Life's Soundtrack

You know how sometimes you can hear a song, or smell a smell, or eat a certain food, and it evokes a feeling, a memory of that certain point in your life when you heard the song, smelled the smell, etc.? I love that feeling. I especially get it with music. See, I LOVE music. It has to be a part of my life. In fact, I took a personality/aptitude test a few years ago at work, and it essentially said that if I can't work directly with music or the arts, that I needed to have it incorporated in my daily life somehow in order for me to be truly happy. So while I don't work directly with music, I almost always had it on in my office (back when I had one), and my 8 GB ipod Nano is almost full.

So anyway, Matt and I are going on a road trip this weekend to the Cameron Highlands. The last time that Matt and I drove together was on our honeymoon in Tahiti. We rented a car one day to explore the island and wanted some local island music, so we picked up a Tahitian CD by Bobby & Angelo, local musicians. And we listened to that thing all day and during our entire honeymoon. So when we started planning this little getaway, I decided we should take that CD, since it evokes such memories of a relaxing, wonderful time and we certainly feel the need to "get away from it all" this weekend. But then....I couldn't find the CD!! I was so bummed. I looked everywhere for it. I knew it made it to KL with us, but that was before we got our household shipment, so I figured there was no telling where I put it.

So after searching high and low, and even looking to see if I could replace the CD or download songs from it off of iTunes (no luck on either), I decided to search one last time. And it was right there where it was supposed to be, which is probably a first for me - in it's own case in our CD cabinet. Seems obvious, right? Well, if you know my home organization skills, it's not surprising that I didn't think to look there the first time. I'm sure I have Matt to thank for putting it in it's rightful place.

So as it's about to pour here in KL, I am listening to my Bobby & Angelo CD and loving it. Takes me right back to Tahiti; I can smell the ocean and feel the breeze...

Other random songs that take me back:
"Free Fallin'", Tom Petty - takes me back to playing darts in a friend's garage in Texas. We did it every weekend and always listened to Tom Petty and Bob Seger.
"Informer", Snow - I wonder if anyone else remembers this song? Reminds me of cruising around town in high school. Same with "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega.
"Africa", Toto - Reminds me of playing in our den (we called it the New Room, since it was converted from a covered patio). I can still smell the way the new room smelled then, over 20 years ago.
"Minute by Minute", Doobie Brothers - reminds me of my dad, patting his legs to the beat, the change jingling in his pocket, jamming on his ginormous headphones that were cool circa 1984.

I could go on and on...

So what songs take you back?

7 Songs

Donna sort of tagged me on this, and it looked cool, so here goes. The tag is for "Seven Songs I've Been Enjoying Lately". I don't really listen to the radio, so I usually find out about new songs through TV promos and airline music stations. So this is a mix of new songs and old favorites.



How can you not shake it when you hear this song? I like this courtesy of StarWorld (the US TV channel here in Malaysia) and the fact that they showcased Scissor Sisters for a month, so I heard this song a lot. In fact, I'm surprised that I still like it after hearing it so much, but I do.



I like this guy courtesy of another promo on StarWorld. Although I don't know why they promo'd it when you couldn't even buy it in Malaysia. I could only buy the import from Amazon.com, so I had to buy it last time I was in Dubai. Great CD.



Another feel-good song. I make an ass out of myself every time this comes on my iPod while I'm on the plane. I must look like I have a twitch or something.



A rediscovered old favorite



I will never, ever, ever get tired of this song.



I liked the original version of this song (played on the finale of Six Feet Under) but it can be a bit depressing, so I found this groovy remix.



Okay, okay, blame AstroWorld for this one too....I can't believe that I like this song, but I do. So shut your piehole.

A few shout outs to some songs that I am listening to right now that I couldn't find streaming audio for, which means that they are either totally edgy and out of the mainstream, or so old or lame that no one is listening to them. I prefer to think that I am terribly cutting edge. It's my world.

Susie Suh, "Petrified to be God-Like", "Won't You Come Again"
Cake, "Short Skirt, Long Jacket"
Gear Daddies, "Boys Will be Boys"
Tori Amos, "God"
Lyle Lovett, "San Antonio Girl", "She's No Lady (She's My Wife)"