50 to 50
52 to 52
53 to 53
54 to 54
55 to 55
Fiction
51 to 51
Cough Syrup (Young The Giant) - Day 51
October 31, 2016•0 commentsLast year I’d borrowed the idea of blogging a 50 songs in 50 days countdown to my 50th birthday, counting back, in no real particular order, my top favorite songs of all time. Most were ballads, some were classic pop tunes, but each was a song that defines an era, no matter how small, of my life. After December 21st, 2015, I began to realize there were still so many songs I love. So naturally that led to this year’s 51 to 51. I feel like music is such a huge part of my day to day life (and it has been since the seventies) just as much as talking about or writing about myself is, for anyone willing to listen or read. Therefore, I present to you my Top 51 to 51 Countdown for 2016. I hope you enjoy it, and that you will chime in with your own memories, even if to make fun and be silly. That’s what it’s all for, finding the joy. Today, we start with a song that is the most current on the list, one with a beautiful melody, and lyrics that talk about the difficulty of finding a light at the end of the tunnel. We medicate, hoping to feel better, hoping for the sadness to dissipate; hoping that when the cough syrup goes down, the woes will go away. As someone who has fought against depression for more than half my life, I hear these lyrics and am reminded that every day is a new battle, but it’s not one I’m willing to lose. Here’s to hoping.
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See You In September (The Happenings) - Day 50
November 1, 2016•0 commentsSong 50 is, I think, the oldest one on the list. Overall I don’t usually love the music of the sixties, with the obvious exception of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. But this one, as many songs do, reminds me of that little angel on my shoulder, Angie. Admittedly I don’t know the song from when it was a hit on the radio in nineteen sixty-six. My memory of this particular tune comes from our time in the Poconos, a time when we all yearned to find happiness somehow. Especially, I think, my mother. In those small moments when they’d have weekend guests, they’d go out coupling to one of the resort hotels that showcased bands from the past. Angie was enamored with lead singer Tom Giuliano of the Happenings, and he was always so gracious to my parents and their friends after their shows at Paradise Stream. I remember this song fondly, as my mom would sing it acapella in the kitchen days later, as the veil would begin to fade. Funny to think how very alike we are slash were.
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Sky High (Jigsaw) - Day 49
November 2, 2016•0 commentsSky High is an unintentionally feel good song, despite the lyrics, from the mid-seventies. It’s about a break up that explodes. He sings about a girl who deceives him, but the pop horns and almost-disco beat makes it a sweet, happy memory. For me, at least. It’s one of the many one hit wonders of the seventies, glued to my bones for eternity.
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Mutual Surrender (Bourgeois Tagg) - Day 48
November 3, 2016•0 commentsI moved back to Long Island from the Poconos in the summer of nineteen eighty-five. A lot happened in such a small amount of time, not the least of which was discovering and falling in love with the new sound of new wave, on a radio station called W.L.I.R. Pop music at that moment in time was muddled and disjointed, so finding this left of center type of sound was pretty much a mirror of my finding my own awakening. I was working at the Green Acres Mall, at a store called Jeans West. On my breaks, I’d walk down to Sam Goody to listen to music on those bulky, padded headphones attached to the walls. I’d heard this song on W.L.I.R. a few times already, but I found the cassette at Sam Goody and decided to listen to it to try and learn the words. Talk about a one hit wonder; this wasn’t even ever a hit, but it sticks in my head as the stand out song that solidified my love for new wave, and latching me to being rebellious and unusual. Well, in my own way. You have probably never heard this song before, and though it doesn’t really hold up that well, this is Mutual Surrender by Bourgeois Tagg. You’re welcome.
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What Is Love (Haddaway) - Day 47
November 4, 2016•0 commentsIf you were alive in the nineties, you know this song. You may know it as the theme for the Roxbury characters from S.N.L., played by Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan. To me, it was way more that – it represented the resurgence of the long-dormant disco sound, that evolved into Freestyle but began, again, to become mainstream. Back in the late seventies and early eighties, listening to disco was among the many things about which I hid in the proverbial closet. The kids at P.M.H.S. were listening to southern rock and hard metal bands, but I would sit and cue up 92 K.T.U. on the radio, static and all. It was a miracle I could even get crappy reception, but I did, and I listened, and I loved. One of the songs coming up later in this countdown is an ode to those moments in the Poconos when I hid from the world, but today’s song was a true celebration to me. The joy of being an adult, no more hiding in closets. To this day I hear this song on the radio and I always crank it up. Maybe you do too!
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Closing Time (Semisonic) / Drive (The Spirits) / If You Could Only See (Tonic) - Day 46
November 5, 2016•0 commentsToday I present three songs, so I’ll label this as some songs that still resonate from a really terrible year. Dichotomy much? There’s something about me that finds comfort in the music that played around me when I was at my very lowest. Late 1997 into 1998 was, as anyone who knows my life story, the very worst period of my life. The period that shook my foundation and remolded me into a different person. Hollow and sad, and so so lost, I first felt the experience of being rallied around by those in my orbit. It’s when I first realized I’d even had an orbit. That as lonely as I felt, I was NOT alone. Not ever. Mary’s shocking and sudden death, the babies’ bereft cried-out faces, etched into my memory as if scribbled in black sharpie on the backs of my eyelids, brought about the kindness and goodness of people, and strangely, added color to my lackluster life. Colors I’d never experienced. They were not pretty colors, but they were colors nonetheless, and I needed to be able to fill in the blanks of my life with them from that point forward. Each day I went to work wishing it had been me in that coffin, but I kept realizing I was surrounded by people who genuinely cared about me. And the music that played behind us, though at the time may not have been so important, now sings hauntingly to me as a reminder of all those sad but beautiful colors and emotions. Of being empathically carried by the people around me. Each of today’s songs reminds me of that time, when as lonely as it felt having to be among the living, I was never alone.
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Annie's Song (John Denver) - Day 45
November 6, 2016•0 commentsThere’s something about the early seventies that is just so magical in my memory. I am always the first to tell people I had a really happy childhood. From as far back as my first memories, up until the summer of 1979, I truly was a happy soul. And the music of that decade still fills me with a serene sense of roots. I can go on and on about the house where I grew up, across the street from a park, with neighbor kids who were just my age and with whom I created adventures every single day, like it was eternal summer. And that’s what this song is to me – eternal summer. The memories of the early seventies fill up my senses like I’d imagine a night in a forest would, like a walk in the rain. Annie’s Song is exactly how I would describe the memories of my life as a child on Wright Avenue in Lynbrook, and I feel like if you asked the kids from my neighborhood, they may tell you they agree. The tune is melodic and the lyrics tell of joy. Denver may have written this about someone he loved, but it translates, for me, to the love I have for those beautiful, endless summer days in Greis Park.
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You Gotta Be (Des'ree) - Day 44
November 7, 2016•0 commentsIt’s a pretty song with a nice message about learning from past mistakes and marching forward with your head high. It’s sung by a woman whose voice takes you to a jazz club, allowing you to close your eyes and sway. That’s the reason I love this song. Simple as that.
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Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) / All Through The Night (undefined) - Day 43
November 8, 2016•0 commentsCyndi Lauper is an enigmatic oddball, with a unique sound that paved a bridge between pop and new wave, and added another eighties bombshell to the charts. She’s So Unusual, is such a great album. It spurred at least 5 monster hits, the leader of which is every girl’s anthem to this day, Girls Just Want To Have Fun. It was a giant on M.T.V. and put Cyndi in the spotlight throughout the decade. But as much as I love that song and crank it when I hear it, it’s her ballad, Time After Time, which makes my countdown, tied along with the pop ballad, All Through The Night. Both songs of which are just perfect classics. Time After Time is timeless. It’s a song that is still played on contemporary radio, and likely always will be. Cyndi’s voice is so sincere and the harmonies in the chorus always make me sing along. And since having my Woof in my life, it’s taken on a new meaning to me, for us, because I always want him to know I am his safe place (and he is mine.) Also, Romy and Michelle. All Through The Night, to me, is just such a beautifully melodic song about longing, with harps and chimes and synths to make you sway. I love the end so much, where Cyndi holds that note and the harmony balances it out. I can’t. It’s just such a great song from such an unusual girl.
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