The Songs of My Life (Journal 24)

As a small girl, my music tastes were largely influenced by my parents, my mom mostly.  Whenever she cleaned the house, she would put on a movie, usually a musical.  Her favorites were The Jazz Singer, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Grease, and The Sound of Music.  I remember loving The Jazz Singer and Neil Diamond.  When I was three I had a door-sized poster of Neil Diamond on my bedroom door; my aunt had brought it back from a concert.  I used to listen to the song “America” over and over again.

In junior high, it was Poison, Def Leppard, and Bon Jovi.  I remember making up a dance to “Pour Some Sugar on Me” with my friend Danielle.  At junior high dances, Warrant's “Heaven” was the song my boyfriend and I called our own.

In high school, the grunge scene hit, but the song I remember the most is an oldie and goodie.  On my sixteenth birthday, my dad called the radio station and dedicated Neil Sedaka's “Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen” to me.  I still cry every time I hear that song.

My college years were all about Live and MeatLoaf.  I loved (and still do) MeatLoaf.  I saw him three times in concert.  I skipped an entire day of classes to drive all the way to Boston to go to a book signing he was doing for his memoir, To Hell and Back.  I stuck around to get his autograph after seeing him in concert at the Hamden Beach Casino, but I remain disappointed to this day that I never heard him play my favorite song live: “For Crying Out Loud.”  I love that song.  I thought I might have a chance to request it when I saw him at the Orpheum for his VH-1 Storytellers Tour.  Instead, the microphone went to the couple one row to my left.  They talked about how they danced to one of Meat's songs at their wedding.  He asked which one, and then disparaged them mercilessly when they told him.  It was “Two Out of Three Ain't Bad,” the chorus of which is “I want you, I need you, but there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you, but don't be sad, 'cause two outta three ain't bad.”  What kind of wedding song is that, anyway?

As an adult, I stayed true to my love of great lyrics.  I fell mostly for chick rock at this point in my life.  If you come to a stop next to me at a red light and look over, you'll see me singing along, probably to Brandi Carlile.  Her song, “The Story” is one of my favorites.  It really is all about how all of the disappointing choices in a person's life can ultimately lead to happiness.  I like that message. 

When I got married, I walked down the aisle to Peter Gabriel's “Book of Love,” and my husband and I shared our first dance as a married couple to “The Gift” by Collin Raye.  These are two of the songs that mean the most to me and that identify who I am now, as a partner and a wife.

Now that I'm a mom, though, I have the soundtrack to Disney's Frozen perpetually stuck in my head, and I find myself making up finny songs about brushing teeth or setting our address to music so my daughter can learn it more easily.  "Hush Little Baby" remains a bedtime favorite for my daughter, too, and now she can sing it with me.  I love the way her little girl's voice mingles with mine - that's probably my favorite kind of music.