My Life's Soundtrack

For this final Monday of January, Bruna at Bees With Honey challenged us with this:

If they were to make a movie of your life what would the soundtrack be like? Share 10 songs that best tell the story of your life. Be sure to include the period or event that each song represents.

I love music and have had many favorite songs in my life, so I *think* I can do this. I'm just glad she didn't ask who would play me and the people in my life, because that I do not think I could do!  Well, except that I think my husband looks a little like Tim Robbins.

Speaking of Mark, he could totally pull off this task because he so easily remembers events in his life and the music that he liked at the time. Problem is, he'd have a very hard time stopping at just 10 songs.

The year of my birth was 1974. April of 1974, in fact. The #1 Billboard song on the date of my birth was a ltitle ditty called TSOP (The Sound of Philidelphia) by MFSB & The Three Degrees. It's a fun R&B song, but does nothing to tell you anything about me or my life. There are, however, plenty of other songs that were #1 on my birthday over the years that I really liked. Such as Against All Odds by Phil Collins, Like a Prayer by Madonna and Boom Boom Pow by The Black Eyed Peas,

1. There's this one song that was apparently #1 on my birthday in 1996 that became the song Mark and I danced to at our wedding in 1998 (not Mark's choice, he would like me to note): Because You Loved Me by Celine Dion.  Actually, now that I know it was #1 on the charts on my birthday that year, I find it even more apropos that it was our wedding song. Because...Mark had his kidney/pancreas transplant in April of '96 which was a hugely defining thing in our life as a couple. And that song, well, it gets me every time. It's actually from a movie -- the one with Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford where Robert Redford dies and I sob -- Up Close and Personal.

2. The song that is really "our song" is Thank You by Led Zeppelin. Mark put it on a mix tape he made me somewhere between our first kiss and his vacation with a friend a couple month later. I had never heard this particular Zeppelin song before and I fell in love with it.

I printed up the lyrics and had them framed by my FIL as a gift for Mark one year...long ago....

3. My mom, I guess, dedicated Close To You by The Carpenters to me. She would sing this part of the song when she was feeling particularly mushy towards me:

On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair
And golden starlight in your eyes so blue

4. My dad liked to sing Dog and Butterfly by Heart to me. I'm actually not sure why, except maybe because it sounds a little like a lullaby. He pretty much liked to sing anything to me. Still does.

5. I'm not sure if Mark knows this, but In My Life by The Beatles holds a ton of meaning for me in regards to how I feel about him. What I know he doesn't want to hear, is that I adore Bette Midler's version of it. I tear up every single time I listen and sing to it.

6. At Christmastime, I gotta have me some of Elvis' Blue Christmas.

You're thinking I have an awful lot of old songs here, hu?  Are you wondering just how old I am? Not THAT old, don't worry!

7. When I entered adulthood I was really into Melissa Etheridge, and would be remiss if I didn't list Like the Way I Do. It is a rockin' scorned woman song that came out LONG before Alanis Morissette that my friend Brandie and I used to crank up and belt out together. It's on her first album, which I actually discovered only after Yes I Am came out. Anyway, Brandie and I went to see Melissa live and I just have to say it is such a trip to be surrounded by lesbians screaming, "I wanna have your baby!"

8. I absolutely HAVE to talk about Bon Jovi because he/they have been a big part of my life since I was 12 years old. Can I pick just one song of theirs that would be on the soundtrack of my life? I think not. The first song I heard was You Give Love a Bad Name which introduced me to the wonderful world of the "big hair band". I love to belt out I'll Be There for You. I'm all over Livin' on a Prayer and Dead or Alive on Rock Band. When Jon Bon sang Lay Your Hands on Me, I said OK! I suppose It's My Life is the one that would be most appropriate, right?

9. When I got pregnant with Camryn in 1999 the song With Arms Wide Open by Creed was out and climbing the charts to #1. It's about the lead singer, Scott Stapp, learning that he was going to be a father. Needless to say, the song resonated with both Mark and I, and still does.

Well shoot. This has been fairly easy up until now. One more song that articulates some facet of my life? How do I choose?

10. I think I will have to go with Carrie Underwood's Lessons Learned, which is probably my theme song.







PS: Mark your calendars for a shiny new monthly meme hosted by me and Danielle at Motherhood: Truth. It's called "Did You Know...?" and will go live on the first Tuesday of the month. First one is February 7! So come share some bit of info with us. It can be completely true, or total BS. Point is, we want you to have fun with it!