Quack Quack

"A song that was your favorite this time last year."

I thought I'd end the series with a dose of brutal honesty. If you really want to know what I was listening to at this time last year, and if you didn't it's a bit too late now isn't it?

This my friends is a staple in our "buddy" song repertoire. He doesn't tire of it and neither do I. We first learned it at our local Barnes and Noble story time hosted by the fabulous Ms. Sharon. We used to go twice a week until Liam was about 18 months and then we moved on to other activities. Perhaps this summer we'll get back into it. It was the kiddie version of Cheers, a place where everyone knew our name.

Note: Today is the last day of the song challenge so please take a moment to check out the other blogs playing along. Hope you've enjoyed the challenge and learned a little more about me in the process. I am more than ready to get back to the regularly scheduled programming.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Omm Poppa Mow Mow

"A song from your childhood."

When I was a toddler I had my own portable record player and a box full of records. Most were from my pre-school at the time which was parochial and sent us home with a new record to listen to every week.

However, I'm not sure how or who bought it for me but I also had a copy of Elvira by Oak Ridge Boys. I would set up the player in the dining room or my bedroom, pull the vinyl from the delicate paper sleeve, place it on the player and gently lay down the needle. And, then...I would flip the switch to make it play as slow as humanly possible and I'd sing along.

My mom still cracks up when she thinks about it to this day.

Me, maybe 4 years old, holed up with a record going slllloooowwww and singing low.

Giddy Up Oom Poppa Omm Poppa Mow Mow
Giddy Up Oom Poppa Omm Poppa Mow Mow

Wish I still had it. Wonder if it would work?

What songs make you think of your childhood?

Land of the Free

"A song that makes you feel guilty."

Finding a song that makes me guilty was by far the most challenging prompt of this series, but I did it (at the 11th hour).

The National Anthem.

When it is in a movie, while I'm driving or perhaps on a blog like this, it makes me feel extremely guilty to not stand.

With our avid attendance at baseball games, even Liam knows to stand and be respectful

Are there other songs out there that make people feel guilty?

Piano Dreams

"A song you wish you could play on an instrument."

I'd love to learn to play any song on the piano, but this one in particular. It's pop-y and overplayed and I love it anyway.  Before I stopped tap dancing I always had a dance sort of choreographed to this song...in my head anyway. I had never been able to envision dance before that, but I just thought it would work well.

Perhaps someday when Liam is a little older, I'll take a piano class or two through our local community college. Maybe he'll be interested too and it'll be something we can do together.

Or maybe he'll want to tap and we'll dance together instead.

Is there an instrument or a song you have always wanted to play?

Toot Toot

"A song you can play on an instrument."
 
Bwahahahahaha. Okay, I had to get that out of my system...21 seconds is long enough and still it made me laugh.

I cannot actually play any instrument, but in 5th grade I decided to give the french horn a try. That was smart given that we had to walk about a mile to and from school, no?

This is the only song I remember learning to play as we sat in the darkened gymnasium the hour before school started.

I think it's safe to say that it was a good thing I let the more proficient players continue while I drifted off into some other activity.

**Please take a moment and check out the other bloggers in the song challenge. You'll find them all listed in the mini-blogroll to the right.**

Tee Hee Ha Ha Ha

"A song that makes you laugh."

Easy peasy. Chariots of Fire...I love the slow build up and how it makes everyone resort to slow motion movement. Or at least it does in my head.

This is the song my husband and I used to walk into our wedding reception, so it always makes me think of that. We didn't have a videographer at our wedding, but if we did--you know I'd be linking up to that bad mamma-jamma.

It also usually makes my husband laugh when it starts playing...because I start doing the "slow move".

His laugh is awesome, so that's a bonus too.

Sweet Sorrow

"A song to play at my funeral."

I hope this is the song that is played at my funeral, especially if I die before Tim and Liam. I hope that since this song has been a part of our lives in a positive way for so long that they'll be able to smile as it drifts about the funeral day. And, that as they subsequently hear it at other somber occasions they'll remember the countless bedtimes we shared with this song and that it will bring a smile to their faces. That they'll remember the times when Liam was this age and singing it sweetly to his lovies to show them how much he cares.

I know for years this brought heartache to my husband as he strongly associates it with his father's passing. I hope that it's easier for him to hear the song now and that it triggers sweet memories of a man who had such a positive impact on his life.

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

"A song that was played at your wedding."

This was the father/daughter dance at my wedding.

Here's the post reprinted about the moment. (originally posted here on 7/13/10)

Liam and I decided to stop and take a lunch break while at the zoo today and within moments of walking into the pavilion where we planned to dine heard two little girls telling (what would appear to be their step dad or their mother's boyfriend) all the ways that their DAD was fantastic, great, irreplaceable, etc. And, they continued non-stop for the 35 minutes that we were in there. And, he didn't bat an eyelash--he listened, agreed, and was down with the fact that this was a fight that he wouldn't and didn't need to win.

I know that he didn't need to win this and couldn't win this, because I was once those girls--but meaner. And, then out of nowhere (sometime in college) I realized the amazing gift I had received in my step father, because there was no "step" about it. He stepped in and has been every bit my father for 2/3 of my life. He walked me down the aisle. He was there at the birth of my child.

Some of the best things in life you have to fight for. And, we fought tooth and nail for years and I must say our relationship was worth every blow...because his unconditional love is one of the best things to ever happen to me.

Pumped

"A song that inspires you."

This song inspires me in ways that few things do these days. When listening to this song I feel like the world is mine for the taking and like nothing can stop me. Maybe it's because it was the title track in 8 Mile, and while my life was cake compared to Eminem's, I did have the need to go somewhere else --to get out of the state. To stretch myself more than I thought I could if I stayed put.

***Fun Fact: When my house was ransacked and burglarized Christmas 2005, the thieves opened the 8 Mile DVD and stole just the DVD, not the case. I guess in addition to everything else they took, the case was just too much to handle. Also, it would appear that they found the song inspirational in an entirely different way.***

Wild Card

"Wild Card.. A song that you ______________."

We decided as a group to declare today WILD CARD day. Some folks wanted to pick a song that they love to sing karoake too or sing in the shower/car.

I thought I'd just pick something that I never tire of. I love this version of this song and I love the movie too. Tim and I snuggle up with popcorn and lots of blankets every Christmas and watch Love Actually. It's such an awesome movie, if you haven't seen it before you should totally go rent/buy/Netflix it now.

This song just brings me peace and happiness.

Wishing you the very best today.

What did "9" ever do?

"A song that makes you angry."

This song makes me angry because I don't think 9 deserved to be off'd so callously. I mean come on 7, maybe you should have gone to a few anger management classes before you hauled off and ate 9.

Dude! Nine was off chillin' and there you come with your numeric-cannibalistic ways.

Give peace a chance, no?

Baby Belly Groove

"A song from your favorite album."

I could listen to Alicia Keys all day long and never tire of the sweet soul in her voice. I  can't remember how I first heard of her or where I was when I first heard her sing but I know it must have been love at the first note.

Every year our family chooses names between the siblings and more often than not I think folks end up drawing the same person. It's funny how it works out that way. My brother Christopher has had me several years and has purchased for me two of the three Alicia Keys albums that I have.

When I was pregnant with Liam I used to blast "No One" from Alicia's As I Am album in the car at a deafeningly high volume and I used to play it at home and bop around to it with him when Tim was at work. I'm positive that it was on my iPod to take to the hospital, but as it turned out when the big day came I didn't actually want any music on at all.

Every time I hear it I think of Liam and those first 9 months in my belly when it was just the two of us grooving around the house as one.

Uptown

"A song you wish you heard on the radio."

Uptown Girl was one of my earliest exposures to music. I had it on record along with another song you'll read about in a few days. I could listen to this over and over and over again by simply bumping the needle back. It instantly puts a smile on my face and makes me want to dance and sing along.

It also takes me right back to the spot in our dining room where I used to plug in my record player, pull the vinyl out of the sleeve and sing along amidst the rust colored shag carpet and avocado green appliances. I loved that house, I love my memories of the house I first grew up in. So much so that if given the opportunity to go back through it I don't think I would. I think it would shatter so many good memories.

I wonder often what will be the things that Liam will look back on fondly. Will it be a particular part of our house? A toy? Or a certain moment with Tim and I? Hopefully, he has many of each.

Firework

"A song you hear often on the radio."

In the brief moments that I get to listen to the radio on the way to and from work I listen to NPR so that I have a tiny glimpse of what is going on in the world. Liam and I don't watch television during the day and something about the sound of the radio irks him so we don't listen to it during the day either.

Since that is our reality, I chose a song that I hear far too often at any kind of public event from the circus to baseball games and every place in between.

What songs do you hear on the radio?

And, please take a moment to check out the other folks participating in the song challenge. They are listed in the mini-blogroll off to the right.

Abort Abort

"A song I used to love and now hate."

Can't we all just agree this is pretty awful?! Some boy I knew back in college loved this song and so I decided it was great too, but really it's not.

That's really all there is to say about that.

Plus my mom is in town, so I'd rather hang with her than talk about a song I hate.

I Am Woman.

"A song that describes you."

I've always been proud to be a woman. We as a gender have come a long way, but we've still got a long way left to go. I love that having a son has helped me to re-frame my feminist state-of-mind. I have to find ways to teach him about women and girls in a healthy, respectful way while embracing the fact that he is a boy who will grow up into a respectful and respected man.

It's a challenge I embrace.

Viva la women!

Home Sweet Home

"A song no one would expect you to love."

Everything about the song "I'll fly away" reminds me of my mom. As I've mentioned before she played dulcimer while I was growing up. I think she had 4 lap dulcimers and 2 hammer dulcimers for the better part of at least 10 years. She was a member of a group from the local hospital where she worked and they performed all over town at festivals and events. I was always proud that my mom could play a musical instrument and loved going along with her to bluegrass festivals all over the state.

Every year she would take me on a mother/daughter trip to Lima, Ohio for a weekend of dulcimer playing and it's one of my very favorite memories from childhood. She would go off and play with adults, I would stay back with other kids and learn to play dulcimer and penny whistle among other things.

Michigan has a thriving folk/bluegrass movement and so this song always reminds me of home.

Guilty Pleasure

"A song that is a guilty pleasure."

Oh come on now! Didn't you just break into a smile when you saw what I selected for today? How can you not grin and giggle when this song comes on the radio?! It's another one from the roller rink circa 1980 something. I always used to get a roll of SweeTarts, break it in half and slip into into the 5th pocket of my Levi's before taking a twirl around the rink. 

That and the same awful rectangular pizza that they served at school was also served here. Somehow we saw it as some sort of late-night delicacy when it was served there. Ooh, and every once in a blue moon they had "over-night-skating" aka parent date night that was the bee's knees--but really almost everyone was asleep on the nasty floor with their back against the hard lockers by 2am.

Ahh, the sweet stuff of elementary school. Wonder what Liam will look back on when he's my age?

"Hey guys, remember when we used to sit next to each other and text?"

Posers

"A song from a band you hate."

Just like music doesn't make me sad, I also don't really hate anything either. (Very non-committal I know.) I mean just change the station, why waste your time listening to something long enough to go from loathing to hating.

Anywho, I picked Milli Vanilli because I think it's sad that someone else who had the pipes didn't get a go at show biz because they were taking up air time not singing. Guess it just goes to show you that it's not always what you know/do, but who you know.

Don't torture yourself and listen to this for too long.

*Check out the other folks participating in the month long song challenge listed to the right.*

The One

"A song from your favorite band."

Tim introduced me to Gaelic Storm at some point, I don't even know when. I do know that almost every single time they are in town, we are not. We have been lucky enough to catch them a few times and they are GREAT live. I'd recommend you buy tickets right now if they are coming to a town near you.

During one of their concerts, not during this song, was when I knew that I would marry Tim. I picked this song anyway though because I love this video that someone made for it. Also, because this song is great in concert with everyone singing along.