As my Number One Internet Fanboy said, in no particular order (chronological or otherwise):
1) Downtown by Petula Clark: This was the song I recall as a little girl that made me feel hopeful & excited about the future. It also fixed in my head that, although I was living in a small town, I was destined to find happiness and my home in a big city.
2) Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds: This was “our song” for my first love & I. It was from “The Breakfast Club” soundtrack, and that movie said a lot about us. He was the criminal, and I was a compilation character: vaguely resembled the popular girl, had the intelligence of the brain, and felt (and was treated) like the weirdo. When I first saw the movie, and Ally Sheedy’s character answered the question, “And what do your parents do to you?” with “They ignore me,” I cried…I was raised by housecats.
3) Promises In The Dark by Pat Benatar: This pretty well sums up my experience with love, and lovers. It’s always been my favorite song of all time.
4) Annie’s Song by John Denver: I named my eldest after my favorite cat when I was a child, the great-grandmother I never knew but whose portrait shows a compelling & strong woman, and this song – because I wanted my daughter to have this kind of love in her life.
5) Bitch by Meredith Brooks: This is the successor to Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” from the 70’s. It’s just an amazing, sassy, feel-good song, and it describes me pretty well, too.
6) Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel: This song was a key inspiration for getting my life on track when I was a lonely, house-bound, and largely miserable young mother. It prompted a lot of thought – and later, action – on taking my faith seriously, becoming ethically non-monogamous, and learning to be responsible & self-accountable.
7) My Immortal by Evanescence: For years after my husband died, I had no song to express the mark he’d left on my life. This song does.
You Needed Me by Anne Murray: I first heard this song when I about 9 (my mother is a huge Anne Murray fan, and has all her albums). It imprinted on me as what true love would be, and gave me hope that someday I’d find someone to sing this song to. Now, because of Geoffrey, I also see it as a song that shows dreams do come true.
9) Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy by David Bowie & Bing Crosby: My favorite holiday song. The lyrics, the phenomenal voices of the vocalists, and the harkening back to listening to Bing Crosby’s Christmas music when I was a child – all that renews my soul.
10) Honesty by Billy Joel: Another song that imprinted me when I was very young, and reflects both who I am and what I need.
11) The Warrior by Patti Smyth: Despite it’s very 80’s lyrics & horrible video, it fueled my ferocity to believe in love and passion and striving toward your dreams.
12) Haven’t We Been Here Before by Styx: Very powerful, haunting, passionate song. Brenda introduced me to Styx, which I grew to love immensely, and every time we sang together, she would sing lead on duets – except on this one. It became “my” song.
13) As I Lay Me Down by Sophie B Hawkins: I fell in love and didn’t realize it for years later…this was “our” song, and later came to embody for me the concept that love and relationships don’t have to last forever for it to be true love.
14) Closing Time by Semisonic: On a radio interview, I heard the songwriter say this was written to his unborn child as an allegory of birth. Somehow I’m not seeing it. But the mood & the message touch me greatly.
15) Like A Prayer by Madonna: One of the songs that expresses my feelings on spirituality and how it’s intertwined with love.
Bonus track – In The End by Linkin Park: There are a handful of “break-up” songs that I love, but this is the only one that can apply to every time someone has broken my heart. It’s angry and sad and defiant and grieving, but it’s also hopeful and speaks of lessons learned.
