What are your Personal Anthems?

[D.Shaffer]

...A bit wierd, but my personal anthem has always been some lyrics from John Adam's "Is anybody there" song from the musical 1776.

"They want to me to quit; they say
John, give up the fight
Still to England I say
Good night, forever, good night!
For I have crossed the Rubicon
Let the bridge be burned behind me
Come what may, come what may

Commitment!

The croakers all say we'll rue the day
There'll be hell to pay in fiery purgatory
Through all the gloom, through all the gloom
I see the rays of ravishing light and glory!"

 

[Jdvn1]

I like Drive, by Incubus. Good song. I think Incubus is a good band.

QFT.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor. It always gets me pumped up. I like to listen to this before playing lacrosse. It really gets me in the right frame of mind to play.

In The End by Linkin Park and Best Imitation of Myself by Ben Folds Five. These songs remind me of myself when I was in my teens and had a lot less confidence and self-esteem than I have now. I feel like I'm a totally different person now compared to then but these songs remind me of those times (in a good, motivating sort of way).

The Luckiest by Ben Folds. This was our wedding song. It always reminds me of my relationship with my wife.

American Pie by Don McLean. Despite not being American or alive when Buddy Holly died I absolutely love this song. I'm not quite sure why but it would be close to my favourite song of all time.

The Holy Grail by Hunters and Collectors. Makes me think of AFL (Australian Rules Football), one of my great loves (what can I say, I'm a bit of a sports nut ). It also is a song I like to listen to before playing sport. Like Eye Of The Tiger, it also gets me in the right frame of mind to play.

I'm sure there are others but I can't think of them at this very moment.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Aurora]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thEiXbovv98

 

[Agamon]

White & Nerdy - Weird Al Yankovic (I think this applies to more than a couple of us).

Everybody Have Fun Tonight - Wang Chung (cause having fun is important!)

Paralyzer - Finger Eleven (hate the club scene, might have to resort to looking online...)

I Love You - Sarah McLachlan (...of course, had I been smarter in my youth, that wouldn't be a problem)

Black Parade - My Chemical Romance (good pick me up song when I'm feeling down)

Don't Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFarren (for the stressful times)

If Everyone Cared - Nickleback (the wishful optimist in me)

Knights of Cydonia - Muse (a great D&D song, and frickin' awesome video, to boot)

 

[Wombat]

American Pie by Don McLean. Despite not being American or alive when Buddy Holly died I absolutely love this song. I'm not quite sure why but it would be close to my favourite song of all time.

...given that I was born The Day The Music Died (02/03/59), this has always been an important song to me as well.

On my birthday/their deathday, I always play some Buddy Holly & Ritchie Valens music ... and usually play Chantilly Lace, but not always. I feell I owe it to them for the strange coincidence.

So bye, bye, Miss American pie...

 

[Mycanid]

Been thinking about it a bit ... another one came to mind.

It is an instrumental piece, a piece of traditional music from the country of Kazakhstan. It is played on a Dombra (a two stringed guitar thingee: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dombra) and it is called "The Mountain". It portrays life as a trip up and down a mountain ... and it is very beautiful and thought provoking. It is amazing how much the player was able to get out of a two stringed instrument....

 

[Arkham]

Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd - I had many issues when I was younger... I thought I wanted the whole world to go away, and this song expresses that feeling.
Everything Louder than Everything Else - Meatloaf - This helped me get over the above issues.
Famous Blue Raincoat - Leonard Cohen - It reminds me of many people I miss...

 

[Mycanid]

Thought perhaps it might be fitting if I provided a link to hear some of these admittedly rare pieces of music I chose.

Here is a snippet of Little Brown Island in the Middle of the Sea (in Scottish Eilean Beag Donn A' Chuain) played by Alasdair Fraser: http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-...02/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_002/102-0676790-2761740

Here is a snippet of Hela Megruli by Ensemble Georgika: http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-...02/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_002/102-0676790-2761740

As for Dombra music excerpts ... I have yet to come across a site that shows snippets of play the way I heard it done. The musician was an American who went to Kazakhstan and trained for years. He had a delicate touch on the Dombra that was simply amazing to hear....

 

[Crothian]

My Secret Origin

There was a boy who knew he could be anything that he wanted to.
Everybody told him he had a singular special destiny.
Everybody said he'd go far--everybody said he'd be a star.
They said he could be anything he wanted to be--then he turned into me.

Now it seems increasingly unlikely that I'm gonna grow up to be Luke Skywalker
--not gonna be Indiana Jones.
And after all this time it's probably not gonna turn out that I’m the super-powered heir to a world that isn't there anymore.

But somebody told me I was special.
Somebody told me that I could be anything I wanted to be.
How could they have known the dreams I had were not the dreams they had for me?
They said I could be what I wanted--they had no idea what I wanted.

And I don't mean to seem ungrateful for all their encouragement and praise.
I just meant to say that I don't intend to stay and spend another wasted year, cause at the end I bet I'd still be sitting here wasting time and waiting.

I'm waiting for my Lady of the Lake to come and crown me king.
I'm waiting for my rocket to land so I can get my power ring.
I'm waiting for my radioactive meteorite to fall.
I'm waiting but I ain’t got no meteorite at all.
I'm waiting for my story to begin. I'm waiting for my

I'm not done. Don't count me out of it--my story isn't over yet. I'm not the son of some roman god but anyway I think I'm gonna be okay.
And looking back I find it seems I've always had unlikely dreams but I can't let that stop me now, it's time to grow up anyhow.
And I may not be Hercules but here's my new philosophy: