Songs that define who you are

[jgbrowning]

Is that the Lucinda Williams song?

I don't know. I believe Jennyanykind wrote it in 1996 or '95. I wonder if she covered it?

joe b.

 

[The_Fan]

Falling for the first time, by Barenaked Ladies.

I'm so cool, too bad I'm a loser
I'm so smart, too bad I can't get anything figured out
I'm so brave, too bad I'm a baby
I'm so fly, that's probably why it
Feels just like I'm falling for the first time

I'm so green, it's really amazing
I'm so clean, too bad I can't get all the dirt off of me.
I'm so sane, it's driving me crazy
It's so strange, I can't believe it
Feels just like I'm falling for the first time

Anyone perfect must be lying, anything easy has its cost
Anyone plain can be lovely, anyone loved can be lost
What if I lost my direction? What if I lost sense of time?
What if I nursed this infection? Maybe the worst is behind
It feels just like I'm falling for the first time
It feels just like I'm falling for the first time

I'm so chill, no wonder it's freezing
I'm so still, I just can't keep my fingers out of anything
I'm so thrilled to finally be failing
I'm so done, turn me over cause it
Feels just like I'm falling for the first time

Anything plain can be lovely, anything loved can be lost
Maybe I lost my direction, what if our love is the cost?
Anyone perfect must be lying, anything easy has its cost
Anyone plain can be lovely, anyone loved can be lost
What if I lost my direction? What if I lost sense of time?
What if I nursed this infection? Maybe the worst is behind

 

[Zander]

They All Laughed by Gershwin & Gershwin

The odds were a hundred to one against me

The world thought the heights were too high to climb

But people from Missouri never incensed me

Oh, I wasn't a bit concerned

For from hist'ry I had learned

How many, many times the worm had turned

They all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round

They all laughed when Edison recorded sound

They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother when they said that man could fly

They told Marconi wireless was a phony, it's the same old cry

They laughed at me wanting you, said I was reaching for the moon

But oh, you came through, now they'll have to change their tune

They all said we never could be happy, they laughed at us and how!

But ho, ho, ho! Who's got the last laugh now?

They all laughed at Rockefeller Center, now they're fighting to get in

They all laughed at Whitney and his cotton gin

They all laughed Fulton and his steamboat, Hershey and his chocolate bar

Ford and his Lizzie, kept the laughers busy, that's how people are

They laughed at me wanting you, said it would be, "Hello, Goodbye."

But oh, you came through, now they're eating humble pie

They all said we'd never get together, darling, let's take a bow

For ho, ho, ho! Who's got the last laugh?

Hee, hee, hee! Let's at the past laugh, Ha, ha, ha! Who's got the last laugh now?

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

Falling for the first time, by Barenaked Ladies.

*grins* Great song... very special to The Universe and I.

 

[billd91]

I can't say that any song defines me, though there are some that I really relate to or that are capable of inspiring me to be the best me I can be. Most of them tend to be fairly political though.

I've always been partial to:

Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards by Billy Bragg

It may have been Camelot for Jack and Jacqueline
But on the Che Guevara highway filling up with gasoline
Fidel Castro's brother spies a rich lady who's crying
Over luxury's disappointment
So he walks over and he's trying
To sympathise with her but he thinks that he should warn her
That the Third World is just around the corner

In the Soviet Union a scientist is blinded
By the resumption of nuclear testing and he is reminded
That Dr Robert Oppenheimer's optimism fell
At the first hurdle

In the Cheese Pavilion and the only noise I hear
Is the sound of someone stacking chairs
And mopping up spilt beer
And someone asking questions and basking in the light
Of the fifteen fame filled minutes of the fanzine writer

Mixing Pop and Politics he asks me what the use is
I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses
While looking down the corridor
Out to where the van is waiting
I'm looking for the Great Leap Forwards

Jumble sales are organised and pamphlets have been posted
Even after closing time there's still parties to be hosted
You can be active with the activists
Or sleep in with the sleepers
While you're waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

One leap forward, two leaps back
Will politics get me the sack?

here comes the future and you can't run from it
If you've got a blacklist I want to be on it

It's a mighty long way down rock 'n roll
From Top of the Pops to drawing the dole

If no one seems to understand
Start your own revolution and cut out the middleman

In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room

So join the struggle while you may
The Revolution is just a T-shirt away
Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards



And, not so political but related to being the descendent of Irish immigrants, Thousands are Sailing by the Pogues:

The island it is silent now
But the ghosts still haunt the waves
And the torch lights up a famished man
Who fortune could not save

Did you work upon the railroad
Did you rid the streets of crime
Were your dollars from the white house
Were they from the five and dime

Did the old songs taunt or cheer you
And did they still make you cry
Did you count the months and years
Or did your teardrops quickly dry

Ah, no, says he, ’twas not to be
On a coffin ship I came here
And I never even got so far
That they could change my name

Thousands are sailing
Across the western ocean
To a land of opportunity
That some of them will never see
Fortune prevailing
Across the western ocean
Their bellies full
Their spirits free
They’ll break the chains of poverty
And they’ll dance

In manhattan’s desert twilight
In the death of afternoon
We stepped hand in hand on broadway
Like the first man on the moon

And the blackbird broke the silence
As you whistled it so sweet
And in Brendan Behan’s footsteps
I danced up and down the street

Then we said goodnight to broadway
Giving it our best regards
Tipped our hats to mister Cohen
Dear old times square’s favorite bard

Then we raised a glass to JFK
And a dozen more besides
When I got back to my empty room
I suppose I must have cried

Thousands are sailing
Again across the ocean
Where the hand of opportunity
Draws tickets in a lottery
Postcards we’re mailing
Of sky-blue skies and oceans
From rooms the daylight never sees
Where lights don’t glow on christmas trees
But we dance to the music
And we dance

Thousands are sailing
Across the western ocean
Where the hand of opportunity
Draws tickets in a lottery
Where e’er we go, we celebrate
The land that makes us refugees
From fear of priests with empty plates
From guilt and weeping effigies
And we dance

 

[Wombat]

I'll go with good ol' Pete Townsend & The Who

I'm One

Every year is the same
And I feel it again,
I'm a loser - no chance to win.
Leaves start falling,
Come down is calling,
Loneliness starts sinking in.

But I'm one.
I am one.
And I can see
That this is me,
And I will be,
You'll all see
I'm the one.

Where do you get
Those blue blue jeans?
Faded patched secret so tight.
Where do you get
That walk oh so lean?
Your shoes and your shirts
All just right.
But I'm one etc.

I got a Gibson
Without a case
But I can't get that even tanned look on my face.
Ill fitting clothes
I blend in the crowd,
Fingers so clumsy
Voice too loud.

But I'm one.

 

[Wombat]

I can't say that any song defines me, though there are some that I really relate to or that are capable of inspiring me to be the best me I can be. Most of them tend to be fairly political though.

I've always been partial to:

Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards by Billy Bragg

Dead brilliant song off of a brilliant album. I salute your tastes

 

[Templeton580]

*

 

[Desdichado]

"Mickey" by Toni Basil. That is, if my name were Mickey.

 

[Umbran]

Dare to be Stupid by Weird Al Yankovic