The soundtrack of our lives

I don't usually participate in blog memes--I like reading them others' blogs, but never get around to joining in--but this one, which I spotted on Fermicat's blog, looked like fun, and it's a twist on the recurring Random 10 feature. It's sort of a musical I Ching.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

Here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every item, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new item, press the "next" button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...


Opening Credits: "One Big Love," Patty Griffin ("Let's take a ride to the seaside/We can go out swimming in the high tide/Just wear your shorts and your long hair/Don't forget the lawn chair")

--Well, that's a promising start! I guess my life will be a fun summer romp ...


Waking Up: "Leave the Biker," Fountains of Wayne ("Please leave the biker/Leave the biker/Break his heart")

--... though not without some bumps in the road.


First Day at School: "La La La," The Bird and the Bee ("If there's someone you don't like/You don't have to say hello/There's no reason you should leave/There's no reason you should go")

--Sounds like good enough advice, though the guidance office probably wouldn't like the "there's no reason you should go" part.


Falling in Love: "She Loves You," K.J. Denhert ("She says she loves you/And you know that can't be bad/Yes, she loves you/And you know you should be glad")

--Apparently, in my biopic, I'm heterosexual, rather like Cole Porter in "Night and Day."


Fight Song: "Greenman," XTC ("Please to dance round for the one called the Greenman/He wants to make you his bride")

--Would only be a good choice for a fight song if they set my biopic in pagan England.


Breaking Up: "She's Leaving Home," Harry Nilsson ("Quietly turning the backdoor key/Stepping outside she is free")

--We gave her everything money could buy!


Prom: "Mermaids," Swan Dive ("It was over the waves we go/Diving for coral down below/Love was the undertow/When we were mermaids")

--I was kind of hoping for Fountains of Wayne's "Prom Theme" here, but this one works, actually.


Mental Breakdown: "That Teenage Feeling," Neko Case ("Now that we've met/We can only laugh at these regrets")

--Regrets, I've had a few.


Driving: "Kid Gloves," Fountains of Wayne ("Here is what I've found/New York just gets me down/When the going got tough/I got a bus ticket/Back to my home town")

Flashback: "Girl on a Wire," Swan Dive ("Higher and higher/Girl on a wire/Don't look down")

Getting Back Together: "Sleep Late, My Lady Friend," Harry Nilsson ("Sleep late, my lady friend/Let the warm summer breeze/Drift through your window")

--Let me amend my previous comment. I am relentlessly hetero in my biopic.


Wedding: "In the Name of Love," Kenny Rankin ("What burns and glows without flame?/What lives and grows without rain?/What brings a smile that lasts for a little while/Then makes me cry without shame?/How can you please me then and torture and tease me/And do it in the name of love?")

Birth of Child: "Down From Dover," Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra ("My body aches, the time is here, it's lonely in this place where I'm lyin'/Our baby has been born, but something's wrong, it's much too still, I hear no cryin'/I guess in some strange way she knew she'd never have a father's arms to hold her/So dying was her way of telling me he wasn't coming down from Dover")

--Yes, that's right, my iPod picked the one song I own that's explicitly about the death of a child. I thought Lee Hazlewood wrote it, but apparently it was Dolly Parton, though I've never heard her version. It's quite a tear jerker.


Final Battle: "Like Lovers Do," Lloyd Cole ("Everyday you're so sad to see me/And I'm so glad to take the blame/It's always going to be that way")

Death Scene: "My Finest Hour," Paula Kelley ("I want my finest hour to be/When everything's a part of you's a part of me")

Funeral Song: "Writers Are a Funny Breed," Jane Siberry ("You said someday when we're pure and high/We won't need to capture and describe/The things we see or don't see/We'll let things be/Let things be/That's when you'd leave")

End Credits: "Back to Even," Bill Lloyd ("I've been in the red and I've been in the black/It's good to be back to even.")

--And I guess that's a good enough place to end up.