30 Days of Songs or The Gambler is the Only Song I Know All the Words To

I'm totally stealing this from a friend of mine from college who writes her own awesome blog.  She's posting a song a day, but I'm not that patient, so here are all 30 of my selections.

Day 01 – Your favorite song – Landslide by Stevie Nicks.    I love this song, love this song, love this song SO much!  I first discovered it during my senior year in high school, when Fleetwood Mac was doing their big reunion show on VH1 and released their album The Dance.

Day 02 – Your least favorite song – Breathe by Anna Nalick  --  just really, really hate it!

Day 03 – A song that makes you happy – Lovely Day by Bill Withers

Day 04 – A song that makes you sad – I'm Already There by Lonestar.    This song makes me cry every time!  I only need to hear the first few notes, and the tears appear.  Regardless of whether Dan is deployed or not, that's always what I think about.  God damn it, now I'm crying just thinking about it! =)

Day 05 – A song that reminds you of someone – With or Without You by U2.   This was first slow the song that played at the Sadie Hawkins dance my sophomore year in high school.  Well, there were probably others before this, but, by the time we got there, got our pictures, etc, this was the first slow song I got to dance to with the guy I totally liked, Phil.  And my friend Kelly was right there next to me on the dance floor with the guy she totally liked, Curran.  I have no idea where those boys are today, but Kelly and I have stayed friends, and I always think of her when I hear this song. =)

Day 06 – A song that reminds of you of somewhere – Babylon II by David Gray.    During my semester in London in the fall of 2000, David Gray's White Ladder album was huge!  There were posters and billboards advertising it all over the place.  So, I bought it, and immediately fell in love!  Babylon was the most highly played song off the album, but there are actually 2 versions of the song, and the second one includes the lines "Sunday all the lights of London / Shining, sky is fading red to blue. / I'm kicking through the Autumn leaves / And wondering where it is you might be going to."  Because I had spent the entire fall in London, and seen the autumn leaves, this was just very personal, and it always makes me think of the British capital!

I actually have two other answers to this one.  Option B - Domino by Van Morrison.  It always reminds me, quite fondly, of Taps at Schweitzer because Mike Thompson, who was on patrol with me, had a band that played up there a lot, and they always played that song.  Option C - Whenever I hear Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond I immediately think back to the Bulldog during my college days when it was still just a tavern.  Good times!

Day 07 – A song that reminds you of a certain event – New York by U2.    I'm not sure if this song was ever officially released off of their All That You Can't Leave Behind album, but the morning of Sept. 12, 2001 I remember the DJ on whatever radio station I listened to playing this in tribute to NYC and the attacks.

Day 08 – A song that you know all the words to – The Gambler by Kenny Rogers.    The funny thing about this is that it is honestly the ONLY song I know all of the words to.  And one night when Dan couldn't sleep, I offered to sing him to sleep, like one of my coworkers does for her husband.  So, not knowing any lullabies (this was prior to the peanut baby), I started into The Gambler.  Unfortunately, we both started laughing so much that it didn't help us sleep.

Day 09 – A song that you can dance to – September by Earth Wind & Fire

Day 10 – A song that makes you fall asleep – Make You Feel My Love by Adele.    This is such a beautiful song!  I love it!  And it's not that is necessarily puts me to sleep, it's that it's so soothing, that totally calms me and mellows me out.

Day 11 – A song from your favorite band – Seven Wonders by Fleetwood Mac

Day 12 – A song from a band you hate – Adia by Sarah McLachlin.    I absolutely cannot stand Sarah McLachlin!!  The sound of her voice is so awful to my ears that it actually agitates me!  The answer to this question really could have been any of her stuff, but this is a particularly bad one.

Day 13 – A song that is a guilty pleasure – Crazy by Gnarls Barkley.    Whenever I hear this song, I have to turn it up and sing along!

Day 14 – A song that no one would expect you to love – Live Your Life by TI

Day 15 – A song that describes you – Our Lives by The Calling.    A great song that's really my theme song.  Hey, I'm a positive kinda girl!  "Cause these are the days worth living / These are the years we're given / And these are the moments / These are the times / Let's make the best out of our lives."

Day 16 – A song that you used to love but now hate – This Kiss by Faith Hill

Day 17 – A song that you hear often on the radio – Rich Girl by Hall & Oates and Only the Good Die Young by Billy Joel.    Both of these are old songs, but I swear, I hear them each at least once a week, what the heck?!

Day 18 – A song that you wish you heard on the radio – When You Say Nothing at All by Alison Krause.    This is the song Dan and I danced to at our wedding.  I wish I heard it more.

Day 19 – A song from your favorite album – This Year’s Love by David Gray

Day 20 – A song that you listen to when you’re angry – Lunatic Fringe by Red Rider

Day 21 – A song that you listen to when you’re happy – Don’t Get Me Wrong by The Pretenders

Day 22 – A song that you listen to when you’re sad – When I Fall by Barenaked Ladies

Day 23 – A song that you want to play at your wedding – see day 18, but also Save the Last Dance for Me by The Drifters, which was the final song that played at our reception.

Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral – Into the Mystic by Van Morrison

Day 25 – A song that makes you laugh – Bad Touch by Bloodhound Gang.    This song has a fabulous beat, and it's my favorite song to listen to when I'm shoveling snow in the winter.  No, that's not some sort of sexual euphemism, you sick-o!  Get your mind out of the gutter!  I mean actually shoveling snow.

Day 26 – A song that you can play on an instrument – hahaha, I’m not musical

Day 27 – A song that you wish you could play – see Day 26

Day 28 – A song that makes you feel guilty – Motownphilly by Boyz 2 Men.    I know, a random song to make me feel guilty!  Here's the thing, though, in 6th grade, one of my guy friends gave me a Boyz 2 Men tape for my birthday.  I wasn't into them (because I was trying to like grunge, to be cool like my older brother), and I was such a brat that I outright told him I didn't like it!  Michael Patterson, I am so sorry!  To this day, Motownphilly is one of my absolute favorite songs!  I was a brat, and I apologize!

Day 29 – A song from your childhood – Rosanna by Toto

Day 30 – Your favorite song at this time last year – Sara by Fleetwood Mac

Leavenworth, the Bavarian town, not the prison

For my husband's birthday we're taking a little trip to Leavenworth.  That's Leavenworth, WA, not KS.  It's the Bavarian town in the Cascade Mountains, not the state pen!

Courtesy of www.leavenworth.org

Apparently, we're the only 2 people who have never been there!  I'm not really sure, yet, what we're going to do all weekend, sans-Peanut.  Walk around town, of course.  Do some wine tasting.  Play some golf.  I did get a brochure from the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce, outlining all the possible stuff to do, so I have a couple of ideas, but there's a lot in there.  I'm curious, what do you recommend we see and do? 

I was told we need to go to Ducks & Drakes, so that's for sure on the list.  What else? Are the old timey photo places worth it?  Which golf course should we play?  And apparently there's a chocolate factory and a beer hall that we need to visit?  I need suggestions!

oh Kenny Loggins, how I miss you!

As a birthday/anniversary/father’s day present for my husband Dan, I volunteered to go through and organize all the music on his external hard drive so that it could be loaded neatly onto his new iPod.  Wow, I had no idea what I was taking on! 

I’m one of those overly organized individuals, and I guess I just assumed that most other people were at least somewhat organized, too.  I should have known better.  He has folders within folders within folders.  He has countless duplicates.  He has some things in mp3 format and some things in mp4.  I could go on and on, but Dan’s lack of musical organization isn’t the point of this post.  The point is: movie soundtracks.

Courtesy of Vinyl Revinyl and this random site

 Growing up in the 80s, there seemed to be countless awesome movie soundtracks.  Footloose, Top Gun, Dirty Dancing, Cocktail, Flashdance, The Big Chill, and I could go on!  The 90s produced just as many rad options, like Dazed and Confused, Empire Records, Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, and Singles.

Courtesy of State of Affairs and Rock on the Net

These albums were fabulous!  And not just one or two songs.  You liked every song on both sides of the tape (or record)!  You probably weren’t allowed to watch the movie when it first came out, but you could listen to the soundtrack with your parents, and everybody liked the music.  Every time my family went on a trip, a movie soundtrack was playing on the car stereo.

So what happened?!  Where are the movie soundtracks these days?  I know the music industry has changed a lot since I was kid—people prefer to buy individual mp3s verses entire albums, but come on, it’s simple marketing!  If the soundtrack sells well, the movie sells well, and vice versa.  And it’s hard to go wrong with a compilation album.  It's a great way to sample artists you don't really know.  Plus, if you like that one song by that one guy on that one soundtrack, you'll probably go buy some of his other stuff.  Maybe it’s just that I come from the “mixed tape” generation, but I miss the popularity of good movie soundtracks.