake up with cold sweats, gasping for air and asking yourself, yet again, what in the world is going on.

“Bastard” by Tyler, the Creator

A song about Tyler’s life, the intro can be put into a collegiate perspective and dedicated to that professor or TA that just really grinds your gears. An icon of the modern rap scene with R&B influences, this song is dark enough to relate to some individual’s college and life experiences. So if you’re grinding away studying and really hating your class and teacher, toss this song on your playlist and let some of that anger out.

“Strange Days” by The Doors

From their second studio album of the same name, “Strange Days” truly describes what these next two weeks will be like. With abnormal sleep schedules, copious amounts of stress and other facets of distraction, this song will remind the listener that, soon, the strange days will be over and they’ll be on winter break soon enough.

“Getting Better” by The Beatles

This song off the legendary 1967 album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” pays homage to The Beatles’ high school days. However, it translates easily to the American college experience. The song talks about uncool teachers and hating classes and through their own experiences as students, school gets better for The Beatles. This song serves as a reminder that after finals things can only get better.

These songs should serve well as motivation and relieve the stress that is inherent in finals. Dead Week is coming up shortly, so queue these songs up now before we’re all swamped with projects, papers and exams. These next few weeks will be hard on all of us, so stay safe, be smart and study hard.

Blaine Ross is a freshman music education major from Montesano. He can be contacted at [email protected].