My Life's Soundtrack.

In the liner notes of Mix 2 (which I'm actually conscious enough to read this morning), Josh Schwartz mentions that "... you can't plan your life's soundtrack. It's just one of those accidental miracles that occurs - you're having a moment, and a perfect song accompanies it, and suddenly your brain is seared with the understanding that this is a time and a place and a song you'll never forget." You know what he means ... those songs that, whenever you hear them, you're instantly transported back to that one moment in time (that "Go Moment", if you will). You hear the music playing in your brain, plain as day. You either smile wistfully at such a pleasant memory, or you cringe at the pain of the broken heart you received. So, here's five songs off of my life's soundtrack. Enjoy.

The Joker and Rainy Day Women. Many a night was spent with "my boys" just standing around and drinking beer. We could have just sat around together, in that old beat-up house on Carroll street, drinking beer and talking for days. In fact, sometimes we did. The more beer we consumed, the more we felt the need to discuss the meaning of life and those songs. I don't think we ever really got to the bottom of any of our philosophical discussions, but so many pleasant memories were made just being with people we cared about and "hanging out".

If You Leave (the OMD version). This song was actually on the Muzak in the restaraunt during "The Go Moment" I've already talked about. The original version rips my heart out every time I hear it, but surprisingly the Nada Surf version just makes me do that "corners of my mouth turn up" partial smile. It's almost empowering, really ... the message is still there, but the edges are rougher and not nearly as "sappy". A metaphor for my life as it is now, maybe?

Sand And Water. I've performed this song before, but it really hit home on December 19th, 2003. You know, the line about "all alone, I / will raise this child". One of my biggest fears was that I was going to end up raising my daughter alone. I mean, we're talking night terror kind of fear. And here, I thought it was going to be because something horrible was going to happen to R, not because we divorced. Hmmm.

I'm A Little Teapot. I know, in the company of the likes of Bob Dylan and Beth Nielsen Chapman ... this one seems a little "out of place". But "I'm A Little Teapot" is my trademark drunk-dial song. It's also our pledge class theme song ... we wore our silly Pi Alpha hats (a Delta Gamma tradition) and went serenading far too many times with this one. I mean, come on ... you can only sing "You've Lost That Lovin Feelin" so many times before you tire of it. And really, "I'm A Little Teapot" never goes out of style.