There is something about the bittersweet yet unapologetic quality of “Revelry” from Kings of Leon‘s 2008 breakthrough album Only by the Night that always resonates for me.

A lyric like “Just know it was you all along that had a hold of my heart/
But the demon in me was a best friend from the start” sums up that kind of youthful pattern where you can’t help but hurt the other person for the simple reason that you are too busy chasing your own kicks. Call it the selfishness of our immaturity, a feeling that the world and the people in it exist to please us and us alone.

Most of us have got memories of a misspent youth indulging in far too much partying, often at the expense of joys that could have been more lasting and less transitory. One of the keys to maturity as a man is leaving that reckless selfishness behind. But of course the memories of such uncontrolled hedonism linger with us, a constant caution and temptation from our past selves to the men we have (hopefully) become. And sometimes a rock song can bring it all back to crystal clarity once again, those times dreaming of revelry while letting something precious fall away.