I don’t want a movie of my life; I want to live it, not narrate it.
That said, I do sometimes think, Oh, MAN, that song would be perfect for ____.
So, a little melodic narration for a life even as I try to live it:
Funeral Songs (Or, in this case, am no longer living it)
- Poi Dog Pondering: Bury me deep
- Leonard Cohen: Bird on a wire
- David Gray: Disappearing world
- BoDeans: Closer to free
- Hem: Redwing
- Elvis Costello: All this useless beauty
- Pogues: If I should fall from grace with God
- Patty Griffin (Linda Ronstadt/Emmylou Harris): Falling down
Wedding Songs
Settle down! I am NOT getting married—not anytime soon, anyway.
But I can say that while I never dreamed of a white wedding (when I was 9 or so, I declared I’d get married in jeans and a jean jacket), I have wondered what music I’d have playing at the wedding.
That I am unlikely ever to get hitched ought not impinge upon my playlist, oughtn’t it?
So, before the ceremony (in no particular order):
- Billlie Holiday: Now or never
- Voice of the Beehive: I think I love you
- Rickie Lee Jones: We belong together
- Poi Dog Pondering: Octavio/It’s beautiful to meet you
- David Bowie: Modern love
- Eurythmics: It’s alright (baby’s coming back)
- Bonnie Raitt: Tangled and dark
- Billie Holiday: Them there eyes
- BoDeans: Say you will
And for the dance/celebration (in no particular order, and with songs for the bitter, too):
- Van Morrison: Moondance
- Nancy Griffith: Love at the five and dime
- Poi Dog Pondering: Come together
- Etta James (of course!): At last
- Etta James (of course of course!): Sunday kind of love
- Violent Femmes: Gone daddy gone
- B-52’s: 52 girls
- Poi Dog Pondering: Watermelon song
- Emmylou Harris: One big love
- The Jam: Happy together
- Holly Cole: Tennesse Waltz
- Bob Dylan: Shelter from the storm
- Aretha Franklin: Natural woman
- Carole King: I feel the earth move
- Smiths: Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before
- Patsy Cline: Crazy
- Sinead O’Connor: I want (your hands on me)
- Baaba Maal: I will follow you
- U2: I will follow
- Hem: Lucky
- X: 4th of July
- Chet Baker: Let’s get lost
- Nina Simone: I want a little sugar in my bowl
- Screamin’ Jay Hawkins: I put a spell on you
- Billy Bragg: She’s got a new spell
- Talking Heads: Girlfriend is better
- Talking Heads: This must be the place (naive melody)
- Holly Golightly: Use me
- Thee Headcoatees: Don’t want to hold your hand
- Giant Sand: The beat goes on
- BoDeans: The strangest kind
- [Cole Porter]: Night and Day
I also have a song I’d play for my, erm, beloved, but that’s staying under wraps. I will say that it is the perfect song.
Anyway, I’ll add to this, as I think of it. Suggestions welcome—the cheekier the better!
updated October 18, 2009
