Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Music of Your Life

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday, readers! I am interrupting my usual "10 on Tuesdays" post to participate in the Blogger Book Club "Music of Your Life" post. My 10 on Tuesday will become 10 on Thursday this week. Look at how flexible I am! Ha (side note - I am sort of not a very flexible person when it comes to schedules)

Music has always been a big part of my life. I started taking piano lessons at age 6 - although at that point my older brother had already started to sort of teach me. He also taught me how to read. And drive. Maybe he can teach me write html code? He's a computer genius, I am a computer moron. But that's a topic for a whole other post.

Do you remember my "Song Remembers When" post? As I said in that post, hearing a song from my past really triggers memories and brings me back to a certain phase of my life - be it high school, college, a relationship, or a friendship. In Firefly Lane, each section of the book was titled with a popular song in Tully & Kate's life.

If I were to make a "Music of My Life" CD, here is what would be included:

Elementary/Junior High Years:
1. I think We're Alone Now by Tiffany

2. To Be With You by Mr. Big

3. Straight Up by Paula Abdul

* These 3 songs remind me of afternoons spent sitting on the floor of my grade school best friend's bedroom, listening to songs we had recorded on tapes off of the radio. I also remember awkwardly slow dancing to To Be With You at a 4H dance with a boy that I had a crush on from 1st grade through senior year. Yes, I was in 4H.

High School Years:
4. All My Life by K-C and Jo Jo - Prom song, junior year

5. A Long December by Counting Crows

6. Black Balloon by Goo Goo Dolls

7. Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis - my High School boyfriend got up on stage and played the keyboard part of this song the night of our junior prom. There is a great keyboard solo in that song & Brian ROCKED it. He was and still is a very talented musician!

College Years:
8. Like a Prayer by Madonna - This is a Delta Gamma theme song!

9. #41 by Dave Matthew Band

10. Murder on the Dance Floor by Sophie Ellis Bextor - this song was HUGE in Australia when I studied abroad. Never really seemed to take off in the US.

Post-Collegiate Years:
11. Shoot the Moon by Norah Jones - I remember listening to this song while waiting for my plane in the Santiago, DR airport with tears rolling down my face, knowing I was going to be breaking up with my 6-cubicles-away ex-boyfriend (who will now be referred to as The Charioteer) in the next week. 10 days away from him had given me clarity. We broke up 3 days later.

12. Resolution by Nick Lachey - I ran many, many laps around Lake Harriet listening to this song (and the entire album) when I was trying to get over The Charioteer. Nick wrote this post-Jessica so it might be the most depressing music. Ever. Perfect for wallowing. Did you know you can wallow AND run at the same time?

13. Careful by Guster - 2-floors-above-me ex-boyfriend (who will now be referred to as Deux) loved this band. I think Guster was playing every time he came to pick me up for a date. He also could play this song on this guitar.

14. The Luckiest by Ben Folds - I adore this song. If I ever get married, I would possibly have this as my first dance with my husband. You know, if he didn't hate it. But how could you? It's lovely.




I could go on and on, but I'll stop with 14. What songs would you include on the soundtrack of your life?

14 comments:

Nicole said...

Your elementary/junior high years songs are now stuck in my head. ;)

Something by Ace of Base (The Sign probably) would definitely have to be on my list. I loved that stuff. And I used to dance around the house while doing my chores to Bette Midler and Gloria Estefan. So they'd have to be on there, too. And Jimmy Buffett could be on there for anything from high school until now.

Charbelle said...

I love how a song can take you back so quickly! The bridal shower that I went to Saturday, our favor gift that we received when leaving was a CD of some of the brides favorite songs. It's been playing non stop in my CD player since Saturday =)
I didn't listen to music all that much in elementary school. My mom used to listen to country, a lot. So maybe "Baby's got her blue jeans on" which I still love that song. Then middles school there was the Bryan Adams song that he did for Robin Hood Prince of Theives and I LOVED that song, Everything I do.
Then in high school I listened to a little bit of everything but Red Hot Chili Peppers was big down here.
College, Kid Rock. Yes he's dirty but I loved dancing to his songs in college.
After college and early 20's they were still playing techno in the clubs down here and my friend MG always had the best music.
I have 12 stations that I flip through in the car, I'm ecletic like that!

Kyla Roma said...

Oh my goodness, The Luckiest and Magic are tied for my all time favourite Ben Folds epics, they would have to be on there. And The Wind by Cat Stevens, because I watched Almost Famous too many times and it's the perfect mix of hopeful and wistful.

Mandy said...

I love this post! Music is basically the sountrack to my life as well -- only more of a folk/country score. =) John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" and Alabama's "Mountain Music" would most certainly make the cut. As well as Barry Manilow, because how could I not add him.

Emily Jane said...

I adore that Ben Folds song!! And yes! K-ci & Jojo is totally my high school song too. I remember the first boyfriend I ever had surprised me on Valentine's day with it, he'd arranged with my mum to sneak into my parents' house and set up flowers in my bedroom with the song playing and a gift bag on the bed :) Too bad he ended up being a jerk LOL

Abby said...

I love that Ben Folds song! It brings tears to my eyes often when listening to it!

I have wallowed while running before, and it didn't go over well. When I cry, I cry like a 5 year old. You know, where they turn blue and can't breath. So that just doesn't mix well with running ;)

Very good soundtrack to your life - it has a deep variety of great moments, learning moments, and life changing moments :)

Nora said...

Be with You! Mr. Big!!! Ah, how I still love that song.

How about "more than words," by extreme? That's definitely elementary school (grades 3 through 4 for me).

Middle School: Anything by Cake. Their CDs were our theme music, I swear. And the soundtrack to Empire Records!

Bone Thugs N' Harmony reminds me of my freshman year in high school, as does Master P. (I was in band and yet the guys all listened to rap. Kind of funny.)

College: I'm ashamed to say that it's a lot of dirty rap songs, like Fantasy by Ludacris. Although this is when I fell in love with John Mayer & Jack Johnson.

And now I want to go find all my old CDs and listen to them all :)

Ally said...

I think we share many of the same songs in common, especially early on. I would have to add a shake of Debbie Gibson and NKOTB to my elementary school years, and a dash of Coldplay to my college years.

I guess many a school dance featured All My Life as the chosen song, and mine (8th and 12th grades) were no exception. :)

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

I am so glad you could adjust your schedule to parcipate today!! You had some really interesting picks. I remember sitting in front of my radio many a day and recording songs right off the radio to make mix tapes! ha

Kelly said...

I love this post- I just did it too :)Thanks for reminding me of SO many great songs!

Cherry Blossoms said...

Great call on Mr. Big and Tiffany!

Lauren @ Sassy Molassy said...

Lisa, this is a good one! Ha- i like your comment about being no so flexible with schedules. Me either. I like A PLAN. I'm impressed how you can remember specific songs for specific years. I just don't.

I do love The Luckiest! A few other favs...It's Amazing by Mindy Smith, Don't Stop Believin' by Glee, Let it Be by Ray LaMontagne, Whatever It Is by Zac Brown Band, Knock Knock by Lenka...that's enough for now. ;)

I always love new music suggestions.

Anais said...

I find it impossible to think of a year and remember songs! For me, it's the other way around: I'll hear a song and think "woah, I totally remember sitting in on the school steps with my crush when that was playing".

Amber said...

Awwww I LOVE this post!!!

Ummm OK off the top of my head some soundtracks from my life would be:

- Anything by the Spice Girls reminds me of grade 5. I was Ginger spice because of my red hair but I secretly thought of myself as Sporty Spice

- N'Sync and 98 degrees songs also remind me of middle school and junior high

- I am the Highway by Audioslave reminds me of driving with Eric in his truck when we were in high school. He played that song all the time

- That Celine Dion song from Titantic? That reminds me of elementary school too. Oh we were SO in love with Leo haha.

- Brooks n Dunn the Long Goodbye and Ain't Nothing About You reminds me of my roller coaster high school relationship with Eric

- Shots, Shots, Shots reminds me of fourth year of college. It was kind of our classes theme song.

Ok, I'll stop now ;)