That'll be $8.50, please. It's in theater number five, on your left. Sep 02 '04 (Updated Sep 29 '04)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 by The Prodigy From $11 Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 The Bottom Line Actually, this is probably playing in a small, dingy indy theater. Better bring along you own folding chair. Whisperscream is sponsoring a Write-Off called Your Life's Soundtrack. You can participate by going here. Below you will find the requested soundtrack to an imaginary film of my life. Previously, I've selected songs for a soundtrack in another W/O but this W/O calls for songs to fit particular scenes so the choices are different. Opening Credits: Tara's Theme from Max Steiner's Oscar-nominated original score of Gone with the Wind, 1939. Just pretend it's called Terrie's Theme. Okay, so I have a bit of a grandiosity complex...this beautiful theme has all the different emotional tones if you listen carefully, but I especially like the tones of strength, regret, pride, sadness, burden, love, loneliness, tradition and immortality. If I've gotta pick an opening theme...hey, why not go with one of the most evocative themes of all time? Waking Up: Colours by Donovan. This is such a mellow, innocent, sun-filled morning song. There is no more lovely way to wake up than in love. Green's the colour of the sparklin' corn In the mornin' when we rise. That's the time, that's the time I love the best. Mellow is the feeling that I get when I see her, mm hmm, when I see her, uh huh. That's the time, that's the time I love the best. Freedom is a word I rarely use Without thinkin', mm hmm, Without thinkin', mm hmm, Of the time, of the time When I've been loved. Average Day: Shower the People by James Taylor. This song reminds me that the people who fill my life are what makes it worth living. Never take them for granted. Shower the people you love with love Show them the way that you feel They say in every life They say the rain must fall Just like pouring rain Make it rain Make it rain Love, love, love is sunshine oh Make it rain Love, love, love is sunshine yeah Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody. It's all about the love, or as the Beatles put it in The End, "The love you take is equal to the love you make." First Date: I Think We're Alone Now by Tommy James and the Shondells. Ah, those early days of hot hormonal sex, when being with your "steady" was the ultimate. You gotta love a song that contains a guitar simulated heartbeat. And that truly inspired tambourine playing. chink...chink....chink...um, those were simpler times. "Children, behave." I think not! Falling In Love: Cruisin' by Smokey Robinson Is not Smokey Robinson the smoothest person in the world? What girl would not fall in love to these lines even if she knows it isn't true. "If you want it, you got it, forever. This is not a one night stand, baby." Love Scene: Tupelo Honey by Van Morrison. Beautiful, gentle, almost reverent melody and the deeply Celtic emotion-laden voice of Van Morrison...give me a slow hand man ala the Pointer Sisters and play this song and there's your love scene. Fight Scene: Better Man by Pearl Jam They say sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet your prince. This scene features one of the frogs. The fight is not with another person but with the self. I love the play on words of "can't find a better man" and, for me, this song is a perfect snapshot of the inside of a relationship with an abusive alcoholic. I love the wordless moaning of Eddy Vedder in the background. I love the crescendo and the drums...I love the melody, how desperate it is. The lyrics are perfect. Breaking Up: Easy From Now On by Emmylou Harris Quarter moon in a ten cent town, time for me to lay my heartaches down. Easy to fill the heart of a thirsty woman, harder to kill the ghost of a no good man. 'Nuff said. Getting Back Together: Different man. Different break-up and reunion. Reunited by Peaches and Herb Reunited and it feels so good. Reunited 'cause it's understood. There's one perfect fit and, sugar, this one is it. Segue into Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye. Secret Love: I Know a Little by Lynyrd Skynyrd Here's a yummy smutty little thought, especially coming from a long-haired redneck with heavily muscled guitar-pickin' forearms. Wellll...maybe that's an acquired taste. Anyway, here's the lyric: "I know a little 'bout love...and baby I can guess the rest. Well if you want me to be your only man, Said listen up mama, teach you all I can. Do right baby, by your man, don't worry mama, teach you all I can. " This is really a song about a man who is warning a straying woman that he knows what's goin' on but he wants to keep her...the ending where he says, "Well I know a little 'bout love. Baby I want your best....that is so hot...The double meaning of I know a little about you foolin' around and I know a little about love is actually very poignant. This song is a little known gem of a high brilliance in my opinion. Another way to do this scene...the other side of secret love...Why Not Me by the Judds. Ain't it time that you notice the girl next door, Baby why not me? Baby, why not me? You've been lookin' for love all around the world Baby, don't you know this country girl's still free? Why not me? Baby, why not me? . Life's OK: Goin' Fishin' by Taj Mahal Simple-things-in-life blues by a master. I'm a goin' fishin', mama's goin' fishin' and the baby's goin' fishin' too. Mental Breakdown: Amazing Grace as sung by Anne Murray The vulnerability, the submission, being down to your last straw...when the ego has fled and there is nowhere to run...the purgative quality of the dark night of the soul. Finding your way up and out of it. Driving: On the Road Again by Willie Nelson "like a band of gypsies,we go down the highway." Not too original here but it captures the feeling of traveling with the extended family of kith and kin, music, freedom, the open road and the horizon. Learning A Lesson: Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire. Nothing's really changed since Barry's song got banned from radio stations in the 60s. 18 year olds finally got the vote but they don't go to the polls any more than their elders do. The eastern world it tis explodin', violence flarin', bullets loadin', you're old enough to kill but not for votin', you don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're totin', and even the Jordan river has bodies floatin'. Segue to Ohio by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We're finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, Four dead in Ohio. Gotta get down to it Soldiers are cutting us down Should have been done long ago. What if you knew her And found her dead on the ground How can you run when you know? Exchange the name of Nixon for Bush and ask yourself if it won't happen again. This is the scene in the movie where the people learn to vote. Deep Thought: Moonshadow by Cat Stevens A future Muslim goes all Zen on us. Lookin' on the bright side, ya might say. And if I ever lose my legs, I won’t moan, and I won’t beg, Yes if I ever lose my legs, oh if.... I won’t have to walk no more. And if I ever lose my mouth, all my teeth, north and south, Yes if I ever lose my mouth, oh if.... I won’t have to talk... Did it take long to find me? I asked the faithful light. Did it take long to find me? and are you gonna stay the night? Flashback: Summertime Blues as performed by Blue Cheer (Eddie Cochran..what must you think?) This is great heavy metal before there was any. It was this or some early Iron Butterfly...but this song so rawks. Segue to Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag by Country Joe and the Fish And it's one, two, three, What are we fighting for ? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, Next stop is Vietnam; (substitue the country of our president's choice) And it's five, six, seven, Open up the pearly gates, Well there ain't no time to wonder why, Whoopee! we're all gonna die. Well, come on generals, let's move fast; Your big chance has come at last. Gotta go out and get those reds — (substitute WOMD) The only good commie (substitute Iraqi ) is the one who's dead And you know that peace can only be won When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come. Partying: What kind of party has only two songs? Just pretend this is a film montage of several different parties. Housequake by Prince. Come on y'all, we got 2 jam Before the police come A groove this funky is on the run Hey yeah! Shake your body 'til your neighbors stare at cha! Casino Queen by Wilco. I always bet on black, blackjack, I'll pay you back The room fills with smoke and I'm already broke, And the dealer keeps on joking as he takes my last token. Sin Wagon by the Dixie Chicks Well now I've been good for way too long Found my red dress and I'm gonna throw it on 'Bout to get too far gone Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition Need a little bit more of my twelve ounce nutrition One more helpin' of what I've been havin' I'm takin' my turn on the sin wagon. Happy Dance: 59th Street Bridge Song by Simon and Garfunkel, Slow down, you move too fast. You got to make the morning last. Just kicking down the cobble stones. Looking for fun and feelin' groovy, segue to My Window Faces the South by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen "My window faces the south. I'm almost halfway to heaven. I'm never frowning or down in the mouth. My window faces the south." Regretting: Valerie by Patti Scialfa, from her CD, Rumble Doll. To me, this song's lyrics, melody and Patti's beautiful plaintive voice express regret more than any other song I've ever heard. "once I knew a true love, it's been three years since he's been gone and if I could get that feeling back I'd give up everything I own" Long Night Alone: End of the World by Skeeter Davis Why does my heart go on beating? Why do these eyes of mine cry? Don't they know it's the end of the world? It ended when you said goodbye. Skeeter puts all that lonely heartbreak in this song..and the end of the world seems so interminable, so torturously slow in coming. Death Scene: Bridge Over Troubled Water These words are on my first husband's tombstone, "Sail on, sail on by. Your time has come to shine. All your dreams are on their way. I'm sailing right behind." Closing Credits: Orinoco Flow by Enya sail away, sail away, sail away sail away, sail away, sail away sail away, sail away, sail away sail away, sail away, sail away...and all those beautiful place names...I want to sail gently out when I go...onto a petal sea, softly...and this song says that to me. ....................... There ya go, Whisperscream. Thanks. That was fun.

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