The Soundtrack to My Life

Finding a Theme...

            When I started my blog last week, I wasn’t sure what my theme was going to be.  I was going through my iPod and I found it very hard to pick only a few songs to write about. Music has always been a strong driving force in my life, so I decided to continue to write about music and relate it to my life. Please feel free to comment and share with me the songs that mean a lot to you.

            The Eagles song “Take it to the Limit” always brings back a flood of memories when I listen to it. I was at a point in my life where I was confused and didn’t know what I wanted to do. I would drive home every weekend and listen to a cassette tape of the Eagles “Greatest Hits.” The lyrics always fit perfectly to what I was feeling, “So put me on a highway and show me a sign.” I was driving to get away from something, and at the same time, I was looking for an answer: “And when you’re lookin’ for your freedom, no body seems to care.”

            Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” immediately puts me in a different place. I feel like a kid at a carnival; the music makes me dizzy with euphoria. I feel like I am on a Merry-Go-Round, lying on my back, watching the sky and lights swirl and blend into one.  Springsteen takes me with him on his “runaway American dream” where we have to “get out while we’re young.”  He assures me that “we’re gonna get to that place where we really want to go,” and I believe him.

            I was fortunate to see Pat Benatar in concert a few years ago, and I was blown away. This tiny woman walked on stage and as soon as she opened her mouth, she took reign over her audience. The song that has stuck with me was “All Fired Up.” The combination of Benatar’s powerful voice and Neil Giraldo’s brilliant guitar solos made me feel strong. I could clearly hear the passion in her voice as she sang, “We live and learn from our mistakes, the deepest cuts are healed by faith.”

            With Benatar and Giraldo still fresh in my mind, I can think of another pair of transcending duos of the 1980’s; Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart. Nancy’s opening guitar riff in the song “Magic Man,” draws me right into the song. When I hear Ann’s intense voice I turn the volume up so that it feels like they are performing their magic in front of me. I am then able to “let this spell last forever.”  Nancy lures me in further during her two minute incantation, with Ann ending it by singing, “Try to understand, I’m a Magic Man.” The Wilson sisters have successfully taken me on a mystical journey where they conjure images of a crescent moon and that special bewitching spirit that we all long for.