My Life Playlist, Part Three (Please scroll down to see Parts One and Two)

This is the final installment for my list. Thanks all for playing! Carla will be reviewing your stories over the weekend, and we’ll post the winner on Monday!

Dancin’ In The Streets:
The Reflex (Dance Mix), Duran Duran and
Straight Up (Ultimix Mix), Paula Abdul (If I had the room, I would have added “Dancing With Myself” by Billy Idol here. You see, I had a closet fixation with dance music, but I could not, in any way, dance. If you have seen the Seinfeld episode where Elaine dances, then you can get a mental picture of just how wretched my writhing was on the dance floor. I’m not exaggerating. I was once kicked off a dance floor by some woman in a dark red skirt at a place called Rascals, now a stately Hooters restaurant/bar in Towson. With that said, I got wonderful vibes from some of the remixes of the top pop hits of the eighties. Two of them were The Reflex and Straight Up, which later became workout songs (yeah, that’s right. I used to work out). Last autumn I put together a reunion slide show with songs from the seventies, eighties, and nineties. When I revisited these songs, I could feel the urge to dance rising through me. Luckily, I was home alone, and no damage has been inflicted on my wife or any of my children. I plan on keeping it that way, too.)

NOTE: I’m going to post the rest of the songs now, with a few more annotations. I hope to return to them in future posts to tell you the stories behind these songs. I don’t want to leave you hanging with my 99, though, for the next three weeks. So here they are….

Just Rus: (These songs have helped define who I am today)
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Elton John/Bernie Taupin
Vincent, Don McLean
Roxanne, The Police
Pictures of You, The Cure
Fade Into You, Mazzy Star
Sweetness Follows, R.E.M.
Break It Down Again, Tears For Fears
The Impending Death of the Virgin Spirit, William Ackerman
Silent All These Years, Tori Amos
The Promise, Tracy Chapman
I Will Not Take These Things For Granted, Toad the Wet Sprocket
Orion in the Sky, Shawn Colvin, with David Crosby, Live
Donizetti-L’Elisir d’Amore-Una Furtiva Lagrima, Aria performed by Tito Schipa, from the Lorenzo Oil soundtrack
Variations on the Kanon by Pachelbel, George Winston
All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow
Principles of Lust [(A) Sadeness, (B) Find Love, (C) Sadeness (Reprise)], Enigma
Prologue, John Williams, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Sugaree, Grateful Dead, 4/30/77
Dear Prudence, Jerry Garcia Band, 2/29/80

Walkin’ Man: (I section-hiked much of the Appalachian Trail and spent a year on a farm and another two years in a log cabin before I met my wife. The songs that follow chronicle those years after college.)
You Can’t Always Get What You Want, The Rolling Stones
Appalachian Morning, Paul Winter, Songs for the Earth
We, The Roches
Tweeter and the Monkey Man, Traveling Wilburys
Gaia, James Taylor
Proud Mary, Credence Clearwater Revival
The End of Innocence, Don Henley

Stage Center: (Theater has always been an important part of my life, from playing vinyls of Andrea McArdle on my sister’s player to writing full-scale productions for a k-12 school, I’ve done and enjoyed it all.)
Maybe, Andrea McArdle, Annie
Comedy Tonight, Jason Alexander and Company, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
Magic to Do, Ben Vereen and Players, Pippin
What I Did For Love, Original Cast, A Chorus Line
Moonshine Lullaby, Ethel Merman, Annie Get Your Gun
Prologue, Andrew Lloyd Webber, The Phantom of the Opera
Prologue, Leonard Bernstein, West Side Story
For Good, Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth, Wicked

Road-Trips with T-Light: (We drove north on two-lane roads looking for bullfrogs and all-night diners; we taped the various sounds of zippers by ponds at 4 in the morning; and we sought out the greatest duck-crossing sign in the mid-atlantic and brought it home, fearing the entire ride back for the lives of the little duckies that no longer had the protection to cross safely. Our road trips were unique, spontaneous, and always adventurous. How we have lived to tell their stories still baffles my mind.)
Suite-Judy Blue Eyes, Crosby, Stills & Nash
American Pie, Don McLean
If You Leave, O.M.D. (Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark)
Fast Car, Tracy Chapman
Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Tears for Fears
My Generation, The Who, Live at Leeds
Walking on Sunshine, Katrina and the Waves

Donnon, Just Exactly Perfect: (a wonderful spirit and friend named Donnon died on March 17, 2002, and when I went to his viewing a few days following, four of his friends went up to his casket and sang “We Bid You Goodnight” by the Grateful Dead. It was one of the most touching tributes I have ever seen. The next day, I went to Record and Tape Traders and found Nightfall of Diamonds, which had a recording of this song. I took it home and played it over and over, cherishing Donnon’s memory. I tried to listen to other songs from this band I knew nothing about (my roommate fifteen years earlier absolutely loved them, but I paid no attention at the time), but I just didn’t get it. Then, in 2003, I met another teacher, K-Man, who was into the Dead as much as Donnon was. He tried to turn me on to a few cds, but I still didn’t get it. Then, in 2005, he came into my room telling me about Jerry just tearing it up on Truckin’. He played the Estimated > St. Stephen > Truckin’ > Around & Around run, and I was hooked. Donnon is with me for every show I download and buy, and he’s helped me find a part of me that Kurt first led me to a long time ago when I was in high school. One final note about Donnon: On the six-year anniversary of his death, I went to his grave site to visit him and tell him how grateful I was for him, then and now. I got out of my jeep and let my iPod continue to play, even though I had turned off the ignition. I left Donnon a single Rose and a note that said, simply, Not Fade Away. I spent about 25 minutes at the stone, and when I returned to my Jeep, that very song was playing when I turned on the ignition. Do I believe in signs? You bet.)  
We Bid You Goodnight, Grateful Dead, 10/16/89
Estimated Prophet > St. Stephen > Truckin’ > Around & Around, Grateful Dead, 11/2/77
He’s Gone, Grateful Dead, Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack, Disc 4, October 1974
Estimated Prophet > St. Stephen > Not Fade Away > Drumz > St. Stephen > Terrapin Station > Sugar Magnolia, Grateful Dead, 6/9/77

Writer’s Song: (The soundtracks that have shaped my writing)
Telegraph Road, Dire Straits
The Passion of Christ Soundtrack
Lorenzo’s Oil Soundtrack
Cristofori’s Dream, Lanz
Eleanor Rigby, The Beatles
Postcards from Carraway Station Soundtrack

Songs of Love: (The cornerstone of what I am all about; more on these later.)
Moonlight Sonata, Adagio Sostenuto, Beethoven
Borderline, Madonna
Paradise By The Dashboard Light, Meatloaf
Right Here Waiting, Richard Marx
On Your Shore, Enya
The Water Is Wide, James Taylor
Moondance, Van Morrison
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, The Police
I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston
Watershed, Indigo Girls
Peaceful, Easy Feeling, The Eagles
Dawn, Pride and Prejudice soundtrack
Amie, Pure Prairie League
Melting, Tristan Prettyman
Turn On Your Lovelight, Grateful Dead, Ladies & Gentleman, April 1971
The Love Each Other, Grateful Dead, 6/9/77
All You Need Is Love, The Beatles

Ode To My Family (doo-doo doo-doo…): (Two sections here: one with Mom and Dad, ending with January Stars, which I played for Mom’s funeral, as well as for her sister’s a few years back. The second section is my family with my wife and children. I look forward to bringing these songs to life soon, as well.)
Pennsylvania 6-5000, Glenn Miller Band
These Boots Are Made For Walkin’, Nancy Sinatra
Harper Valley PTA, Jeannie C. Riley
I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Frank Sinatra, Live at the Sands with Count Basie
Spring Cloudburst, Dan Gibson, Harmony
January Stars, George Winston

A Whole New World, Brad Kane & Lea Salonga, Aladdin
Brown-Eyed Girl, Van Morrison
You’ll Be In My Heart, Phil Collins, Tarzan
Swept Away, Yanni, Live at the Acropolis
Shepherd Moons, Enya
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Sarah McLachlan and BareNaked Ladies
Baby It’s Cold Outside, Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone, Elf Soundtrack

The Spiritual Quest: (I am an extremely spiritual person who can’t nail down a single darned belief. These songs have helped define that rocky spiritual journey, one that I’m still on, trying to find my corner of the sky. Exactly twenty years ago this week I became a born-again Christian. Well, somewhere around 1998 I died again, and I’ve been struggling ever since with Christianity (Please God, let me heed the signs you’ve been sending me….). I end with Christine Kane’s “(You Don’t Have To) Say Goodbye” simply because it seemed like the perfect bookend to Donnon’s “We Bid You Goodnight.” That’s where I am in my life, feeling a change in the seasons, in this cycle. It’s exciting and terrifying, all in the same breath. But that’s where I am, and so I keep walkin’, I keep walkin’. . . .
Day By Day, Stephen Schwartz, Godspell
Corner of the Sky, John Rubenstein, Pippin
Life In One Day, Howard Jones
Secret O’ Life, James Taylor, Live
Summer Solstice, Susan Ashton
More Than Words, Extreme
With Imagination (I’ll Get There), Harry Connick, Jr.
All I Ever Have To Be (Live), Amy Grant
I’ll Lead You Home, Michael W. Smith
Wondering Again What’s Behind the Eyes, William Ackerman
Earthrise, Steven Halpern, Chakra Suite
Ripple, Grateful Dead, Reckoning, October 1980
(You Don’t Have To) Say Goodnight, Christine Kane, Live, 2000