My Mixtape

The other day I was thinking about songs that hold a special place in my heart and I thought, why not share it with you. I made a lot of CD mixes in the 2000s, that’s when I did most of my growing up so why not throw it back. Here is a list of the top 10 songs (in no particular order) that have special meaning to me and my life. If you click on the song title for each you’ll be directed to the YouTube link.

1. “I Want You Back” – *NSYNC – this was my first big crush! I remember this video coming on after some show I was watching in my living room when I was 10. It was amazing and I instantly fell in love with Justin Timberlake. So began my 23 year crush on him. And yes, I still have the crush, he’s amazingly talented and not half bad looking. Side note: I re-watched this video while writing this and OH MY GOSH! How ridiculous it is. I’m dying laughing at how stupid it seems now, but trust me when I say it was AMAZING at 10.
2. “Hotel California” – The Eagles – growing up we listened to a lot of different music but The Eagles was one that got played a lot on car trips. Everything about this song makes me feel at peace, all 6+ minutes of it. 
3. “September” – Earth, Wind & Fire – I honestly have nothing specific I can remember about this song as far as important moments in my life, but it is my absolute favorite song. 
4. “Like A Stone”  – Audioslave – when I was 15 I decided I wanted to learn the drums. A friend’s dad was in a band and was getting rid of an old drum set and he let me have them. I took lessons for a while and the first (and only) song I learned to play was this one. I still love the drums. I kept them until I was 21, but I am very shy and was intimidated to play and have anyone hear me. As I’m sure you can guess, drums aren’t something you can play quietly.
5. “Anything but Mine” – Kenny Chesney – growing up, I was never into Country music. A friend of mine was and she tried to convince me to give it a try. I started getting into it more and more and this song was one of my absolute favorites the summer it came out. I think it has more to do with the time in my life, but it was important and still makes me think back to that summer. 
6. “Leader of the Pack” – The Shangri-Las – one of my biggest memories from my childhood was going to GoodGuys car shows. We went every year and to multiple shows usually. My dad had a ‘38 Chevy coupe when we were little, he sold that and he later restored a ‘38 Chevy truck, ‘Pudgy’ and ‘Pudgy 2’ respectively were their names (don’t ask me why, I have no idea). We listened to the Golden Oldies every time we went. This was my absolute favorite song and I would play it over and over.
7. “The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows” – Brand New – I didn’t even know who sang this song until writing this and it took a lot of hard work to remember the name. This song was on a mixtape some girl made for my brother. We used to go for drives together and I’d listed to his music. The whole mixtape was really good, but this one song was my favorite. I stole the CD (don’t tell him) and listened to it all the time. I may have made a copy and given his copy back at some point, but who can say all these years later.
8. “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” – Israel Kamakawiwoʻole – this one is dedicated to my husband. While it may not be the song we danced to at our wedding, it has become our song. It was a part of our wedding although not in the way I wanted it to be. We hired a DJ and gave him our song list. A week before the wedding, we went over the songs to make sure he got the right ones. For this song, he found the version without the ukulele. If you know this song, the ukelele is what makes it so unique and special. I told him to fix it and then silly me, I never checked. It played while the wedding party walked down the aisle and I was inside so never heard it. A few weeks later we were watching a video my 12 year old cousin took for us and it was still the wrong song! That is the only thing about our wedding that bothers me. Otherwise it was a perfect day! 
9. “Butterfly Kisses” – Bob Carlisle – My dad and I used to do butterfly kisses when I was little and this song always made me tear up, even then. This, of course, was the song we danced to at my wedding.
10. I am going to do 2 songs for this one: “Rockin’ Robin” – Bobby Day & “Splish Splash” – Bobby Darin – As I mentioned, I grew up on the Golden Oldies and old car shows. I know a lot of songs from the 50s & 60s and they are a part of me. Well, when I had my daughter, I didn’t know many lullabies, but babies like to be sung to, right? I’m terrible at coming up with things on the spot so when I was rocking my daughter to sleep (and later my son) these are the songs that came to mind. My husband always laughed at me, this might be because I’m also a terrible singer, but mainly it was because they are not lullaby songs and aren’t exactly mellow. It worked for me though.

So there you have it! These are the most important songs in my life story. I have included a few images from my past that relate to