Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai

The first time I ever heard this song was seeing the video on MTV while I was housesitting. It was during my first year of college and I'm realizing that a lot of the music that shaped who I am came into my life around that time! The video is bizarre and the song has such a unique sound along with discussing what a crazy world we live in-I think it all appealed to my young self struggling to find my way and figure out who I was. 

When Maroon 5 first came out, I thought they sounded just like Jamiroquai and were ripping off their sound. I didn't like them for the longest time for that reason! I do think Maroon 5 sounds a lot different now and I haven't heard anything from Jamiroquai in years so this seems funny to admit to!

I like this song because it has a relaxing sound to me. I find that an interesting contrast to the lyrics talking about how mixed up our world is and that we're living in a virtual insanity!

Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers

This song is the first one I ever slow danced with a boy to. It was my 7th grade semi formal dance in the cafeteria of the high school. I was so nervous that my friend Billy (a girl who was way ahead of me when it came to boys) took me out into the deserted hallway to teach me about hand placement and stepping, in from of a wall of lockers. That first dance was glorious and terrifying. I had a crush on that boy through middle and most of high school and while it was never reciprocated, I'll always remember that he was kind about it and became a friend to me. We shared other slow dances over the years but none of them are burned into my brain like this one. I am confident that my mother possess a photo of me, taken right before the dance, but we've been unable to find it for this post. However I didn't feel like I could write about that dance without acknowledging the dress I was wearing at the time. I did find this picture of me in it later that year at a family function. It's not quite the same but I think you can probably understand how special that dress was to me at the time.

                                                       

Then I saw Ghost when I was about 13 and my adolescent heart nearly exploded! This song is forever twisted up with all of my teenage longings and expectations about love, which were pretty much crushed as I got older. When I hear this song, they all come rushing back with images from that movie!

It's a beautiful song, there's nothing that sounds quite like it to me, even now. 

Today by The Smashing Pumpkins

This is the song that inspired me to do this project! It's definitely one of my top 5 favorite songs of all time and it never fails to get me pumped up and inspired about life. 

The first time I heard this song was seeing the video on Beavis & Butthead! I was 14 and I was on a babysitting job (don't worry, the kids were in bed!). We didn't have MTV in my house so this was always a treat for me when I was at other people's houses. When the song was over, I wrote down the song/artist information, determined to find out anything I could about these Smashing Pumpkins. (How did we ever learn anything in the days before Google?! ) Shortly after that, I got my hands on a copy of Siamese Dream on cassette tape. It was one of my first glimpses into the world of alternative rock that was opening up in the early 90s and I loved it!

During my junior year of high school I was pissed when the senior class ahead of me chose Today as their class song. It was such a perfect choice and now my class wouldn't be able to use it! I honestly can't tell you what my class song was but I remember what the class of 1995 chose! Damnit! 

In the winter of 2000, I saw Billy Corgan play solo acoustic at a small club in North Carolina. He played this song on the piano and it has always been one of the greatest concert experiences of my life. It obviously was a  different version of the song but it was almost more powerful than ever before. 

Every time I hear this song I think Yes, today is the greatest day I've ever known, no matter what's going on. The sun is shining, or the snow is beautiful, or I'm excited about my new job or sad about something, no matter what it is, I can find a way to see it as a positive when Today is playing. 

Sunshine Song by Jason Mraz

I've liked Jason Mraz since I first heard The Remedy in the early 2000's, so I went to see him in concert when he came to Bozeman almost five years ago. This is one of my favorite adventures I've had with my good friend Jake, who was my roommate for a while. He's a huge Jason Mraz fan and thanks to his membership in the official fan club, we were able to get into the show shortly before the general public and secure a spot directly in front of the stage. After the concert I think I borrowed all of his CDs that Jake had! 

This is the song Jason opened with at that concert. I had never heard it before but liked it right away. As the concert went on I was more and more impressed with Jason's messages of positivity and gratitude and his general sense of mellowness. He performed barefoot and drank from a travel mug with tea bags hanging over the side! Before the concert I hadn't realized what a down to earth soul Jason is. I've been to many concerts over the years and I've found that seeing an artist live changes my relationship with them in some way (almost always in a good way, occasionally in a negative way). Even if I'm already a fan of a musician, standing in front of him or her for a performance allows me to gain something from the music that is simply missing when listening to a recorded version. 

My favorite line is the first one "Sometimes the sun shines on other peoples houses and not mine". Isn't that a lovely way to say: sometimes life sucks and other people have it better than me? A few months after the concert, I lost my job and was unemployed for three months. I would walk my dog around the pond near our house and listen to this song two or three times in a row. Last year when that sweet dog passed away I found myself listening to this song again, to remember the times he had walked with me and brought me comfort, and also to get me through that dark time. 

There isn't an official video for this song. It's never been released as a single (that I know of) and I can't find a version of it that isn't live. I chose this video I found on YouTube because it was obviously recorded by someone in the front at a concert and it's strikingly similar to the experience I had. 

Ramona by The Ramones

Ramones laces in my roller skates

I was named after this song so it obviously has always been special to me. My father and his father are both Edwards and it was assumed that as the first grandchild, I’d be a boy and therefore another Edward. My mother tells me that as the end of her pregnancy approached, she had a sudden thought one day: What if it’s a girl?! Apparently Edwina was a possible choice but fortunately my parents were into the 70’s rock & roll scene and had recently purchased The Ramone’s Rocket To Russia on vinyl. It just so happens to include a song called Ramona and so here I am!

I've always liked having a unique name. I have a last name that people often have trouble spelling and pronouncing so I've been able to go by my just first name a lot in my life and I've enjoyed that. Once when I was a child, I wandered away from my mom in a store and as she was calling out "Ramona, where are you?" an adult voice answered from a few aisles away "I'm over here!" What a surprise that was to me because I'd never encountered anyone else with my name (besides Ramona Quimby of course)! I've come across a few other Ramonas in my life, most often on the telephone or more commonly I meet someone who has a relative with the name. Most of the time those women go by Mona but I've never had any desire to shorten my name or go by a nickname. I do have a couple of friends who have decided on their own to call me a nickname and in those cases I like it because it's something special I share only with those people I'm close to.

I absolutely love listening to this song. It will always cheer me up and give me confidence because whenever I hear it I think Oh yeah, I forgot this awesome thing about me! I also love telling people I was named after The Ramones. I think it's pretty bad ass!

Que Sera Sera by Doris Day

As I've been working on the posts for this challenge, I've realized that many of the songs I've chosen share a common theme, they remind us that everything is going to be okay. I'm not sure if I've learned that from the music or if I'm drawn to it because it speaks to my inner voice-perhaps it's a little of both!

I'll admit I've never been terribly familiar with today's song. While compiling my A to Z list, I stumbled on a couple of letters (specifically Q and X) and reached out to a couple of friends who are also music lovers for help. When my friend Melissa included this one in her list, it was like "Duh!" My mother has sang the refrain for as long as I can remember. Whenever a situation doesn't turn out as we'd hoped or when the neighbor boy crushed my adolescent feelings "Que sera sera, whatever will be will be".  She has often annoyed the hell out of me with that line!

Maybe this is where it all comes from, my belief that everything happens for a reason and my faith in The Universe. I listened to the full song for the first time when I started this challenge and I do like it. I like the fact that despite it's age, I can still relate to it and enjoy it. I think it proves my point of this project which is that music can just speak to us for a variety of reasons and when it does, it often burrows into our brains and souls and stays there, making us who we are. Here I've lived my life affected by this song and I didn't even realize it!

Push by Matchbox20

This song came out during my first year of college. I'd already had my heart broken by my high school sweetheart so I thought I knew what it was like to get tossed around. (I didn't.) I related to this song right away because it spoke to the part of me that was still angry. A few years later I heard the acoustic version and liked it even better than the original. It still has the same strength in the lyrics but without the intensity of the electric instruments. It's also a little bit slower than the original, which I think works better for it. 

Push has stayed significant to me over the years because I feel like I can relate to it at some point during any relationship: either I'm being pushed around or I'm the only doing the pushing. I've always liked the opening line "She said I don't know if I've ever been good enough, I'm a little bit rusty and I think my head is caving in. And I don't know if I've ever been truly loved by a hand that's touched me" because I've certainly felt like that at times. I think most people do at some point in their romantic lives.  

This is yet another song that has gotten me through tough times because it reminds me that I'm not the only person to ever feel this way.