Songs full of memories

I have been racking my brains since I first started writing this blog, to come up with 20-30 oldies for the Steve Wright show. And I’m still no closer. Every time I hear a great song on the radio, I add it to my list, which now runs to three pages. I suppose the problem comes in determining what makes a great song. You could go on how many copies have been sold. Or you could go with the songs that mean the most to you. The soundtrack to your life. The songs full of memories.
Herewith just a sample of the soundtrack to my life. Self-indulgent, I know, but if I can’t write about myself on my own blog, where can I?

1. Build Me Up Buttercup- The Foundations. I have a memory of getting my parents’ house ready to sell when they were in the midst of their divorce. Mum and I were painting The Lad’s room and this song came on the radio. We both started singing along, then dissolved into giggles when we realised the neighbours were staring up at us through the open windows!
2. Spirit in the Sky- Dr and the Medics. The first song I ever saw on Top of the Pops, shortly after we started getting TV (admittedly it was taped in the Uk, and we only got it for a couple of hours a night) in Cyprus. God bless BFBS
3. Grandma’s Feather Bed- John Denver. Charlotte Carter came to our school in third form and she was the coolest person I had ever met. She, Natasha, Rim and I shared a study. She played us this song one night when we should have been studying, and we learnt all the words.
4. Midnight train to Georgia- Gladys Knight and the Pips. Brother Number 1 and I agree that this is the best song ever. I love the Woo-woos!
5. Good Riddance- Green Day. Bitter sweet memory of driving back from school in the snow, shortly after my dad left. Mum and I had driven up to get The Lad for half-term. We all ended up blubbing to this song. The only time in my life I felt bad for not being able to drive.
6. Brown-Eyed Girl- Van Morrison. The sixth-formers played this song so often when I was in third form, I thought it would drive me mad. Then I got to sixth form, and I totally got why they played it so much.
7. Redemption song- Bob Marley. The Lad sang this one night when he, Brother1 and I went out when we all lived together in a crappy flat in Battersea. Brother1 kept signing us up for songs we didn’t know about. Bob Marley always makes me think of The Lad.
8. Save the Last Dance- The Drifters. An awesome song, and the one my new husband and I had our first dance to, although we had the Michael Buble version (which is better, if that’s possible.) I could listen to it every day. Any Michael Buble track makes me think of my husband.
9. Dancing Queen- Abba. The Sixth Form Karaoke Competition. Julia, Rim, Jo and I got up, in full Abba regalia and with dance routine, and kicked ass to this track.We won. And whenever we meet up, it always seems to be playing in the background!
10. Sylvia’s Mother- Dr. Hook. This band seem to follow me round. I remember listening to my parents sing along to this one night, from my hiding place at the top of the stairs. Their greatest hits was the first CD I ever bought for myself. We listened to it constantly when on our one-week Geography Field trip in Sixth Form. I used to sing some of the songs to babies in the middle of the night to settle them- they were the only lyrics that came to my head. I play it in the car when WH and I are off somewhere.

I suspect that these songs reveal more about me than they should. They are just a few of the songs that make up the tapestry that is the memory of my life (lets face it, the unabridged list would be waaaayyy too long). Good and bad, I wouldn’t change a single thing, since every experience has combined to bring me to this point. If I were any happier, I would burst.

I make no excuses or apologies if my musical wandering offends. I never said I had any taste where music is concerned.