Songs that mean (or meant) a lot to you...

[WillParkinson]

The one that always sticks with me is by Depeche Mode. It was the first song of theirs that I had heard and it was during a time in my life when I was keenly aware of my sexuality and tried to hide things about myself. Then I heard the song People Are People and, even if it wasn't meant, the line 'different people have different needs' was so powerful.

[DFW]

1. "Morning is the Long Way Home" by Leo Kottke, Ice Water version

The first time I heard it, I must have listened to it about 30 times in a row.

[retread]

2. A Change is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaNzxniXxYE&feature=related

[raccoon]

4. A great singer, and I wish somebody would make a movie about his life. nt

[raccoon]

3. "Don't Worry, Baby," by the Beach Boys. I like especially the way

the lyrics say, "Don't worry, baby, everything will turn out all right." I find it reassuring, and in this day and time I need--and IMO we all need--all the reassurance we can get.

[Mad_Dem_X]

9. I have a story about that song

I'll try to keep this short. Three years ago, my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was leaving work early one day to drive her to the doctor's office; as I walked to my car, I started quietly talking to my cousin, who had passed on 6 years previously. I asked him to please send me a sign to let me know if my sister was going to be all right. I remember saying, "If it's a happy song, I'll know that she's going to make it through okay."

Well, I got into my car, started it up, and turned on the radio. It was set to an oldies station, and as I pulled away from my parking space, I recognized the song as the Beach Boys. When they sang, "Don't worry, baby...everything will turn out all right," I began to cry.

I told my sister that I'd received a "sign" from our cousin. She fully recovered and is doing wonderfully. I just thought it was interesting that, out of all the songs I could have heard at that particular moment, it was "Don't Worry, Baby."

[raccoon]

10. Sometimes I've heard it at times that seem significant to me too.

:-) :pals:

[siligut]

30. Some how music can work that way.

Thank you for such a heart-warming story, I am so glad your sister is well.

[Bertha Venation]

5. That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be, Carly Simon

I identify, especially with the beginning, the alienation from her parents. Then with the marriage -- I was engaged to a man because I literally had always heard, always known, that that's what I was supposed to do.

Thank God I left the church and started thinking for myself... :rofl:

[lightningandsnow]

6. Ampersand - Amanda Palmer

"I'm not gonna live my life on one side of an ampersand. Even if I went with you, I'm not the girl you think I am. I'm not going to match you, 'cause I'll lose my voice completely, I'm not gonna watch you, 'cause I'm not the one that's crazy."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJOMSkn1Wwg

[txlibdem]

7. "Roads To Moscow" by Al Stewart

Here's a live performance but I prefer the studio version personally:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF2N2MIRpBs&feature=related

We can no longer afford to carry the rich on our backs. The rich and the corporations are crushing us under their collective greed. When will the rest of you begin to realize this as I have for decades now? 300 million versus (maybe) 50,000 and they get all the perks, all the advancements, the wealth of the rich has increased by massive amounts since 1980 while the rest of us have stagnated or moved down the "ladder" -- when are the rest of you going to realize that they are an Albatross around our necks. Break your chains, wage slaves! Your promised "American Dream" will never come, or it will come at a price that is far too high (but you'll only learn this when it is too late).

[Lindsey]

8. A Day in the Life. 'nuff said. n/t

[EnviroBat]

11. What Hurts The Most, by Rascall Flatts

This song meant a great deal to me last July when my then girlfriend suddenly left my life without much discussion or warning. She hasn't been back since. She hasn't offered any type of explanation other than she says now that she, "handled things badly..." I wanted to marry her. This all happened 3 months ago, and I must say that my life has improved thousands of times over since that hurricane blew through my life. I've meant someone new already and moved on, but this song said it all for me back then...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj6MjMpbneM

[Joe Fields]

12. That is soooo hard to answer.

There is a story or some personal milestone that I associate with just about every song I've ever liked. I have either had important events or personal moments of some type tied to almost everything I hear.

For example: 1969, I was on a two week vacation with my folks and we traveled by car out west. During that trip, I heard Zager and Evans "In the year 2525", "Venus", by the Shocking Blue, "A Boy Named Sue," by Johnny Cash, and a few other songs that I tied to that very special trip. Those songs hold a lot of meaning to me to this day, because I associate them with one of the best times of my life.

That is just one of thousands of examples, so I would say that every song I like has some sort of special meaning.

[Swede]

13. Yes. The soundtrack of our lives.

Certain songs bring back certain times.

[applegrove]

14. "21" by the cranberry's. I had just been severely harrassed in and outside the workplace and I was

in shock. I listened to that song alot.

[ismnotwasm]

20. When my daughter was deployed

I listened to 'Zombie' over and over.

[WinkyDink]

15. "Homeward Bound"---S&G. "Cherish"---The Association.

[Tikki]

16. "Steppin' Out"....Joe Jackson

..this is a special song to Mr. Tikki and I.

"..You..can dress in pink and blue just like a child and in a yellow taxi turn to me and smile...."


Tikki

[SteppingRazor]

17. "La Cienega Just Smiled" off Ryan Adams' Gold album is my wife and I's song.

So I gotta go with that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImXTJe8MxQI



Really, the first four or five songs off that album are all special to us ... many nights of drinking wine and dancing around the house.

[badgerpup]

18. Mush alert:

Never thought too much about the song "I Got You, Babe" by Sonny and Cher...
until about a month ago.

Went to my mother's memorial...involved a road trip with my dearest, best, and oldest friend. We hadn't seen each other in 25 years, so figured this was as good a time as any...he liked and respected my mom and enjoys long drives (2000+ miles).

So we're on the road for a few days, takin' it easy...different town every night.
Paul is an AMAZING vocalist and enjoys doing karaoke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XjS3-MsQMA
(New York, New York)

So we go to this karaoke bar in Grants Pass, Oregon...and he talks me into doing a number with him...
I Got You, Babe :hug:

He took Cher's part, and I took Sonny's...but we sounded pretty good together, even though I haven't sung in YEARS and we certainly didn't rehearse. I was honored (and rather intimidated, to tell ya the truth) to sing with a performer of his caliber.

So this song is special to me now...because we DO 'got' each other.
Something that I really either didn't know or wasn't sure of for a lot of years...



I am not alone anymore.

[MorningGlow]

19. Lots--I define the eras of my life with songs

and when I hear them, it all comes rushing back.

Any Carpenters song reminds me of my dad--he loved them so much.

Past loves..."Tupelo Honey" (the first guy I thought I wanted to marry), "Harvest Moon" (a star-crossed doomed relationship).

Those are just the first few that come to mind. I could list hundreds. :hi:

[JCMach1]

21. The Only One- Billy Bragg

She knows who she is... all those years ago. :)

[Jean Louise Finch]

22. Life Wasted by Pearl Jam

Got me through a really, really rough patch in my professional life earlier this year. It gave me the confidence to strike out in a (radically) new direction. Which hasn't happened yet, but will come the new year.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

23. Where do I start?

(1) Mama (Il Divo) -When this was released, my mother fell in love with this song and it obviously meant a lot to her. Two years later she passed away and it's almost too painful for me to listen to the song now -not only because she liked it so much but because its words embody so much of the way I feel about her
(2) She Bangs (Ricky Martin), Crash and Burn (Savage Garden), Bent (Savage Garden), Rose, Rose I Love You (Frankie Laine) Prayer (Tina Cousins) and the list could go on forever -Songs I used to listen to while completing exams and assignments for first year university. It was one of the best years of my life -if not the best -and I get all nostalgic for those days whenever I hear it
(3) Ice, Ice Bay (Vanilla Ice), The Theme from Ghostbusters and others from that time period -Brings back memories from my childhood, some of the happiest years of my life. Actually '80s' and early '90s' music in general does that to me.
(4) Living La Vida Loca (Ricky Martin), Last Kiss (Pearl Jam) etc, etc...1999 music makes me flash back to my last year of high school, which was also one of the happiest times of my life
(5) Certain Don McLean songs make me flash back to when I was recovering from major surgery which incapacitated me for quite a few months. I used to listen to some of his CDs and his songs were so deep and soulful and meaningful. Strangely enough, the flashbacks I have to that time I was recovering from my surgery are pleasant -I don't understand why either but there you go.
I could go on forever...

[Rhythm]

24. I buried a good friend the same day i first heard this song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1ivA73ga20

********************

July 11th, 1992, i lost my friend Lynn to complications from AIDS. He was 23.
On the way home from the funeral on the 14th, i stopped by the record store to pick-up Danzig III, which was released that day.

I got home, and dropped it in the stereo for a cursory first listen.
At the fourth song, i cried like i was torn in two.
I will never be able to hear that song without thinking of Lynn, and of that day.

*********************

How the Gods Kill

If you feel alive in a darkened room
Do you know the name of your solitude
If you ain't got the answer
If you don't know the truth
If you want the power
Then let it flow through

Would you let it go
Would you let it go
They cannot end this mourning of my life
Show me how the gods kill

If you feel alive
If you got no fear
Do you know the name of the one you seek
If you want the answer
If you want the truth
Look inside your empty soul there you'll find the noose

Would you let it go
Would you let it go
They cannot end this mourning of my life
Show me how the gods kill

[Lyric]

25. This one: "Spider and the Fly". It's just...haunting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VbT9yfo90A

[Xipe Totec]

26. Lone Justice - Shelter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGc_dXC9h_c

[Inchworm]

27. Ride On - AC/DC

It still plays in my head when pressure is on. The song gives me stamina.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsDpwb3ILxM

It's another lonely evening
And another lonely town
But I ain't too young to worry
And I ain't too old to cry
When a woman gets me down

Got another empty bottle
And another empty bed
Ain't too young to admit it
And I'm not too old to lie
I'm just another empty head

That's why I'm lonely
I'm so lonely
But I know what I'm gonna do -
I'm gonna ride on
Ride on
Ride on, standing on the edge of the road
Ride on, thumb in the air
Ride on, one of these days I'm gonna
Ride on, change my evil ways
Till then I'll just keep riding on

Broke another promise
And I broke another heart
But I ain't too young to realize
That I ain't too old to try
Try to get back to the start

And it's another red light nightmare
Another red light street
And I ain't too old to hurry
Cause I ain't too old to die
But I sure am hard to beat

But I'm lonely
Lord I'm lonely
What am I gonna do -
Ride on
Ride on, got myself a one-way ticket
Ride on
Ride on, going the wrong way
Ride on, gonna change my evil ways
Ride on, one of these days
One of these days
Ride on
Ride on
I'm gonna ride on
Ride on, looking for a truck
Ride on
Ride on, keep on riding
Riding on and on and on and on
Gonna have myself a good time
Ohhh yeah
Ride ride ride
One of these days
One of these days...

:hi:

[MichiganVote]

28. Once Upon A Time-the incomparable Bobby Darin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ8mVtBnawA

[MichiganVote]

29. Oh! And who could live without 'Don't Think Twice, Its Alright'. Come on now.

[nolabear]

31. Absolutely.

[nolabear]

32. Paul Simon's "Something So Right".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x-SXYRZBYk

*sigh*

[Dinger]

33. Morning Has Broken. Cat Stevens

Many reasons that song is special to me.