Very recently I asked a few friends to email me the titles of their favorite songs. I was trying to bulk up my iPod with some good music. As my friends emailed me the names of the albums and artists that have been the soundtracks of their lives, some included the stories of why the songs have touched them.

With these conversations I started to think about the songs of my life. Here’s a list (and audio) of the songs that would have to be included on the soundtrack if my (currently unwritten) biography were to ever be made into a movie. These are in no particular order.

1. Snowbird - Ann Murray

Murray is one of two Canadians that made this list (can you guess the other?). We used to listen to Murray’s greatest hits album when we were cleaning our apartment every weekend as a child. I can’t help but thinking of my mom and my childhood whenever I hear this song. I’ve never paid very much attention to the words.

2. Boom Boom - Venga Boys

When I worked Grad Nights at Disneyland I danced for 8 hours on the party bus where there was a three song loop. Three song loop. Eight hours. I’m pretty certain that waterboarding is intense torture, but I’d say that listening to three songs for 8 hours a day is a close second. Every time I hear this song it brings me back to 1999.

3. Where Did My Baby Go? - John Legend

November 2006 I spent a lot of time with my (now defunct) writers group. We would meet up and write together, edit and criticize one another’s work, and just chat. During those intense writing sessions I listened to Legend’s Once Again album non-stop. I’d say that for the entire month of November I listened to nothing else. I even had a copy of the CD in my car.

4. Because of You - Kelly Clarkson

When I worked as a literacy coach a fifth-grade student named Sokuntee came to my program that had just moved to our country. Sokuntee was freaking smart as hell, and he barely spoke English. In the year that I worked with Sokuntee I taught him how to play chess (he eventually started beating me) and he would sing pop songs that he heard on the radio. Since he didn’t speak English, he never really knew any of the lyrics. But he tried. He was a big Clarkson fan.

5. Blackbird - The Beatles

I didn’t hear this song until I was an adult. It was a few months after moving out of my parent’s house (back when Napster was useful). I spent many hours in front of my crap computer downloading music and trying to figure out my direction in life. The lyrics of this song aren’t incredibly poignant, but just hearing it brings me back.

6. The Blower’s Daughter- Damien Rice

For over a year I’ve spent just about every Thursday night at Memphis Bar in downtown Santa Ana and there’s a guitar player/singer that entertains there. I had never seen the movie Closer, and when he played this song my friend Ed told me how much he liked it. So for a few Thursdays Ed would request this song, and eventually the musician would just play the song when Ed would arrive. Good song. Strange lyrics. And I still have never seen the movie Closer.

7. Gay Messiah- Rufus Wainwright

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a big Rufus fan. And songs, like Gay Messiah, have been life-altering to me because of the openly gay aspect. Many homosexuals live their lives listening to love songs about men loving women, or watching movies about women loving men. Rufus’ music openly, unabashedly, proudly, talks about homosexual issues.

8. Vogue- Madonna

Is an explanation necessary?

9. Falling- Ben Kweller

This song is about the out-of-body feeling of falling in love. Kweller is really good at rhyme, and you can’t help but sing along whenever this tune comes on. Just say “hello” to the ground.

10. Origin of Love- Hedwig And The Angry Inch

This song is from the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Everyone is searching for their other-half, and this entire musical is about the tough things we go through in life and how everyone, no matter your circumstance, will find their other piece.

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