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A few friends and I have been talking recently about music that's important to us. It began as the question: if you had to pick one song to represent you as a whole, which would it be?

We found the task far to difficult, and over the course of a few weeks decided that we would reconvene in January, each with an album of 10-12 songs that was representative of our lives. Some are putting songs in there that remind them of times or people that have been important to them: one girl is including "Barbie Girl" because it was a huge song when she was in Junior High, another is including a Polish folk song because it reminds her of her father who died a few years back. Others are trying to form a narrative link between the songs and their lives.

Just thought I'd mention the project here. I am nowhere near to getting an album put together, but when I do, I'll definitely post it. And who knows, maybe some of you would like to do the same (or have done the same already).

I've already considered spinning this off into a series of movie marathons. Once a month we'll get together to watch three or four movies of one person's choosing. The criteria is that these movies have to be important, formative, or otherwise meaningful to you. But I'm just getting ahead of myself now ...

My life story is summed up in the Young MC classic "Bust a Move"

Hrrmmmm. The ElJuski album, eh? Here's a rough sketch.

1. "Push In", Death From Above 1979
2. "Speaking in Tongues", Eagles of Death Metal
3. "Gigantic," Pixies
4. "Ooh La La", Faces
5. "All Apologies," Nirvana
6. "Young Hearts Spark Fire", Japandroids
7. "Fuck the Pain Away", Peaches
8. "El Scorcho," Weezer
9. "Africa", Toto.
10. "Jerusalem", Dan Bern
11. "All things Must Pass", George Harrison

BONUS TRACK: "Ninja Rap", Vanilla Ice

Each of those songs have struck a significant chord with me--which includes being all out fucking rocking--and is essential in collecting an audio rock image of my life. I should probably save this list to be played at my funeral.

Having it go from the sweet existential lyrics of George Harrison to the Ninja Rap...ha. Awe yiss.

I've done this a few times. And judging from Juski's Top 10 albums of the decade thread no one will have a clue what most of these songs are. But here goes:

Trickster, by David Usher
Whore, by Dalbello
Girlfriend, by Matthew Sweet
The Way You Are, by the Northern Pikes
Breathe, by Moist
Save the Whales, by the Pursuit of Happiness
Nightmare, by Universal Honey
Looks Like Rain, by Jann Arden
Speaking Confidentially, by the Cowboy Junkies
Anything, by Leona Naess
Everything, by the Northern Pikes
Waiting for the Miracle, by Leonard Cohen
La Villa Strangiato, by Rush.

There would be variations on this, especially as Save Yourself by 54-40 didn't seem to make the cut when it (or Blame Your Parents) really should've. And somehow the Northern Pikes made it on the album twice when Spirit of the West and the Odds never made it at all. Weird.

But anyway, Trickster, Whore, Girlfriend will always be there. Those 3 songs, in that order, will always be on the Gruebeard album, either opening it or closing it.

Man, I love Girlfriend. Robert Quine is fucking awesome.

Rather than think really long and hard, I'm going to go through all the songs I have on file really fast and trust first instincts... mostly cuz I don't feel like taking a long time with this. Let's see what we get:

"Green", performed by Shirley Horn
-Because I've always identified with it, and I think this version captures the kind of reluctant acceptance that the song is meant to have.

"Easy" by Cowboy Mouth
-"Easy to bitch, easy to whine, easy to moan, easy to cry. Easy to feel like there ain't nothin in your life. Harder to work, harder to strive, hard to be glad to be alive. But it's really worth it if you give it a try."

"My Transcendental Baby" by The Figs
-It's about a woman who leaves a clingy, overly-sentimental man who drove her away. I'd have been scared away by him too.

"The Nearness of You"
-I like this standard because it states that the person they love is the reason for their romantic feelings and not the romantic vibe that their surroundings put off.

"Dr. Worm" by TMBG
-This song, to me, is about someone who's not always good at what they want to be but tries anyway, simply because it makes himself happy. I love people like that.

"Zydeco Clowns on the Lam" by John Ellis
-This is just a great jazz/zydeco song that's wacky and humorous.

"After you've gone"
-The last song I heard my godmother sing. It'll always remind me of her.

"What a wonderful world"
-Seems trite, but this song reminds me of my dad and the positive attitude he always tried to encourage us to hold on to.

For now, that's all I got.

The only song I recognize on your list, Ceej, is What a Wonderful World. And it reminds me of Bowling for Columbine

I find it difficult to make this kind of list sometimes, specifically because of my tendency to just pick songs I like, rather than songs that really describe ME... It doesn't help that there'z truly a lot of overlap in that regard.

But I'll give it a go. In no particular order:

1 - by Roxette; this HAS to be on the list. It's the kind of upbeat, bouncy, fun song that describes--if not my life--at least the kind of mood I aspire to. You can safely ignore the lyrics; how the tune makes me feel is what's important.

2 - by Yaz (aka Yazoo); this one is for the technophile side of me. I grew up in the 80s, the era of movies like Tron and Star Wars, and with music like this...is it any wonder that technology is something I think is awesome? And this song perfectly illustrates it; again, you can more or less ignore the lyrics, this one is all about the music.

3 - by Twisted Sister; not actually one of my favorite songs or bands, but I've got a rebellious streak in me and this is the perfect anthem for that. For once, the lyrics matter.

4 - by John Williams; I was a year-and-a-half old when Star Wars was released back in 1977...I grew up in the era of the Galaxy Far, Far Away. I have ALWAYS wanted to live in this kind of universe, where spaceflight, aliens, robots, etc, are all common. This song illustrates a LOT about me, I must say.

5 - by Jimmy Eat World; another one where you can pretty much ignore the lyrics. In my head, I sometimes think of myself as the "Go-Fast Girl"; I love the sensation of speed, the g-forces from a hard turn, that sort of thing. And this is a song I listen to while on my rollerblades to enhance the thrill.
(Actually, I've got a fair number of these, but this was the first song to come to mind...)

6 - by Manfred Mann; I have no idea why, but some tiny portion of me loves oldies like this one. "Twist and Shout" is another I dig like a backhoe. I'm sure this says something about me, but I couldn't tell you what.

7 - by Roxette; when I do slow and ballady, it usually sounds like this. There is something about this song...it gives me that sense-of-wonder, a sense of the numinous. And if there is a romantic side to me, this song represents how it feels; ignore the lyrics, of course, just feel the melody.
Probably helps that this is my absolutely-most favoritest band in the entire Western Universe...

8 - by the Dubliners; similar to "We're Not Gonna Take It", this feeds into my rebellious and irreverent streak. And I've got a thing for Irish drinking songs; I used to be quite the Irish pub-rat back in the day, before my friends dragged me, kicking and screaming, into the goth scene. There'z something about the shared joy and getting trashed and listening/singing along to good music... I think that's what predisposed me to digging the Callahan books by Spider Robinson...

9 - from the cartoon show; I cannot emphasize enough just how much of a child of the 80s I am. And this TV show was a HUGE part of that for me. But even more than that, the synthesizer-based rock in this opener is just...just...well, it's perfect, illustrates as much about what I dig in music as how I wish the world were. Not sure I can explain it if you don't just get it, but...

I think that might have to be it; I could post more songs, but I'd just be repeating sentiments that I've already expressed with other tracks...

EDIT: Crap...I wanted those to just be links. Is there a way to do that with YouTube pages?

Ok, I've made mine up.

1) Wake Up - Arcade Fire; pretty descriptive of childhood, you grow up, but always have the child still inside.

2) Satellite - Dave Matthews Band; This song reminds me of high school and specifically the Space Sim club I was in. This song was our unofficial theme.

3) What You Are - Audioslave; reminds me of one of my relationships and the subsequent breakup. She very much wanted to control me and I was glad that one ended in the long run.

4) Turn On Me - The Shins; another break up song, this one mostly for all of the relationships I've had. Especially the lines, "So affections fade away, or do adults just learn to play the most ridiculous, repulsive games?"

5) I am a Rock - Simon & Garfunkel; this song described me after my uncle died. He was a big influence on my life and when he was hit by a car and killed, it really made me withdraw from life for a while.

6) What Do You Want from Me? - Pink Floyd; kinda how I see most people. They don't really care about me, but just want something from me.

7) Nightswimming - R.E.M.; I'm insecure about myself, but have been getting more confident as I get older. This is the perfect parallel of that and one of my all-time favorite songs to boot.

8) The General Specific - Band of Horses; chosen mostly because of the name and the fact that it references the same source as my screenname. Proof comes from the next song title, "Lamb on the Lam (in the City)"

9) Somebody to Love - Queen; describes the state I'm in now. I want to find someone, but hate bars and such, so I'm on various dating sites, etc. Trying to find Ms. Right.

10) I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2; describes my entire life right now. I hate my job, don't really like where I live, and still looking for the right person to share my life with. I've not found anything I really want and don't really know where to go or what to do.

11) Float On - Modest Mouse; my general philosophy on life. Everything will work out in the end if I just give it time. I can be a pessimist at times, but really this is what I believe.

12) Murder in the City - The Avett Brothers; thrown in mostly because I love it and would want it played at my funeral should I die soon. It also pretty accurately describes my feelings for my family.

I think Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick sums it up quite well, in only one song!


....that's 44 minutes long.

Your new shoes are worn at the heel?