Songs in the key of life

In the “Better late than never” category, I present: Songs in the key of (my) life.

It’s a simple NAME THAT TUNE meme with a Mimi twist.

The Rules : Once you have been tagged (or commanded by the Queen) you are supposed to write down the top 25 SEVEN songs you cannot live without. The ones you can listen to over and over and never get tired of. They don’t have to be in any particular order. These are the songs that make you laugh, cry, think of an old friend, whatever the reason. I know it’s impossible for many of us to narrow it down to seven. There are just too many songs. Instead, make a list of seven songs that move you personally and tell us why. What memory does the song evoke? What emotion? Where were you when you first heard it? We’d like to know what’s in your musical memory bank. Name seven songs and tell us about your emotional connection to the song.
Fair enough?

Let’s get started!

1. Heart of Gold / Neil Young
My dad used to call me his “heart of gold” and whenever this song came on, he’d always say “that’s my girl”. The last Christmas he was alive (1974), he gave me a lovely gold heart with the inscription “my heart of gold” on the back. I still have it and love it and every single time I hear that song, I think of him and smile.

2. Babylon / David Grey
This song speaks to me big time with these lyrics: “Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feeel it now ….” –> that’s me in a nutshell kiddies. Love this song with a passion. Will never, ever not love it.

3. Sweet thing – Chaka Khan and Rufus
Happened to hear this song today and realized how much I love it. It’s got soul, it’s got longing, it’s got the sexay … “ohhh sweet thang, oh you know you’re my everything ….” The version I saw today was Prince and Chaka singing (well, he accompanied her mostly on guitar but also on voice a bit) and it was such a fabulous performance. (This song is my sensual side that stays on the downlow. If I could put voice to it, this would be it. Keep that a secret, k?)

4. Float On – Modest Mouse
Lauren’s theme song for the last months of her life. She had an amazing spirit and this quirky little song helped her keep moving forward when it was difficult. Always this one for my sweetie.

5. Time after Time – Cyndi Lauper
This one reminds me of my mom – back in the MTV heyday, I would force my poor mother to watch hours and hours of videos with me (don’t ask why – I have no idea other than I was a goof even then.) The woman who played Cyndi Lauper’s mother in the video looked like my mom a bit so I sort of associated the two somehow. This sort of became my song with my mom – “if you fall I will catch you, I’ll be waiting … time after time.” That was how it was with my mom. She caught me when I stumbled. That’s what moms do. (Love this song – played it for her at my wedding.)

6. “Wish you were here” – Incubus
Love this song for several reasons – one of them being the imagery of this line: “the ocean looks like a thousand diamonds strewn across a blue blanket” – I just love that. Also too – it has major sentimental meaning to me.

7. Knocks me off my feet – Stevie Wonder (speaking of Songs in the key of life)
My nearly perfect high school boyfriend played piano beautifully and learned this song just so he could impress me with it. More than that, though, at his senior prom, I recall us dancing to it and he sang the chorus to me: “Oh but I love you, I love you, I love you … more and more” – Can you imagine a 17 year old singing that truly from his heart? It was a sweet, sweet moment – one I remember 33 years later.