Soundtrack of My Life . . .

Oh Lish, you are a mecca for bad luck lately. Luckily you are coming to visit next weekend and we have a full itinerary that will hopefully shake that bad luck from you.

So yesterday I was listening to Pandora (total props to Lish who turned me onto it) and a song came on that I haven't heard in 15 years. In a flash I was 17/18 in high school hanging out with my friends planning trouble/looking for trouble/on our way to trouble. Oh how I adore this song. It was a visceral experience and it got me thinking of the way music plays such a crucial role in my life. The way it is intertwined in my memories. The way the lyrics can speak the truths of my heart. The way the music can give me strength or slowly lull me back to safety.

Here's a portion of the Soundtrack of My Life. Better than a picture these songs can pull me back in time and I am drenched in the setting, the feeling and the emotion of the time. My own personal time machine . . .

1. Little Girls - Annie Soundtrack - Lish and I have set up the camera tripods in our family room and are singing our hearts out to the Annie soundtrack on 8-track. My mom would always materialize when this song came on and sing the Miss Hannigan part. We were surprised and delighted every time.
   
2. I love Rock and Roll - Joan Jett - Lish and I are playing dress up with our friends down the block while rocking out to their Joan Jett 45 record. The dresses, the goggles, the hop scotch carpet and the Barbie Motor Home lay witness to our crazy dance moves.
   
3. I Wanna Dance with Somebody - Whitney Houston - Ms. Houston how wonderful it has been to grow up with you. When I hear this I'm in the backseat of the new Bonneville the windows rolled down and my Dad is taking us on a run to 31 Flavors during a warm summer night.
   
4. Freedom - George Michael - Lish and I shared a room that adjoined our older sister's. We spent hours on the stair between the two rooms watching her get ready, idolizing her every move. This song brings me right back to the magenta walls, low white platform furniture, white wassily chair and Nagel prints of her room. She was in high school and rocking out with her new CD stereo. We would watch and sing and aspire to be that cool.
5. Jessica - The Allman Brother's Band - My older brother is a huge Grateful Dead and Allman Brother's Band fan. When I hear this song I am visiting him at college and we are at a house party and he's a dancing fool. The song never ends when you think it will. He loves that.
6. Shoop - Salt N' Peppa - I drove a Red Brono II in high school. It was a great car and this song was a main stay in it. Windows down, stereo cranked Ali and Tim and I would rap along at the top of our lungs. We each had our own part. Young and free and looking for mischief.
7. Dropout - Urge Overkill - This was the song that started this musical odyssey. I'm with a bunch of friends up at a cottage in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin. Sledding and running into trees, playing cards and trying not to burn the house down.
8. Wildflowers - Tom Petty - Freshman year in college I was constantly stealing this from Helmet. We were redecorating our room, getting ready to go out, ordering bread sticks after the bars. We were unsupervised and ready for fun.
9. Lovefool - The Cardigans - Living in a house with 50 girls is a blast. Don't let anyone tell you differently. We were obsessed with Romeo & Juliet. Both the movie and soundtrack. I can remember dancing in Jess and Mandy's room hoping Mary doesn't come in.
   
10. Rihanna - Fleetwood Mac - I was moving into a house Senior Year of college and Fleetwood Mac had just reunited with The Dance. This song and cd were played throughout that Fall. All the parties, all the cleaning, all the constant hanging out.
11. Just A Friend - Biz Markie - For my first real job I had 2 weeks off at the end of the year. Jessy and I went out to visit Ali in California. Driving with the top down in Ali's Jeep there was a Hip Hop countdown and Just a Friend came on. We were singing at the top of our lungs and off to Vegas for New Year's Eve.
12. I'm Like a Bird - Nelly Furtado - Lish and Jess and I are living in an apartment with two living rooms. I think one was supposed to be a dining room but we were long on couches and short on tables. We had so much fun in that apartment with a Christmas tree wired to the book case so it could stand on the sloping floors. Girls nights in, watching the 2000 election debacle, getting hooked on the Bachelor. I can clearly picture Jess singing into her hair brush as we are heading out for the night.
13. They Can't That Away From Me - Billie Holiday - New apartment with my Man and the only furnishing was a bookcase outside of the stacks of boxes everywhere. It was his birthday and we had just had dinner at Magnum's and gone to Green Dolphin Street to dance. Getting home we lit a bunch of candles and turned on some music. As I turned back around he was on his knee. I have no idea what he said at that moment. But I do remember dancing and holding onto him and wanting to do this for the rest of my life.
    
14. My Girl - Temptations - Standing by the water sipping champagne in Hawaii I was still wearing a lace veil and the nerves and emotion of all that had just transpired swept away from me on an ocean breeze. We had done it. I was so full of love. We started to play a CD and as soon as this song started my Dad and I danced together as the sunset. He sang every word to me.
15. Single Ladies - Beyonce - Waiting for a bus up in Beaver Creek on Christmas Day. We had just arrived and walked around town. Watching my niece and nephews play in the snow this song came to mind and I started working out the choreography. It was performed that night at the talent show and the rest of the week - mainly in public.

God, I love music.
Have a great weekend!