If You Belonged Here

Theme Songs

I've already set the stage for this post, and you're probably wondering how far I think I can take this one. The answer: far.

After all, if anyone ever wants a to make a movie of my life, and quite frankly, I'm surprised producers aren't lining up to do just that, they will have to know that I demand complete and total control of the soundtrack, at least for the scenes that feature me, which should be all of them. I've spent an impressive (collective) chunk of time over the years putting together theme cds for my friends. To name a few theme titles:

Bounce with Me
Drinking Games
Independent Woman Blues

I think I was inspired by The Bridget Jones Diary scene where Bridget plays the sad, drunken deejay in her flat, leaving a mess of discarded cds in her wake. I don't like untidiness, people, but I have been known to do a little drinking and get all weird and melancholy or feel an overwhelming need to get my groove on alone in my living room, and having to play drunken deejay is not as fun as it sounds. Now you're probably thinking I should just get an iPod, right, but up until a short time ago that was not an option. Besides, mailing a copy of my playlist just isn't anywhere near as fun as sending a cd via the great and might U.S.P.S.

Anyway, I lost myself. I was going to tell you all about my first theme song:

Left of Center, by Suzanne Vega

The song still gives me flashes of that fifteen-year-old, world-weary feeling I used to walk around nursing. Of course, I've always been odd, a little out of sync with the rest of the girls, so to speak, and I did an awful lot of staring before I realized how uncomfortable it makes people. Seriously. I think I should let the free world in on a little known fact: if I stared at you anytime at all between fifth grade and tenth, well, you should know that I was blind as a bat, refused to wear my glasses which were woefully past their day of being useful anyway, and would not get contacts until the eleventh grade. At which point, if I was staring at you, I meant it. But not before, people, because before I couldn't see three feet past my nose.

Okay, now that we've cleared that up, let's move on to the next song. I went through them pretty quickly in the early years, trying them on and discarding them like so many high school quarterbacks and skater boys, but I'm not here to make excuses.

Next song:

Close to Me, The Cure

To this day, if I come across this song on the radio while clicking across the dial, I take it as a sign from the universe that something big, something wonderful, is about to happen. Twice I have heard this song while driving along towards a freshly spun rainbow; both times I was contemplating a major decision which took faith and determination to undertake; both times things worked out in a life-changing way in my favor. But even when there is no rainbow painting the sky pretty, this song is always a good omen. If only because I say so.

And no, I'm not telling about all of the half-dozen times or so that I heard this song on the radio and had my life transform. Not gonna do it. But you can take my word for it, each time was memorable and, well, one of them was Mr. Poppins. There, are you happy? I told you a secret.

I have to pause here, but I promise, I've got more to tell. There are at least two major theme songs after these and who knows how many minor. And then there are all of the theme songs I assign to my friends, which may seem like a repeat of Diosa's post but I have different songs and reasons, so it isn't.

The Greatest Mystery

It's time to love us up some Kokology again, people. This question hails from page 125 and would like to meet someone who likes long walks on the beach and skinny dipping....

Nobody really likes to dwell on the subject, but take just a moment now to think about what happens to us after we dies. Does the soul move on to another world, or is death the absolute and final extinction of the self? Do you believe in heaven and hell or that the soul is reborn in a new body on earth? People have been wondering about these same questions for thousands of years, but in the end we have to admit that we just don't know. In this life, death remains the greatest mystery of all.

In this scenario, imagine that the soul survives after death. What form do you imagine it takes once it is freed from the body?

1. The soul is the same size and shape as its body was in life.
2. The soul retains its human form but expands in size.
3. The soul is tiny and human shaped, like a fairy.
4. The soul is a like a ball of flame or a cloud, without definite form.

Okay, so I wouldn't say flame or cloud but ball of light is pretty much what I was thinking, definitely not a tiny or expanded human form and probably not the same size and shape as the body in life (these thighs are not following me to the next plane, I can tell you that right now). So, yes, number 4 will have to do: without definite form.

And since it's been working out so well, except for a few of you low-down cheating, non-participatory lurker types, (yeah, I said it; watcha gonna do, comment???) I'm going to post the key here right now.

Setting the Stage

So the Dol was driving along, thinking about me and my blog because, hey, that's what she does, when an epiphany hit her: theme songs.

And she's right, it's a perfect topic for me because I always have one and, as the Dol reminded me, it's a topic I feel strongly about. Now there are a lot of songs that have gone earworm on me and so serve as the background music for different parts of my life: Close to You by The Carpenters, Don't Put Another Dime in the Jukebox by The Flirts, and We Built this City on Rock and Roll by Jefferson Starship all spring to mind. But none of them were personal anthems, they were more like the muzak in the elevator ride to teen angst.

By the way, the video clip of We Built this City on Rock and Roll is actually a cover by Kids Incorporated. Lord, I wanted to be that blond girl with the big bangs and glitter hairspray. Try to resist watching it now.

Oh, and before you judge me, let me take this opportunity to throw Bookgirl under the bus: she was a Kiss fan. I know because she had the t-shirt. Sorry, Bookgirl, but if I'm going down I'm taking someone with me.

So what was the first anthem? To tell you the truth, whatever I answer will probably be wrong, I've had so many that it's hard not to overlook the stray theme here or there. But if I had to say something, I'd say Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper. First there was the video (remember when MTV still showed videos and nothing but videos twenty-four hours a day?) and then there was the movie of the same name starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt, and Shannen Doherty. Guess who played the little dorky girl.

Don't worry, I'll wait while you watch the clips of the original video and the movie's dance finale. Lord, I wanted hair like Cyndi and to be able to dance like Sarah Jessica. I also wanted to be able to velcro my way to cool like Helen Hunt. And I don't think the wanting ever really went away. Does anyone else even remember this movie??? Sigh.

Anywho. Since I was about seven when the song came out, and maybe nine when the movie followed, I'm not sure which lyrics, specifically, I thought reflected my life, but perhaps you people could provide some insight. Let me remind you of what they were in case you've forgotten:

I come home in the morning light, My mother says when you gonna live your life right, Oh mother dear we're not the fortunate ones, And girls they want to have fun, Oh girls just want to have fun

The phone rings in the middle of the night, My father yells what you gonna do with your life, Oh daddy dear you know you're still number one, But girls they want to have fun, Oh girls just want to have - , That's all they really want, Some fun, When the working day is done, Girls - they want to have fun, Oh girls just want to have fun

Some boys take a beautiful girl, And hide her away from the rest of the world, I want to be the one to walk in the sun, Oh girls they want to have fun, Oh girls just want to have, That's all they really want, Some fun, When the working day is done, Girls - they want to have fun, Oh girls just want to have fun, They want to have fun, They want to have fun....

Now, admittedly, I didn't get a real pay-with-a-check job, receive my first middle of the night phone call, or stay out until the morning light until I was fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen respectively--and I certainly can't claim to have been a particularly fun third-grader--but this was, delusional or not, my song. It got me through the elementary school years.

Of course you all know about my time with Joey McIntyre from NKOTB but I wouldn't exactly claim Please Don't Go Girl as a theme song, more like wishful thinking. And by the way, that blue type there is a link to the video. I should be too ashamed to admit that I am still a little attracted to thirteen-year-old Joey McIntyre in that way but I just can't help myself, people, I'm shameless. He was so HOT.

It's official: I am going to hell.

But inappropriate affections for young Master Joe or not--sorry, Mr. Poppins--I still can't say it was a theme song. No, I would get all the way through junior high and into high school before I came into my first serious theme song.

Anybody care to guess? Because this post is getting long and I'm barely getting started.