Theme Songs

I thought for sure I had blogged about theme songs before. I went back to look over previous blentries only to find most of them so laughably bad that I couldn't go on. Why you people read this crap I'll never know. Why I write it is a whole other round of therapy.

Theme songs, as in personal theme songs. My life is set to the soundtrack of the music in my head. There is always music in my head. If you were here talking to me right now in an otherwise silent room, you would hear your voice and I would hear your voice set to music.

If you are saying something that is profound, maybe it is a big classical piece or deep cut track from some prog rock stadium band. If you are being funny, maybe it's a little funk or some good old Rock and Roll. Warren Zevon goes well with funny. If you are being stupid, I hear "Baby Elephant Walk" or the march of the elephants. When I am determined, Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" or Wagner's "Ride of the Valkeries" are two good ones. Sometimes, Bill Cosby's take on the "Green Hornet" theme sneaks it. That always makes me laugh. When I am walking really fast and in a hurry, I hear the "fast" music from Mario Brothers. That usually makes me laugh, too.

And so it goes.

But personal theme songs are different. They are what you hear when you think of yourself. I have had many over the years. "Africa" by Toto was the first; not because it was apropos of anything. I just liked the song.

Then it was "New Life" by Everclear because it was almost like it was written about my situation at the time. I don't go around talking about personal theme songs, because people are already sure I am weird enough. Many years after the fact that song came on when Greg and I were in the car and it hit him like a ton of bricks... "Oh my God!", he said "That was you!"

After that it was "Time" by Pink Floyd. With a lyric like "wasting away, the moments that make up the dog days; fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way; kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown; waiting for someone or something to show you the way".

It was my theme song because it represented how I felt about life, if not being quite accurate in reality.

I don't have a theme song currently. Maybe if I were going literal as I have done with prior theme songs, Kenny Loggins "I'm Alright" or Billy Joel's "My Life" would be good choices. "The Dog Days are Over" by Florence and the Machine is a good choice, too. I wrote about that song in a previous blentry.

There's a sweet little ditty called "Ooogum Boogum" that I have always liked. Please follow the link if you don't know it. It isn't a theme song contender as such, but it makes me happy.

I also like this song. It also makes me happy. It is called "Sydney(I'll Come Runnin')" It is what a good pop song should be. Maybe it's not what a theme song should be, but I like it none-the-less.

I guess it's easier to have a theme song when things aren't going so well. It is really the times that we are in pain that seem to bring out the tortured artist in us all. I know when I am in a funk I can't stop writing. I imagine it's the same for song writers. The opposite is often true when life is humming along.

Oddly, maybe we don't need theme songs when life is good. I don't know. I don't know why it is easier for me to put down thoughts on paper when I am angry or discontented. I guess maybe it's because I developed my humor as a defense mechanism against that adversity. No adversity, no humor.

I think there are innumerable examples of this in professional entertainment. Can you imagine Jimmi Hendrix all dried out and singing folk songs? Nope. How about Mamma Cass on TV hawking packaged dinners for Jenny Craig. Perish the thought.

I don't put myself in the pantheon of these genius savants, I use them only as an example. What would the raven hath quoted if Poe was happy-go-lucky? I am sorry for the tortured souls, but I appreciate the sharing of the great things that come out of that adversity.

And now, back to theme songs. Adversity or not, what is yours?