Songs and Meanings

Tonight's the Night (Its Gonna be Alright) by Rod Stewart - Oh dude. What a cheesy song! ha ha Rod Stewart got some play by the Porter family... but I can only remember him in the car. My mom used to drive a GM Hornet. It was an odd looking car with wood paneling and an 8 track cassette player. I remember hearing this song a lot in that car. Once we were driving up to to Big Bear and I remember feeling kind of weird about the ending of the song. You can hear the girl talking dirty and stuff. I coudlnt have been more than 7 and I didnt understand what she was saying, but I knew something was up with all that sexy talk. Oh my god... I just listened to it right now and that girl is speaking French! No wonder I didnt know what she was saying. Too funny.

Hello, I Love You by The Doors - My dad loved the Doors. He would try to play them often but I wasnt a fan. That funky organ music used to freak me out so Id complain until my dad turned the music off. My mom didnt like them much either. Im not sure why the music scared me, but it did. It literally made me get goosebumps. This song especially freaked me out. It sounds like a creepy carnival to me. Scary.

Heart of Gold by Neil Young - Dad also loved Neil Young. I dont really remember him playing lots of CSNY songs, but he did play a lot of solo Neil Young. He used to tell me that he liked Neil with Crazy Horse; that the sound was edgier. It was hard for me to chose between this song and Cinnamon Girl and/or Sugar Mountain and/or Ohio. I remember so many of Neil Young's songs and it kills me cause they still sound good today.

Live and Let Die by Paul McCartney and Wings - We used to listen to Wings A LOT. Wings music was tamer than my dad's usual stuff. Usually my mom wasnt into Dad's music, but she tolerated Wings. I always remember her telling him to turn it down his music (not Wings though) when it got to loud. I chose this song cause I remember watching it on tv when I was young. I can barely remember what we were watching but Paul was singing this song live and suddenly the camera panned to the rafters of there was person all in black setting off bombs or something. Then there was this big explosion on stage where the band was playing. Back then I didnt understand what was happening. I thought the band was hurt or killed. Now I realize that they were probably playing off the whole James Bond theme. Surprisingly, I didnt really get that this song was made for a James Bond movie.

America by Neil Diamond - My dad took us to see The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond when it came out. This is the song that stuck. So far, this songlist is kind of embarrassing. Out of all the Neil Diamond songs, this one is pretty lame. We listened to all of them, but for some reason this is the one taht brings me back to my childhood. Like so many of my dad's albums, I remember singing along with this one. My dad used to allow Jennifer and I to listen to his records and this one got lots of play. The album opened up (like the double records used to do) and it had pictures of from the movie inside. I remember being fascinated that the love interest in the movie was Lucille Ball's daughter with Desi.

Beast of Burden by The Rolling Stones - This song is ... dude, where do I begin? Its so embedded into the fabric of our family that its hard for me to actually explain why its important. I dont think I can do it. Its just important. Its very significant. My dad used to sing this to us a lot. he would sing it all the time. Like we would be doing normal stuff and all of the sudden he'd start singing this song. I remember my sister Jennifer referring to our dog Maddie as never being our "beast of burden." I remember singing this as a young girl "Am I hard enough... am I rough enough... am I rich enough..." Huge song. Words cant explain.

Dont Mess Around with Jim by Jim Croce - I think we used to listen to this song and kind of joke that it was about my dad. His name is also Jim. He is nothing like the dude in the song, though. He was/is the "softie" in our family.

Fire by the Ohio Players - Dad had this album in his collection. I didnt realize then how totally different in genre it was from the rest of his albums. Other than the song the thing I remember the most was the cover. I remember looking at this cover - it used to open up like a centerfold - and it had this naked woman on it with a fire hose wrapped around her. How scandalous!

New Kid In Town by The Eagles - Hotel California was an album that was on heavy rotation when it came out in the late 70s. Not only did my dad listen to it a lot, but Jennifer and I would too. My favorite song on that album was "New Kid In Town." It used to make me feel so sad for the "kid." Im not joking. I used to listen to this song and almost feel like crying because everyone loved that kid at first and then someone else came around and he was totally forgotten. See... I was irrationally emotional even as a girl.

Starting Over by John Lennon - This was another album that got lots of play when it first came out. "Starting Over" was the first song on the album. The album was organized so that there was a John song followed by a Yoko song. The whole album was patterned that way. The song right after "Starting Over" was called "Kiss Kiss" by Yoko Ono. It was FAH- REAKY! My sister and I used to laugh our buts off listening to it. Just last week, actually, my other sister Miranda made some joke referencing that "Kiss kiss" song.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John - I love the piano in this song. Its so melodic. Bernie's lyrics coupled with Elton's melody are perfecto! The music in this song soars. I love that. To this day it still trips me out that Bernie and Elton would compose their various parts of the song completely without the other's involvement. Crazy. There were so many songs on this album that I could have chosen. We listened to the whole thing a lot. Bennie and the Jets was another big fav. Ive Seen that Movie Too. Sweet Painted Lady. Harmony. Funeral for a Friend. I remember the inside of this album. It opened up and there were these detailed drawings inside that illustrated each song. Damn this album is good. I have bought it in cassette, cd and digital form. There arent many albums that Ive done that with but with "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" I have.

Black Cow by Steely Dan - This album had a geisha girl on the front. I remember there werent many songs on it, but they were all really good. I still can listen to this whole thing and thoroughly enjoy myself. Such a funky groove. I had this cd when I was in college and I was playing it once when this girl came in my room that I didnt know well. She was so excited that I was playing it cause she grew up listening to it too. I guess her dad was a jazz musician and he really loved Steely Dan.

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen - I dont know many people who dont know and/or like this song. But I must point out that I liked it BEFORE it was played on Wayne's World. ha ha My dad had the album and Jennifer and I would listen to it a lot. It was so unique and grand and gorgeous. "A Night at the Opera" was white and had a crest on it. Another song on this album that I totally adored was called "Love of my Life." It had this lovely harp and piano in the beginning. Its like this really sad song that, of course, totally touched me. Freddy's voice was so beautiful and melancholy singing the lyrics. God damn do I miss that guy! I remember when he died. Jennifer called me at college to tell me and I truly felt mournful. We both did.

She's Leaving Home by the Beatles - Im pretty sure that I know most Beatles song by ear. Im reticient to say that I know them all, but Im pretty sure I know most. This song is one of my favs and has been since I was a very young girl. I remember watching an interview once of Eric Clapton and he admitted that as a kid, he was always drawn to sad songs. When he grew up to be a muscian he found that his sensibility never went away. Im the same way. When a song or melody is slow and melancholy it plays with my emotions. It hooks me in. This song on the Sgt. Pepper does that to me. It hooks me. I remember feeling very drawn to it as a girl. I dont recall if I felt a kinship with the female in the song or what, but Ive always loved it.

Rebel Rebel by David Bowie - For the record, this was the FIRST song I thought of for this playlist. When I uploaded the list of songs into the margin they came in reverse order. "Rebel Rebel" was first. I almost put "Diamond Dogs" in this playlist instead of "Rebel Rebel" but I couldnt. "Rebel Rebel" is my favorite Bowie song and it totally typifies my childhood. My dad used to sing this song all the time. We had a horse that lived next door named Rebel and whenever my dad saw him he'd start singing this song. He still does that! For no apparent reason, he'll burst spontaneously out into song and not just with this song either. He'll do it with thousands of songs. We all do it. Jennifer. Miranda. And me. We all talk in this weird, song language that my dad taught us by example. I think my favorite part of this song (other than the memories and the theme) is that guitar riff. Its classic!

I'm probably going to add more. While I was sitting here writing this all out I thought of a few more. I will add them soon.