May 02, 2003

While waiting on the baby to be birthed, we’ll waste time with The Friday Five. Please play along.

1. Name one song you hate to admit you like.

“The Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion or “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. (Oh ye who are without cheesy moments cast the first Madonna.)

2. Name two songs that always make you cry.

I’ll have to excise the word “always” since I’ve listened to them so much by now that I’d be chronically waterlogged, but two showtunes that made me ferklempt on the first listen were “Drink With Me” (Les Mis) and “We Can Never Go Back to Before” (Ragtime), though recently Johnny Cash’s cut of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” almost did it. Then of course there’s the entire Roy Orbison catalog

3. Name three songs that turn you on.

Hmmm… Since I’m not really into audio eroticism I’ll list three that move me, all due to songs that will always stop me in my tracks and make me listen til the end, all of which are due to associations I have twixt them and people:

“Emotion in Motion” by Ric Ocasek
http://www.thesonglyrics.com/o_song_lyrics/ricocasek_lyric1.html

“In My Life” by the Beatles

“Yours Yours Yours” (1776)- composed entirely from lines taken from the letters of John and Abigail Adams, it’s probably somewhere between unpatriotic and sacrilegious to find this song erotic, but I do. (Favorite line: “Do ya still smell of vanilla and spring air?”)

4. Name four songs that always make you feel good.

Not a song really, but The Maple Leaf Rag (and any other up-tempo Joplin). For purists sake, I’ll substitute one with lyrics: “The Night that Goldman Spoke at Union Square” (Ragtime)

“Miss Otis Regrets” by Bette Midler (it’s an 80 year old song, but I only like her version)

“In that great gettin’ up mornin’” , one of those spirituals that you can’t keep your feet still while it’s playing.

Wilkommen (Cabaret, particularly the revamped version)

5. Name five songs you couldn't ever do without.

“The End” (the Doors)
“One Day More” (Les Mis)
“Rebel Soldier” (traditional Civil War- best versions are by Waylon Jennings and Tennessee Ernie Ford)
“Trouble” (Cat Stevens)
“Tradition” (Fiddler on the Roof)