Mixed Tape Monday!

In my search today for teacher/writer ideas for writing prompts, I came across this idea:  Mixed Tape Monday.  It goes like this:  If you had to choose three songs that represent your life, what would they be, and why?  Sounds fun!  Hopefully the videos come through for you!  I submit for my first entry, Chumbawamba’s Tub-Thumping.  Why?  Well, the band title and song title made me laugh the first time I heard them!

Not only that, this song is AWESOME!  (Probably why I mentioned it in my recent novel). It also came out in 1997, a very memorable time for me.  I was twenty-nine years old and a new mom.  I was back to working full-time, and my job was stressful.  So was my marriage.  I felt like I was always cheating some other part of me by being anywhere that I was in any given moment.  Who was I?  Wife, mom, sales manager.  I didn’t really have time to be anyone else’s friend.  Well, eventually I made a friend at work, and we’d go to lunch and scream to the chorus of this song with its catchy beat and winning attitude.  Yes, in my business blouse and skirt, after picking up an Arby’s sandwich, I’d scream to this song on the way back to work.  It made me laugh, it made me forget that I wished I was somewhere else, and it made any given day better.  “I get knocked down, but I get up again.”  These were pivotal years for me.  Indeed, I did get back up.  Now, that is something to celebrate.  I’m no longer married to him, I no longer work there, and I have a good relationship with my grown son who doesn’t give me guilt if I’m doing my own thing.  On to #2…

(It is second in the playlist)

“King and Lionheart,” by Monsters and Men. This is a recent song; of course, answering this prompt in 1985 would have yielded a much different result, but you would tire of my teen Madonna obsession.  🙂  I love Of Monsters and Men, their lyrics, their sound, their videos.  This song certainly showcases the female singer’s voice, her understated strength and melody.  I like to think that understated strength represents me.   “We won’t run, we won’t run….We’re here to stay, we’re here to stay.”  I hope I exhibit that inner strength in my teaching life and in my motherhood decisions, which, by the way, I still have to make at times.

The third and final song, because this prompt only allowed me three, is “Dream Weaver,” by Gary Wright.  I’m sure it was meant to be romantic, but when I first heard it, I had no idea what romance was.  I had a pre-teen girl’s unrealistic notions, and hence, a dreamer was born.  Do you see why I loved this song so much?  I am such a dreamer.  I recall saying that to someone who asked about my writing, that I’ve been a dreamer for a long time, and until I wrote my thoughts and ideas down, a dreamer is all I was, yet, I had to start out dreaming to believe I could do it.  This song speaks of fantasy and helping me to “forget today’s pain.”  If I close my eyes, the sound effects make me feel like I’m flying.  “Fly me away to the bright side of the moon, and meet me on the other side….”  Is it any coincidence that I prefer to write science fiction?  I wonder whatever happened to Gary Wright…..

That brings me to this ambivalent thought:  These songs span about forty years.  *Gulp*  To be fair, Gary Wright’s song came out when I was four.  Okay, I won’t dwell on this part.  🙂

I hope you enjoyed this musical journey! Perhaps I’ll try it again in a year and see if it has changed!  I’d love to hear yours as well, and hey, I plan to use this idea to get a class of middle-schoolers to write.  Do you think it’ll work?

*All videos are shared from Youtube, and I have no claim and take no credit for them.

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