This post is a sort-of project which was initiated here. Note the deadline. TODAY. It’s only like the busiest day of the year for me (with the fact that I need to be at graduation in 43 minutes and counting) and I pick today to enter a freaking blog contest. But don’t you see that I had to? My love for Top 5 or 10 lists and all? This was practically a challenge made with me in mind! And we’re off…

You all know about my affection for music. I listen to everything, except hard-core rap or Heavy Metal. Because I’ve spent most of my life listening to everything, I have a wide variety of songs that mean something to me. I started thinking about them this morning on my way in when a Queen song came on the radio and I found it easy to come up with just 5 songs that stir up some kind of random, funny, and/or positive memory in my life. So I bring you…

The Top 5 Defining Songs (in my life/childhood/existence/whatever)

1. Keep Your Hands to Yourself, Georgia Satellites
I think my Dad is to blame for my music loving and for the variety of music I listen to. He always had the stereo on in his house and I remember boxes and boxes of vinyl records that contained everything from The Beatles to Michael Jackson’s Thriller that followed us every time we moved. His favorites were Oldies and of course, The Beach Boys, but I couldn’t pick just one song from either of these groups. However, I do remember a Georgia Satellites song that he would play in the truck on a cassette tape every now and then. When he put the tape in for the first time, I groaned like your typical teenager would, but when I heard that catchy voice sing, “I got a little change in my pocket going jingle jangle jing..le…” I was hooked. Every time I hear that song now I can also hear my Dad singing along and see me riding shot-gun next to him in the pick-up on any given Saturday morning as we headed to various sports contests or family gatherings. (That whole riding shot-gun in the pick-up thing. Sorry for the redneck moment. Bear with me.)

2. Red, Red Wine, UB40
Another car memory, this time with my Mom. Cassette tape players in cars were like, new when I was a kid and they were actually pretty complicated to figure out, what especially with the whole automatic side flipper-over feature. People that had to manually flip records from side A to side B for years just couldn’t comprehend that the car would actually do it itself. I used to think there was a little midget man that lived in the dashboard that would actually be sitting in his living room, smoking a butt and watching football when someone would shove a tape into the player. He’d have to get up quickly and put on a record and play it through the car speakers. When Mom bought the UB40 tape, the midget went on vacation.

We were driving through a town nearby listening to the tape and when the side ended we decided we wanted to listen to that side again. No matter what we did, rewinding, flipping the tape over and putting it in the other way, we could not get it to stop blaring, “RED RED WIIIIIIIIINNNNNEE…. Go to my HEEEEEAADD…” We were both doubled over laughing at one point. And I smile today each time I hear the beginning notes of that song. And then I change the channel. Because seriously. Bad song, y’all.

3. Best Friend, Queen
My best friend KP in high school loved Queen and she introduced me to their music in 10th grade. We were both on the softball team; she played 2nd base and I played 1st. We would get through practices singing every lyric to every song by Queen. This one sticks out especially because she was my best friend, but I bet that even today we could get through Crazy Little Thing Called Love without missing a word. Not just this song, but anything by Queen brings me back to those days on the softball field. I remember everything from those afternoons; the view from 1st base, the way the sun would set, the smell of the spring air, the crack of the bat. Truly good times.

4. Faithfully, Journey
I’ve spoken of this moment before; when I was in a band in high school for, like 5 minutes. Anyway, we were supposed to be playing a Christmas concert and after the Christmas songs had ended we started jamming away and playing/singing any songs we knew. This was one of them. I’d love to tell you some mushy story about how it was the first dance with my first boyfriend during the 8th Grade Winter Ball, but no. Instead, I’m going to look back again on feeling on top of the world for 3 minutes and 20 seconds in high school. I sang my heart out to this tune, Mike played the piano, and the audience ate it up. No one had any idea that the quiet, day student, dork could sing anything and here I was on stage. It is seriously one of the best high school memories I have. And the sidebar note in the above linked post was another reason that night was incredible.

5. You Had Me At Hello, Kenny Chesney
This is a no-brainer. Our wedding song. I had heard the song a million times before I had met EHH, but it never meant anything to me like the first time I heard it after I had met him. It truly was about us. I fell in love with him the second I shook his hand and said, “Hello.” And here’s the first verse for you country haters (please get over that. And soon).

One word, that’s all was said,
Something in your voice called me, turned my head.
Your smile captured me, you were in my future as far as I could see.
And I dont know how it happened, but it happens still.
You ask me if I love you, if I always will………

EHH refuses to believe my immediate heartsickness over him despite how many of my friends verify it each time they see him. Now I can’t listen to the song without choking up because it really does define us as a couple. Dancing with him on our wedding day with this song playing in the background is one of my favorite memories on that day alone. Despite the audience of over 200 people, it was like there was no one else in the room except for he and I. I cried the whole time. (Oh, and Kenny’s totally hot.)

So there you go! The Top 5 Defining Songs of my life. I could easily post another 5, but the requirement was 5. And since when do I go above and beyond?

Oh yeah, and graduation in 10 minutes!