Have you ever thought about the music in your life? We all have our favourite songs and albums but then there’s the music that we remember because of what it meant to us at certain times in our lives, the soundtrack to our lives.
I wrote a post a while ago about the soundtrack to my life but I thought afterward that it felt incomplete; it was a list of songs I remembered playing during my life but they weren’t all my favourite songs, the ones that really mean something to me.
So I thought I’d do a second list. These are the 10 songs I think best reflect my life, who I am up until now. It was harder to do than I thought but it was a lot of fun too. I wonder what your list would be? 😉
Fall At Your Feet
Crowded House
The finger of blame has turned upon itself
And I’m more than willing to offer myself
Do you want my presence or need my help?
The Scientist
Coldplay
Running in circles, coming up tails
Heads on the science apart
Big Yellow Taxi
Joni Mitchell
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Under Pressure
Queen & David Bowie
And love dares you to change our way
Of caring about ourselves
Forever Young
Alphaville
Praising our leaders, we’re getting in tune
The music’s played by the madmen
Hard Sun
Indio
Bound down and flew away the hours
Of her garden and her sun
{Explain}
Sarah Blasko
You say that our love can’t be a pattern in your palm
You say that our love, you say that our love, is only mapped
Landslide
Fleetwood Mac
If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide will bring it down
Waiting On The World To Change
John Mayer
We just feel like we don’t have the means
To rise above and beat it
Where The Streets Have No Name
U2
I’ll show you a place
High on a desert plain
Where the streets have no name
I have written several posts of songs and how they relate to my life. Mostly on Thursday Thirteen’s.
I have started a Blog called Friday’s Song. Every Friday I list a song that I like, r remember, or touched me in some way. Music is a huge part of our life’s moments and hearing a specific song can bring recollection.
Stop by my Friday’s Song and check them out.
P.S. Landslide would definitely be on my soundtrack to life
:)Maribeth
CJ: What a great idea for a blog! Music plays such a big part in our lives and I’m always remembering a song I heard at a certain time, how it made me feel; it’s a great idea to collect them all in one place. I’d love to stop by and have a look. Is it http://marnini.wordpress.com/ ?
And I love Landslide. It’s such a beautiful song, gives me shivers every time I hear it. I heard a cover by Lior the other day; hearing it interpreted by a man was interesting as well. Thanks for stopping by, Maribeth. 🙂
WOW! I could adopt your list and make it my own easily. I guess that means we both have great taste in music … lol 😀
CJ: Thanks brightfeather! I thought our tastes might be similar, but that’s really amazing. But then they are great songs, eh? 🙂
I only know half of your songs! Where have I been? Why am I so out of touch? 😉
I surely like the idea of this though. You’ve got me thinking about my own list. I suspect it’ll be very different than yours. We do have one in common…
CJ: A couple of the songs are by Australian artists, Muse, so I wouldn’t expect you to know all of them… but maybe while your computer’s gone you could catch up! Put on MTV while you’re cat-sitting. Cola might enjoy it. 😀
If you’re curious about the songs, though, I put together a quick playlist… Hard Sun is one I’d definitely recommend, it’s a beautiful indie song.
Love to see your list at some stage. Wonder which one we have in common?
The only songs from that list that I recongize are The Scientist and Where the Streets Have No Name. U2 is my favourite band.
Anyway, sometimes when I listen to a song alot at a particular time and then listen to it again some days, maybe weeks, or even months and years later when I listen to it again it reminds of that time.
CJ: I love U2 as well. I could have had three or four of their songs on this list; One just missed out as Where the Streets Have No Name is the first U2 song I heard.
I think music has it’s own energy; it enters our subconscious and becomes entangled in our lives, something timeless that means something different to each of us. It’s always a nice feeling when a song reminds me of another time… like coming home. 🙂
This is an awesome post! I love they way you used the lyrics.
I’m clearly not on top song-spotting form, either – the only ones on your list that I’ve heard are “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Where The Streets Have No Name”, and I don’t own a copy of either of them. But then, the only recent Australian artists I know are The Cat Empire and Pendulum, and Pendulum don’t count because they relocated to the UK.
I wonder why we never get Australian music over here. Most of the stuff we get is either British or North American. 🙁
CJ: Thanks Bobby! I only added the lyrics at the last minute, so I’m glad you liked them. 😉
That’s strange about Aussie music but it happens a lot. We get a lot of international artists over here and love their music but it’s always hard for our artists to break through into other markets. Silverchair would be an example; their last album, Young Modern, is brilliant but they’re barely heard of overseas. Unless you’re Kylie Minogue you don’t get much airtime.
I wouldn’t worry about not knowing a few of the songs; I like alternative and indie music, so most people don’t know them! 🙂 I’m a little surprised you haven’t heard The Scientist, though. I always thought Coldplay would get a lot of play in the UK.
Hey CJ,
Unfortunately, I only knew a few of your selections – but I’ll bet this was a very enlightening experience.
WC
CJ: Oh it was a great experience, WC. It brought back some wonderful memories… sometimes you don’t see just how far you’ve come until something like this makes you look back. 😉
I adore about 80% of the songs you listed. Nice choices!
CJ: Thanks Alynda! I had a few which just missed the cut, but it was a fun list to write. 🙂
You have the right blog address. Thanks for stopping by. I will be checking out your blog more often.
Maribeth:)
CJ: Thanks for confirming the address. Nice blog! I’ll pop back and have a good look around later. 😉
I do listen to indie music occasionally, but I more often listen to classic rock, so that explains my ignorance.
I’ve never really gotten into Coldplay, so I didn’t recognise the song title, but I checked it out on YouTube. Turns out I have heard it before (my dad’s got a copy), I just didn’t know what it was called. 🙂 Pretty good stuff; have you seen the music video? It’s absolute genius.
CJ: Ah, that makes sense. I kind of know what you mean… I didn’t like Coldplay much at first (I thought Yellow was overrated) but their second album converted me. Clocks and The Scientist are beautiful songs; I can’t wait for their new album when it comes out this year.
The video’s brilliant, isn’t it? Very subtle, the way you don’t see the crash until the end… and Chris Martin actually learnt to sing the song backwards. Now that’s dedication, eh? 🙂
CJ
I think this was a great idea. I loved reading this post. Hope you don’t mind that I followed your link back here and found your blog.
Nochipa
CJ: Hi Nochipa, I’m glad you liked the post. It was fun to put together and brought back some memories. I’ve been listening to Forever Young a lot lately… it’s been on my mind since Heath Ledger died.
Thanks for stopping by. 😉
I loved every one of your selections on the second set. I missed the first list. I am a visual person, so I am not sure I have a song list of my life. It is so odd but what I remember as a child are the patriotic songs that kids nowadays are clueless. Home on the Range, My country tis of thee, amber grains …..one about the purple mts majesty. then show tunes in the highschool years, as I was involved in theater.
CJ: Glad you liked the list, Deb. It was challenging but fun to do. Patriotic songs make sense as well as they carry such strong feelings and associations… whenever I hear Waltzing Matilda, it makes me feel like that.
That’s interesting, about being more visual… I hadn’t thought of that but you could actually have a different kind of list, perhaps of movies, art and world events, things that have played a part in making you who you are… I might use that, it’d make an interesting list. 😉
Thanks for the comment and sharing your thoughts. 🙂
This was lovelyy to read