If my life had a soundtrack…
You know, I sometimes feel like I’m a constant narrator in my own little world. As a writer, I find myself silently describing scenes or conversations or gestures as though I were writing them down. It’s a constant stream of my own voice inside my head.
Sometimes I wish I had a soundtrack of my own, so I could turn it up and tune out the noise of my own thoughts.
If I had one, I do know one thing: much of it would be very Broadway-ish. People would walk around with jazz-hands. I think this is because I grew up going to the theater in New York and New Jersey, and I always loved the musicals. I envision my life as something akin to Jersey Boys – you know, the songs we love anyway, all Billy Joel and Elton John, used to create some kind of crazy story with fireworks and confetti.
Ok, maybe not really. But I am a girl with very random taste in music, and I’m not much for anything dark. I prefer happy stuff, or quiet stuff, and was only into metal when my brother was a metal-head in the early 90s.
So what songs would make the cut for me?
Definitely Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi. What can I say? I’m a Jersey girl, and Bon Jovi and I are from the same hometown. Like, he went to my high school before he was famous. So of COURSE he makes the cut. And anyway, if you’ve never been in a Jersey diner at 2 a.m. when Livin’ on a Prayer comes on and the whole place busts out in song…well, you haven’t lived. I promise you.
New York State of Mind by Billy Joel. Because I’m homesick for New York.
Carolina in my Mind by James Taylor. Are you sensing a theme here? I live in a Carolina now, and needed to represent it.
Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds needs to be on there, too. I used to sing that to my daughter when she was fussy, and though she currently gets Bob Marley and Bob Dylan confused, she still gets excited when this song comes on. So this one’s for her.
Most of the soundtrack to Garden State could be on it. My husband and I were dating when that movie came out, and we listened to the soundtrack over and over and over again. I know every word.
Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. I listened to that album every night for a year straight in college to tune out the sound of my icky roommates doing it in the next room.
And then I’d need some swing music. Some Benny Goodman, perhaps. My husband’s Granddaddy played clarinet, and helped raise my husband on Jazz. My husband, in turn, has broadened my own knowledge of this amazing genre, and helped me to fall in love.
And finally, for those times when I am feeling sad and mellow, I need one last album: Van Morrison’s Moondance. Just because it makes me happy.
So there you have it. My soundtrack. It’s a bit of a mess, perhaps, but if that was what I had to listen to for the rest of my life….I would be a happy girl indeed.
Contact Leah:
http://www.ashcanrantings.com
http://momswithopinions.blogspot.com/
Lisa Loves Words 