Blog Challenge: Life Songs

There are some songs that take you back to specific events, places and times. Choose one song (or a few!) that do that for you, and tell us about it.

This is gonna be tough, because I live my life to music. I love music. The beats, the words, the melodies, the bass, the drums... I love all kinds of music. I dare say that there isn't a song out there that doesn't evoke some sort of feeling or memory in me.

I have thought on this topic, and I really had a hard time even coming up with ONE song. There are so many songs that I love, that it's hard to choose which ones affect me the most. I decided just to sit down and start writing, so this is just brain flow from here on out.

(It's really hard to think about music with kids' cartoons on the television in the background... maybe I should go get my iPod...)

Okay. The first song that comes to mind is "Jack and Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp. This song is my all time favorite 80s ballad. The kids know that when those first few lines hit the airwaves, I will reach for the volume button and crank it up as loud as they can stand it. Usually I hit the bass button, too, for that little interlude that comes near the last third of the song....

I adore this song. I've blogged about it before ("Hold on to 16/as long as you can/changes come around real soon/make us women and men"). I remember sitting in Biology II in high school, hearing the gang of jocks sing this song to one of the girls that they considered.....well.... loose? They particularly loved the line that goes "dribble off those Bobbie Brooks slacks and let me do what I please...." Those guys tortured that girl unmercifully with that song, but she loved the attention. It doesn't change how I feel about the song, but I always see those guys in my head when that song plays.

I own all of the "Scholastic Rock" CDs because they remind me of watching Saturday morning cartoons as a kid. Laying (lying?) on the couch in my PJs, watching TV until noon, eating cereal that was full of sugar... It all reminds me of innocence. I loved being a kid.

Let's see.... "Wasted Rock Ranger" by Great White... not the best song in history, but it makes me think of flying down Highway 31 with my windows down after dropping off a friend after school. I felt so rebellious yelling the curse words at the top of my lungs. I was a weiner, though. I always turned down the music if I had to stop at a light, because I didn't want any of my parents' friends tattling about my loud, offensive music. Small towns suck.

Then there's Elvis' "Moody Blue" and Liza's "Liza with a Z" and Barry Manilow's "Even Now" and the soundtrack to the movie "Annie". Those are the only albums we had on 8-track, so that's what we played in the Chevrolet Caprice Classic van on long trips. Gosh, those are good memories. Melted crayons and comfy pallets made of handmade quilts in the back of the station wagon. I had a great childhood.

(Re-reading that I realized that it sounds as if we lived in our car.... Trust me. We had a house. We just traveled a lot, and the back of the wagon was my favorite spot. I would've HATED car seats!)

Cyndi Lauper's "She's So Unusual" was the first album I ever owned. It was actually on cassette, but I played the heck out of it. I wonder if I could download that to my iPod...

My wedding songs are great for memories, too. Steven Curtis Chapman's "I Will Be Here" was one of those songs. I chose that one because of what it says, but also because I first heard it sung a capella by my friend Charlotte during a "Breakaway" weekend as a high school senior. The power went out, and we were all gathered in the den of the house that belonged to the weekend's host family. The weekend's leader was playing his guitar and taking requests. Charlotte, who has an amazing soprano voice, piped up and said she'd like to sing a song she was practicing for a wedding. So, in the candlelight, she started singing, "Tomorrow morning if you wake up and the sun does not appear....I will be here..." I loved it. I knew I'd use it at my wedding one day, and I did, though Charlotte didn't sing it. She sang "Bonded Together" by Twila Paris, and one of my bridesmaids sang "I Will Be Here". Yet another person sang "Somewhere in the World" by Wayne Watson. I loved my wedding song choices.

Man, there are just so many more songs that having meaning for me. I couldn't list them all. Music is such a HUGE part of my life. What would I do without it?