It is so very difficult to choose the three most important songs in my life.  Surely you’ve had the experience of hearing a song on the radio or on TV and it brings you right back to a time or moment that you can almost see again, and certainly feel?  As I ran through the collection of music I have, I got flashes of various times, just little peeks, skipping across my thoughts as I skipped through the song titles.  But I’ve narrowed it down.  I can’t say that these are THE three most important songs in my life, but they stand out to me for some reason (at least today).

To be honest, I wrote about a very important song to me on the first day of the A to Z Blogging Challenge back in April.  It is Anya Marina’s “Vertigo”, which reminds me so much of the year that Chris and I were dating.  2010 was a fantastic year, and at the end of it, Chris proposed to me to this song playing in the background.  You can read my post about it and listen to the song HERE.

But HA!  I’m going to pull a fast one on you!  Since I’ve already written about the most important song in my life I get to pick three entirely new ones for today!  I make the rules here, yes I do!  So here we go, in no particular order of importance:

First, there’s “Barcarolle“, by Jacques Offenbach from ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’.  You might not have expected an operatic piece from me, but this song almost brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it.  It’s a prominent song in one of my very favorite moves, “Life is Beautiful”, about a family (mom, dad and young son) who are taken away to a Nazi concentration camp.  The father is able to hide the little boy even after they are separated from the mom.  His father makes their time at the concentration camp into a game for the boy, even as atrocious events take place around them.  At one point, the father is required to act as a servant for a fancy Nazi dinner and he finds a Victrola with a collection of records.  He is able to broadcast Barcarolle across the concentration camp, a sign to his wife that he is still alive and that his love for her will endure no matter what.  It’s such an amazing movie, and I can barely write about it without my eyes getting moist (ok, they are most.  Dammit!).  Below are two scenes from the movie (all in one youtube video); first is an earlier scene when the father first sees his future wife at the opera (when Barcarolle is being performed) and knows he is in love with her (and gets her to look at him!), and second, the scene I described above.

Next up on the jukebox in the Fuzzy Undertones Lounge, is a little something from Prince.  I love Prince, and have been a huge fan since I was fairly young.  While his musical style has changed throughout the years, there’s always something unique about his music that says Prince.  I thought about choosing “Kiss”, which I love, but then decided to take it one step further and go with “Sexy M.F.”  You figure out what the M.F. stands for.  While Prince has since sworn off swearing in his music (can you do that?) this is an earlier song and I love it because, like “Kiss”, it’s not about what you look like, it’s how you carry yourself, how your attitude makes you sexy.  Yeah.  And you know that I can be one sexy beast when I’m listening to Prince!

Lastly, I’ll go with a classic, a song that describes my daily life and could, in fact, be my theme song between the hours of 7:30 – 5.  If this were the case, however, the song would have to change its title, but I have a feeling that Dolly Parton’s “Nine to Five” wouldn’t quite be the same if you substituted seven-thirty for nine.  It just doesn’t have the same ring to it, you know?  When I enter the doors at work first thing in the morning, this music runs through my mind.  I recently watched the movie “Nine to five” and it was still quite hilarious even though a lot of it is somewhat outdated.  But still, I feel like I sell myself during those prime hours of the day…it’s all taking and no giving (well, except for the paycheck.  That, I get).

I had some runner-ups, too.  If I could add a few more songs to the list I might have included Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” or George Clinton’s “Do Fries Go With That Shake”, or maybe even “If I Didn’t Have You” from the Monster’s Inc. soundtrack (bloopers included in that one!).  Oh, so many to choose from!  And so hard to pick only three!  But for today, there they are.  What are the three most important songs in your life?  Tell me in the comments!

This is Day 3 of Writing 101.  Today’s assignment was to answer this question: Write about the three most important songs in your life — what do they mean to you?  And the twist:  You’ll commit to a writing practice. The frequency and the amount of time you choose to spend today — and moving forward — are up to you, but we recommend a minimum of fifteen uninterrupted minutes per day.

Ha!  Well, for the twist, I’ve already decided that I will write 20 minutes a day, as I’ve been setting my timer to 20 minutes for each of these daily exercises.  Take that, Writing 101!  I’ll see your minimum and raise you 5 whole minutes!  And, as long as we’re establishing practices here, those 20 minutes are reserved for writing…going back to edit, add hyperlinks, insert pictures or videos, that’s all extra.  Not allowed in my 20 minutes!