Someone asked me,
"If you were making a Soundtrack of Your Life,
and it all had to fit on one normal audio CD,
What songs would you choose?"

That question has been brewing in my mind for about a year now,
and finally I just had to try it...
so,
HERE IT IS:

(click on each title to hear the song)


(Running Length 68:04)


House Of The Rising Sun - The Animals


I don’t know when I first heard this song, it has always been part of me.
I was born in New Orleans in 1959, and just by coincidence
(if you believe in coincidence)
this was the song my guitar teacher chose when I took lessons.
It was the first and only song I ever learned to play on the guitar.
I sold the guitar for $16 to a stranger
who picked me up hitchhiking one day.
The cash was easier to carry, and I never could really play it anyway.


Symphony #40 – Mozart

My father used to play this to calm us down at bedtime,
and I think every note of it is burned into my brain.
Since it is over 35 minutes long it would kill this compilation,
so this little excerpt is just a reminder.
I played the whole thing for each of my newborn children
as soon as I brought them home from the hospital,
as a symbolic gesture of “the first music you ever heard”.
Thanks, Dad!


Within You Without You - The Beatles

The Beatles probably had more influence on me than any other group,
and we listened to many of their albums countless times.
It is nearly impossible to choose just one Beatles song
to represent their place in my life,
but this one clearly stands out from the rest
as something that really spoke to me personally.


Almost Cut My Hair – CSNY

There was something about the late sixties that really attracted me,
but I was born a little too late to really feel a part of what was going on in society around then.
I was not even ten years old during “The Summer of Love”,
so as a teenager my question to the world was,
“Where Did Everybody Go”?
By the time I hit the streets it seemed like the party was over,
and I was frustrated
because it didn’t seem like I fit into anything around me.
I resented school, church, government, and just about everything else.


The Way I Choose - Bad Company

One summer, we converted the garage storage area into a clubhouse.
Into this little closet we wedged a desk, a lamp and a turntable.
I would sit in this tiny space, smoke, and build little plastic models
while listening to this record over and over for hours and hours at a time.
There’s nothing like paint fumes and Bad Company!
There were several songs to choose from on this album,
but it was around this time that I started to notice girls,
so this one seems to fit best.


Hello In There - John Prine

My whole life I have desperately wanted to “be cool”,
or at least have people think of me as being cool.
One night when I was in ninth grade, I was riding around with some friends
and one of them suggested we stop at the house of one of his father’s friends.
He lived in a quaint little cabin behind a head shop and did woodcarving for a living.
He was a older person (late 50’s?) but the minute I met him I knew he was
the coolest guy I had ever been around.
At one point he picked up a guitar and started singing this song, and I was just blown away.
It wasn’t until much later that I realized that being cool was not really what I had been seeking,
it was caring for people,
showing compassion, and sharing,
It was love.
He was cool, I wasn’t.
I will never forget that night or this song.


Landslide - Fleetwood Mac

Almost by accident (if you believe in accidents)
in the summer of 1977 I found myself living in a community in Austin, TX
that had been set up as a “libertarian experiment”.
I’m not sure how the experiment turned out, but it was there that I tried my own
personal experiment with a major recreational drug, crystal methedrine.
Just as the rush was coming on,
someone turned on the stereo and started playing this song.
I thought it was the most beautiful song I had ever heard.
even when I hear it now I get a chill.
That day started my own personal landslide in a way,
but let’s not go there…


Come Sail Away – Styx

Within a year I had joined the Navy to learn electronics.
It was a short career that ended badly,
but I had to include this song as part of my history.
We had been in boot camp for four or five weeks,
with no contact with the outside world other than letters,
and one day they let us all pitch in a few bucks to buy a radio.
When we turned it on, this is the first song we heard.
It was so appropriate, it seemed beyond coincidence.


Can't Find my Way Home - Blind Faith

So eventually I woke up to find myself a high school drop-out,
a failed navy career (never even saw a ship)
a failure in pretty much everything.
A disappointment to one and all,
with no real skills
and absolutely no idea what I could do to make a living
in an enjoyable way.


One More Try - George Michael

My parents bailed me out of my situation,
and I went back to school,
and it was the start I needed to pull myself into a better life.
I met my wife there,
and learned enough to start my career as a circuit board designer,
(which is all I’ve ever really done since).
When Cyndi and I decided to get married,
this song was popular and we almost used it in our wedding,
but the words weren’t right.
I’m not sure if what it means to me
is the same as what the artist intended,
but it represents.


All Honour - Chris Falson

As we started having kids,
we wondered whether we should start attending church again for their benefit.
We were introduced to a church that was comfortable enough to enjoy,
and one weekend I went to the annual Men’s Retreat.
It was here that a simple prayer opened the door
and put me on the path I walk to this day.
Chris Falson was the worship leader that weekend,
and the rest of the band were guys from the church,
but this song is with his other bandmates, “The Amazing Stories”


Worlds Apart - Jars Of Clay

Although my life is more joyful now, and more cherished,
it has new struggles and frustrations.
This song fits my new life so well,
and evokes the feeling I have had for years since,
in seeking truth and trying to overcome my own selfish-ness


Onward – Yes

Quite often when I hear music I think of other people I’ve known,
This one always brings to mind my beautiful wife, Cyndi
Cyndi and Jamie, Emily and Charlie ARE my life.
I Love You


Gypsy - Ronan Hardiman

This is the end of my soundtrack.
The first music my kids really appreciated was Riverdance
and later the Lord of the Dance.
We never get tired of this music,
and some of us even dance when we hear it..
Good music can affect people like that, I guess.
Now my children can start their own soundtracks,
and I am ending mine.


Say Hallelujah - Tracy Chapman

But wait, my life isn’t over yet!
I must add one more to commemorate my death.
Since I don’t know whether I will die tonight or next month
or in a hundred years,
it seems sensible to choose one now and get it over with.
Play this one at my funeral.


Amazing Grace - Blind Boys of Alabama

So this is farewell.

We started with The House of the Rising Son by The Animals,
and this is the same tune, but the words have changed.
From Animals to Grace, that’s my life in a nutshell…