Awhile back on the NPR music blog there was an article about a musicologist’s attempt to learn more about the role music plays in our lives.
They gave six questions for people to answer, and since I do believe that music helps inform our consciousness and our opinions, I thought I would take a moment to explore these questions and come up with my own answers.
How would you answer these questions? I’d love to hear your list.
What was the first song you ever bought?
It wasn’t a particular song, but I remember the first record (used tape) I bought was Garth Brook’s The Chase. I bought it on one of my very first trips to the mall by myself.
That album (as all of Brooks’s albums) is full of amazing songs. My favorite is probably “That Summer,” but apparently that song is one of the only ones that you can’t find on youtube, so instead, I’ll share “Somewhere Other Than the Night” which is another great one from the album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdHy7-aNLNg
Apparently,
What song always gets you dancing?
I’m not a big dancer, so in order for a song to get me dancing, it has to be big. But I guess for this I will have to go with Abba’s “Dancing Queen.” It’s not the song so much as the memories that go along with it. I now dance in my living room to this song with my daughters, my dancing princesses, but it always brings me back to college and good times with good friends. Did you know this song has hand motions that go along with it? It does. They make the song what it is 😉
What song takes you back to your childhood?
This is another tough one because there are quite a few I could mention here. I have a penchant for late seventies/early eighties country music — the goodies like Hank Williams Jr and Anne Murray, but for this one, I’m going to have to go with the Muppets. To me, it’s not Christmas without the Muppets Christmas Album: A Christmas Together, and my favorite of all the amazing songs on that album is “A Christmas Wish.” I’m proud to say that my daughter already loves this album.
What is your perfect love song?
And for this, I must choose my wedding song. Probably a lot of people say this, but I must say that my wedding song is a very special song. And it should be. I had been searching for it since I was seven. I’ve always been one to love the lyrics of songs — it’s the stifled poet in me I guess. And then one day I heard this song. I was working in advertising at the time, and this was before iTunes, and I had forgotten all of my cd’s at home. I had a friend, however, who always brought great ones. This day though, she had brought the Dawson’s Creek Soundtrack. I’m as big of a Dawson’s fan as the next girl who came of age in the late nineties (a piece of my heart will always belong to Pacey,) but I wasn’t sure I would find much on the soundtrack. Luckily I gave it a chance because that is where I found my wedding song. As soon as I heard it, I called my then-boyfriend (now husband) who I had been dating a whole ten months or so and told him that I had found our wedding song. He knew by that point not to even argue, and luckily he loved it as much as I do.
For a wedding song, it meant a lot to me because it evokes that feeling of searching and of finally finding the place where your heart belongs. And when it talks about home, it brought to mind the idea that we were going to create for the future the same type of homes we were blessed to have come from.
I just found out that the song was originally done by Bonnie Raitt in the musical Faust, but for me, no one sings it better than Chantal Kreviazuk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5H9rrm-Q1I
What song would you want at your funeral?
This is the only song that makes me cry every single time I hear it. I can be cold as a callous, and as soon as this song comes out at a wedding or a funeral, I turn into a puddle of tears. And if you can get Celtic Women to perform it, all the better! What can I say. I’m a good Irish Catholic girl.
Time for an encore. One last song that makes you, you.
I’m hesitant to answer this one because I know as soon as I do and hit “publish,” I will instantly regret my choice as a thousand others flood my memory.
Some high ones on the list are
“Blowin in the Wind” by Bob Dylan
“The Rose” by Bette Midler
“The Change” by Garth Brooks
“Halleluiah” by anyone who chooses to sing it at the moment
“Eagle When She Flies” by Dolly Pardon
But for this one, I think I’m going to have to go with, “The Dance,” by Garth Brooks. It sums up what life is meant to be — a risk. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. The trick is to live in such a way as to not regret the dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIt6X8k6umM