Songs for Life

By now, most of you know of and are possibly participating in Alyssa's "Back to Blogging" link-up.  I've been enjoying what I've been reading, and I've been enjoying the challenge of the prompts. 

Surprisingly, this prompt has/had me stumped:
1. Three (or however many you choose) songs that define your life and why

I love music.  I love live music.  I love listening to music, finding new music, feeling music, reading about music, and talking about music (as evidenced by my monthly playlist posts with Jana as well as other music posts on this blog.)  So, why did this one stump me?  Because I was overwhelmed with all the songs I love and why I love them.  To ask myself what songs "define" my life...well, that's just tough, but a question I've been trying to tackle.

It's My Life by Bon Jovi - My love for Bon Jovi began in 1984, and it never waned, but it was solidified and stamped into my personal history with the 2000 release of "It's My Life".  It bridged hair band '80s rockers with an updated, polished, new millennium band.  It bridged generations of fans; some discovered this band for the first time with this song.  It bridged teenage Erin with adult Erin; I was 11 years old when I first set sight and heard the sounds of Bon Jovi, and I was 27 when this song hit the airwaves.  The simplicity of the statement "It's my life, it's now or never, I ain't gonna live forever" is strong and powerful for me.

Just a Girl by No Doubt - It was 1995, and I was 22 years old when this song was released.  Already, I'd experienced a serious relationship with a very controlling man who wanted to mold me and fit me into his definition of what I should look like, how I should think, and what I should be when I grew up.  That very year, I was ending that relationship with this person.  No Doubt exploded onto my scene, and I was instantly in awe of Gwen.  Gwen's tongue-in-cheek lyrics of "I'm just a girl, little ol' me" and singing "I've had it up to here" was my jam.  It's exactly what I needed to hear at the time. It's still my jam.  And, I'm still in awe of Gwen.  She is creative and ambitious.  She is a girly-girl who hangs with the guys.   She is open, honest, and vulnerable (through her lyrics), but she is not scared to be strong and in-your-face. All of these traits are lovely little traits for "just a girl."

Slide by Goo Goo Dolls - Okay.  You may think this is a weird choice.  Basically, the song is about wanting "to wake up where you are".  I choose to believe it's a love song of sort.  So, why is this a song that defines my life?  Well, I have loved and still love all things Goo Goo Dolls.  But, it's this lyric: "What you feel is what you are and what you are is beautiful" that gets me every.single.time.  It has served as a reminder to me at those times that I am feeling really, really ugly (both physically and emotionally) to strive to FEEL beautiful, so I can BE beautiful.  Again, I don't just focus on the physicality that the world "beautiful" can signify.  I focus on the beauty within as well.  Even more so.  How much does this lyric mean to me?  Enough to get it tattooed on me permanently.

Scars by Papa Roach - This one.  This one I've sung at the top of my lungs through tears more times that I can count.  It is a song that embodies what I love about live music: people of all ages, all backgrounds, all ethnicities, religions, genders, identities, coming together to sing a song while squished together, swaying together, sweating together, hands and voices raised, because I've been in many Papa Roach live show pits experiencing this.  I can relate to every.single.word of this song, but this is significant for me: "I can't help you fix yourself, but at least I can say I tried, I'm sorry but I gotta move on with my own life."  Eventually, I realized after spending so many years thinking I needed to "fix" someone else, what I really needed to do was focus on my own self-worth, well-being, and happiness.

Take Tomorrow (One Day at a Time) by Butch Walker - If you've read any of my posts talking about music, chances are you've heard that there's this musician named Butch Walker that I love.  I mean it.  I love this man.  This is from the album that made me fall in love with this man (yes, I was a fan before this album, but this album is when I fell in love.)  This song closes the album and the sentiment is one that speaks to me to this day.  "Give me all your fear, throw it all away, think of all the good things, no matter what they say, we'll take tomorrow, baby, yeah, one day at a time."

Worth mentioning:  Any song by Willie Nelson.  I am instantly taken to Texas when I hear Willie Nelson.  I think of my dad.  I think of road trips.  I think of Lone Star and Shiner Bock beer.  I think of honky tonks.  I think of bluebonnets.  I think of a man that is a legend and an icon who is unconventional and unapologetically himself.  He isn't the best looking.  Not at all.  He isn't the best singer.  Nope.  But, he is Willie, and he embodies Texas.

Linking with Alyssa: