Who doesn’t like music, right? And some songs a little more than others. Then it happens that the song that was so awesome and catchy just becomes… tired. Then sometimes, it moves from tired to eye-rolling. Finally, from eye-rolling to “Dear God, not again!” (Oh yeah, sorry this is late. Life with a baby)
In no particular order, these are my top 10 songs that, at one time I really liked. some, I really liked, and a few still have special memories tied to them.
- Tiny Dancer – Elton John. About 10 years ago I was a door canvasser for a left wing political advocacy group. I walked around for five hours a night, knocking on doors for money. Yeah, I was that guy, but I was living life, man. One of the people I worked with, Ted, was a piano player, and after we cashed out for the night, we always went out drinking, usually where Ted was playing. We heard this song a lot.
2. Benny and the Jets. – Elton John. Again. Poor EJ. See above. We heard this song a lot, too, and it was part of the magic of the summer campaign. Livin’ life, man. Now it just reminds me of a time when I was stuck and unhappy.
3. California Dreamin’ – The Mamas and the Papas. This is one has a fond memory. Another kid I canvassed with, Andy, sang all the time. One day, as we were getting dinner before hitting our respective turfs, he walked past me into the bathroom, singing the first line to this song. I sang the second part, the harmony. He laughed and as he went into the bathroom, sang the next line. Again I sang the harmony. After a few beats of silence, I could hear him squawk out the next line, “I went for a walk!” It was so funny. About a year after we had all left the job, I heard from one of our friends that he ODed on heroin and died. Andy had a good soul, and I hope he’s at peace now.
4. The Freshmen – The Verve. This song came out when I was a, you guessed it, freshman in college, and ohmigosh it was everything.
5. Stayin’ Alive – The BeeGees This was the number 1 song the day I was born, and I liked it for awhile (When I was in college, not when I was born) ’cause it made me feel happy inside.
6. Bobby McGee – Janis Joplin. I actually still kind of like this one, just because its Janis Joplin, but only sparingly.
7. Don’t Speak – No Doubt. When I first heard this song, I really liked it. I loved Gwen Staphani of that time – she was hott – liked No Doubt, but the fucking radio played the shit out of it, and I hate it now. The radio kills a lot of good songs. Video didn’t kill the radio star. Radio did.
8. All I Wanna Do – Sheryl Crow. “I gotta feeling I’m not the only one.” >shudder< I gotta feeling I’m not the only one THROWING MYSELF OFF A CLIFF!!
9. Walkin’ On The Sun – Smashmouth. I didn’t remember this, but when this song came out, I was working at KFC. I heard it come on in the kitchen and I grabbed my friend Stephanie and pulled her back to the kitchen and started dancing to it with her (thought she mostly laughed, ’cause it was unexpected.) This was right before the accident. When I came out of the coma, I had this Smashmouth CD that I hadn’t seen before and didn’t think I had purchased, but I was misremembering a lot of things in those days. (I thought I lived in Wyoming.) Mom said some friends brought it when they visited my second hospital, and that I played that song over and over. When I got home from the hospital, Stephanie came to visit and reminded me of our dance party. She had brought it.
10. Don’t Stand So Close To Me – Sting. I love Sting, and when I finally got the Nabokov reference, I felt so cool. But, like Don’t Speak, I heard it too much.
I Didn't Just Wake Up This Morning With A Craving 
One song I never want to hear again is Peter, Paul and Mary’s “Puff the Magic Dragon”. It’s such a sad song and it always makes me cry.
I never heard it too often, so I just remember the first line, but I can see that!
A little boy named Jackie Paper is Puff’s best friend and visits him all the time and they play together and go on adventures. Eventually, Jackie grows up and stops coming to visit Puff. Puff “ceased his mighty roar” and sulked into his cave and cried. I can’t listen to the song because it makes me cry so much.
Dramageek16, that is sad! It makes me think of Bing-Bong from Inside Out! (Have you seen that movie?) I don’t think I could listen to that song very often, either. I’d be a sobbing mess.