My Very First (and probably Last!)

Wow, my first meme! I've been tagged by Tundra Medicine Dreams to write about seven songs to which I am currently listening. My first response was "Just seven?" You have to remember that I've spent a great deal of time in the car on multiple road trips in the last month or so. I really love lyrically driven music, so the songs I have on heavy rotation tend to have lyrics to which I relate strongly. I think this post is going to be long, and I'm not sure that I even know 7 bloggers to tag! Eeek. I think maybe I just won't tag, and instead fill seven people's blogs worth of info into mine. It will save us all a lot of clicking.

Panic! At the Disco "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
I'm pretty certain that this song is being played into the ground on the regular radio, but since I rarely listen to the local radio, I've been spared. There is something about the PATD boys that reminds me of the more theatrical 80s bands. I really like the upbeat tempo, and the lyrics to their songs are generally clever and unique. The phrasing of the chorus (sans the unnecessary profanity) is the hook for me. This song tends to repeat a little more than I would like, if anything. It leaves me wanting more meat to the lyrics. Of course, the obvious reason I've been listening to this song is because I have just attended two back-to-back weddings, and have the lyric "What a beautiful wedding! What a beautiful wedding, says a bridesmaid to a waiter" stuck in my head. The unfortunate verse that follows the lyric is that "And yes, but what a shame, what a shame, the poor groom's bride is a whore." This is totally not true of either of the brides, so I had to contain myself from singing the song in their presence, lest I offend them! You know, now that I think of it, between the use of "G-d"and the subject matter, this is a really offensive song...but I still like it. What does that say about me? Hmm.

Guster "Come Downstairs and Say Hello" Keep It Together
I don't know how many Guster fans there are out there, but Keep It Together is one of my all time favorite CDs and is in my CD player at any given time. I used to skip this song because it starts out really slowly, and I'm not generally into slow songs. On one of the many recent road trips, I zoned out whilst driving, and tuned back in to the song when it started to pick up tempo. The lyrics have something to do with the Wizard of Oz, ruby slippers, and "voices calling from a yellow road." I'm not deep enough to really understand that layer of lyrics, yet. I do tend to be a lyric hound, however, and the lyrics "To tell you the truth, I've said it before, tomorrow I start in a new direction. One last time these words from me, I'm never saying them again." really spoke to me and to my life of constant "do-overs." I always start with the best of intentions, and when I inevitably fail, I psych myself anew for "tomorrow." I'm in the midst of "Project: Improve Dr. Whoo," so I am motivating myself with this song...again.

Edwin McCain "Cleveland Park" Misguided Roses
As mentioned in the previous entry, we were drunk, singing "The Rhythm of Life" on the way home from a rehearsal dinner, which is on the same CD. (One of his best, in my not so humble opinion.) I had actually started listening to this song last month en route to my "girly weekend." I hadn't listened to the CD for years, and I played it on a whim. Have you ever forgotten how much you love a song? I heard this song, and remembered how much I loved it. Even more embarrassing, I got so caught up in loving the song that it made me cry and I was driving down the interstate, streaming happy tears, voice cracking as I sang along with the lyrics. What. A. Tool. The line that got me (and always has) is "There' a lifetime out there somewhere, somewhere in the dark."It brings me right back to the time in my life that I first bought the CD. I was in medical school. I had just met my future husband. I was living alone in a scary, big city. I had no idea what my life held for me, but it was out there...somewhere in the dark. Cue the tears. I'm a big mushy mess. Ok, enough of being lame, on to the next...

Counting Crows "Einstein on a Beach (For an Eggman)" Films About Ghosts: The Best of Counting Crows
This is another of my All Time Favorite CDs, and one I would have to have on a desert island. I could mention at least half of the songs on this CD, but "Einstein" has a special place in my heart because it was one of those songs (back in the pre-iTunes era) that you used to get so excited about when it would come on the radio. I don't know exactly when this song came out, but I do know that it was getting radio play when I was college (i.e. the Dark Ages). I think it must have been on a movie soundtrack, because I looked for the single off and on for years. This is another upbeat song (surprise) with cool lyrics. I fear I'm becoming predictable, but the line I love from this song: "What you fear in the night, in the day comes to call anyway. We all get burned as one more sun comes sliding down the sky." I heart the Counting Crows.

The Fray "Over My Head (Cable Car)" How to Save A Life
Yet another over-played radio song that I adore. For me, I tend to pick anthems for different stages in my life, and these anthems tend to be songs that are in the background all of the time, sort of like a soundtrack. For example, graduation from medical school era = "Drops of Jupiter" by Train. Graduation from residency = "Speed of Sound" by Coldplay. First year out of residency on my own = "Everyone knows I'm in over my head, over my head." Seems appropriate, doesn't it? I sing this song really loudly and with abandon in the car, drawing askance glances from my fellow motorists. What can I say? It's cathartic...and true.

Goo Goo Dolls "Broadway" Dizzy Up The Girl
A third album on my favorite CD list. This song actually reminds me of going to take USMLE Step 1, because I listened to it on repeat the whole drive to and from the testing center. The whole CD has a little bit more of a rock edge to it, which is out of the norm for me. This is another "sing loudly and off-key in the car" song for me. To tell the truth, I'm not sure why I love the song as much as I do, but right now the line that is speaking to me is "It always rains like hell on the Loser's Day Parade." I think this is funny. I am such a pessimist some days, and this song cheers me up and makes me stop taking myself so damn seriously.

Sister Hazel "Champagne High" Fortress
Yet another wedding-inspired song. I admit with just the teensiest bit of chagrin that I may have been, at one time, the biggest Sister Hazel groupie on the planet. (I still like the band, but I'm now in groupie recovery.) In college, they were just starting to make a name in the college music scene when my sophomore roomies and I heard them in a local bar and were in instant (read, scary fangirl) love. We actually talked with the band members quite a bit, they ate dinner with us at our sorority house a few times, and we would go pre-(and post-)party with them before their shows. We were shameless groupies, but we were always on the VIP lists for concerts whenever they came in town. I still remember the first time they played this song live, thinking that they were going to be "big-time" and we would hear them on the radio. About a month later, that thought became reality. The song is about being single at an ex's wedding, and while being happy for them, looking back and wondering what might have been. It may very well be the best karaoke/drunk song in the entire world. This is why it is still in my CD player...more drunk, post-wedding singing. (Are you picking up on the general theme, or could I be more transparent?)

Ok. Whew. Anyone still reading??? Have a good night!