Like the Kenny Chesney song says, we all have certain songs that remind us of certain moments in our lives. I have a whopping 20 songs, and that’s after whittling them down!
Your mission, should you choose to accept it -- and you should -- is to post the songs that have “stamped” your life. It can be as few or as many as you need it to be. Tell the story that goes along with each song and then title your blog/Facebook note/LiveJournal post/WHATEVER “[YOUR NAME]: The Album.”
Here’s mine...
Amanda: The Album
“Count Your Blessings” - Bing Crosby
This is probably one of the earliest songs that affected me. This is the song my mom would sing me when I was a baby and a little girl. It automatically makes me think of my mom, which is probably why it’s towards the top of every “homesick” playlist I put together.
“From a Distance” - Bette Midler
Oh, sixth grade and junior high... In the seventh and eighth grade, I was in the Goddard Junior High School honor choir. Late in the school year, we put on a concert in which the choir members paired up for duets or sang solos. I paired up with Julie Cress to sing “From a Distance,” which I also remember one of the characters in the “Girl Talk” book series singing in a talent show, but whatever. I had such stage fright that I didn’t want my parents to come, so I arranged for Julie’s family to pick me up. I told my parents that I was just going to hang out with Julie. I kind of feel guilty about that now... So if anyone has video of that particular performance, please hook me up. I remember that I was wearing my Easter dress from that year -- a semi-off-the-shoulder floral-print dress from Sears. I remember feeling so grown up. I remember actually...liking being on stage.
“Life is a Highway” - Tom Cochrane
In the eighth grade, my parents let me go on my first “away” trip with a friend. Stacey Head and her family were kind enough to invite me to their cabin at Lake Possum Kingdom. Stacey and I were 14 at the time, but her mom let her take the Suburban out for a drive, as long as we stayed on the dirt roads out by the lake house. We played this song on cassette on loop as we drove and I remember laughing and feeling so free and scandalous.
“What a Friend We Have in Jesus/His Eye Is On The Sparrow” - Athena
I’m not particularly attached to this version of the song/medley, but still. “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” reminds me of church services as a child, but “His Eye is On The Sparrow” is the one that really affects me. It’s the song that was sung at my Poppy’s funeral, so that’s always what I associate with it. I got the news that my grandfather died on the day that we took yearbook pictures my junior year. My eyes are really puffy and you can tell that my smile was forced. As sad as the day of the funeral was -- and as sad as that memory is -- this song is still very uplifting to me and is one of my favorite hymns.
“Strawberry Wine” - Deana Carter
Sigh. Homecoming Dance during my senior year of high school. I remember my sister Katy going around and telling boys to ask me to dance. No one did and I remember sitting there the last song, feeling a bit sad that the only songs that I really danced to were “La Macarena” (we taught the foreign exchange student) and, I think, “The Cotton-Eyed Joe.” I still remember what I was wearing that night, too. I was a trainer on the football team, so I had run home to change into my cute cream-colored v-neck sweater and, of course, my faux Doc Martens.
“I Want You” - Savage Garden
Lake View High School Senior Picnic. I had just arrived and was talking to whoever was manning the grill at the ASU Lake Facility. It smelled like hamburgers. It was a good night.
“Livin’ La Vida Loca” - Ricky Martin
Ah, the night of my first real drink. It was a week before I turned 20 and I was with a group of fellow “Rampage” (ASU’s newspaper) staffers at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Conference in Kerrville. We were watching The Grammy Awards and saw Ricky Martin semi-debut this song live -- and we were hooked. While watching said awards show, we were enjoying a bottle of Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill. Half a cheapo motel room cup of it made my stomach hurt and I think I fell over when I was sitting down. It’s as pathetic as it sounds, but a lovely memory.
“Time To Say Goodbye” - Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman
The great Las Vegas trip of 1999. My Aunt Karen and I went to see The Backstreet Boys in Vegas. (Shut up.) After a fun day involving getting to sit on one of their tour buses (shut up), we walked down the strip from MGM Grand to McDonalds and to see the Bellagio Fountains. The first Fountain show I ever saw was "Time to Say Goodbye." It took me ten years to see that particular show again -- and I’ve seen it during both of my last two trips to Vegas -- but you never forget your first. Or something like that.
“The Texas Tech Fight Song” - The Goin’ Band From Raiderland
I’ll take every wonderful minute of my time at Texas Tech. Though I think one of the most memorable moments with that song occurred during the great Texas A&M v. Texas Tech debacle of 2000. (“It was like the Alamo.”) It’s a moment I’m not proud of in my school’s history, but it was the first time I heard the alternative lyrics to the song. I was appropriately scandalized. Also? GASTON GIRLS FOREVER!
“Boys From Oklahoma” - Cross Canadian Ragweed
This one was hard to narrow down to just one moment. I’ve had lots of great, memorable times with this song, but I’ll mention the most memorable -- the first time I heard this song. It was colder than a big dog the night of January 15, 2001, but I decided to go and camp out at the United Spirit Arena for the Texas Tech v. Oklahoma basketball game. It was Bobby Knight's first season at Tech and the Red Raiders had a shot at making it into the Big Dance. Thanks to that glorious thing called the Internet, alumni from all over the country called in and placed pizza orders to be delivered to us. The frat boys I was sitting with -- including one I’ve become acquainted with here in L.A. (but just realized this recently) -- played this particular song. And they even let me wear their wig!
“Time Of Your Life” - Green Day
I was at the Lubbock Chick-Fil-A when I realized that God for-sure wanted me to move to California. I’d been questioning it and then, the door opened to the store room and there in the doorway, big as Dallas, was a box of California lemons. I just knew that was what I was supposed to do. The song playing as I ate my grilled chicken sandwich (with waffle fries!) and pondered this was “Time Of Your Life” and I will never, ever forget that moment. Nor will I forget leaving Chick-Fil-A and passing a Walgreen's marquee advertising The Hollywood Miracle Diet.
“The Matador Song” - The Goin’ Band From Raiderland
During the spring of my senior year, I took a nasty spill in my dorm room while dancing on my tile floor in my socks. I did a spin, fell hard, and broke my wrist in two. That meant that when the Texas Tech Alumni Association ring ceremony came around, I was still in a cast. Thankfully, I’d been downgraded from the full above-the-elbow cast to a below-the-elbow version. I’d chosen red as the color and used a black magic marker to draw a huge double-T on it. (I still have it in my cedar chest!) That night, it truly hit me just how close I was to graduation.
“No One Knows” - Queens of the Stone Age
What better song to pick out a tattoo to than this one? This is what was playing in the tattoo parlor when I identified what would permanently mark a small portion of my body. I chose the state of Texas with a yellow rose growing through it and a small double-T. My counselor at the time told me she was proud of me for getting it because it was the first time I’d done something to really risk my father’s disapproval. (Though is it really that much of a risk if my dad still doesn’t know about it?) To whom do I owe the inspiration for this act of rebellion? One Katy Leanne Mason.
“Miss Independent” - Kelly Clarkson
This was my “Moving to L.A.” anthem, which meant it occupied a large part of my brain during the summer of 2003. After many instances of wanting to “miss” my exit on I-20 and keep on going to L.A., I decided to “run away” to California. I saved up some money and put a deposit down on a two bedroom apartment in Westwood with three other girls who I’d never met. I told my dad and stepmom only two weeks before I moved that I was going. They were understandably upset, but got over it in time. I guess you could say that the tattoo was the precursor to this. But when I was down over the “rift” with my dad, I would listen to this song and feel better.
“Toxic” - Britney Spears
Driving down Wilshire to El Cholo with Mandy with the windows rolled down. That song was everywhere right after I moved here. 2003 FOR THE WIN.
“Amie” - Damien Rice
After quitting my job as an insurance specialist/patient recruiter/whatever with a somewhat unpleasant gynecologist, I decided to start doing background work and supplementing it with temp work. It was great at first, but soon I wasn’t getting enough of either type of work to keep myself afloat. Someone from the gyno’s office called me to practically offer me my job back -- and I started bawling once I got off the phone because I felt like my only option was to take it and go back to the absolute misery of working for that man (though I should note that my coworkers were awesome). I turned on Damien Rice’s “O” (passed down to me from former roomie Emily) while I took a shower. I remember hearing “Amie” and watching the steam rise in the shower and just knowing in my heart that it was all going to be alright. Not five minutes after I got out of the shower, I got a call from another temp agency, which meant another opportunity to get work during the week.
“The Wreckoning” - Boomkat
My all-around “kick ass” song. You know on “The Office” when Dwight is psyching himself up for his performance evaluation? Or before going in to try to make a sale? This is my version of that song. Only with a little less air guitar and “because I’m AWESOME!” And you know what? This song, like prayer, WORKS.
“Somebody Told Me” - The Killers
Comic Con 2004! The first time I heard this song, Liz and I were driving back to L.A. from San Diego. We looked at each other like we needed verification that we actually just heard the lyric “Somebody told me that you had a boyfriend that looked like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year” -- much like my current roomies and I looked at each other the first time we heard “Human.”
“Hey Ya” - Outkast
After trying to find an apartment I could afford by myself and failing miserably, Meredith and Allison jokingly asked me if I wanted to move to Silver Lake with them. I surprised them with a very quick yes and we drove in Meredith’s little blue Golf to tour the apartment which would eventually be the one next door to the one we actually rented. (That’s a fabulous story that’s just way too long for this.) While we were navigating the 10 to the 110 to the 101, we listened to Outkast’s album. We all sang along to this one -- I think we were actually on the 110N-to-101N interchange! (Before I noticed that it smells like rotten eggs.)
“See You Again” - Miley Cyrus
Shut up. My sister -- the same one who introduced me to tattoos and Queens of the Stone Age -- downloaded this song and put it on a road trip CD for our drive to the Baylor v. Texas Tech football game this past year. This resulted in her dancing in the car, which resulted in me laughing so hard I had tears coming down my cheeks. Whenever I have a down moment, all I have to do is turn on this song and I’m happy again. Thanks, Katy.
