(Not So)Mysterious Musical Insights

The Tunes That Tell You All About Me

In a previous article, I promised to reveal the 5 songs that tell you something about me. Here’s the shameless plug for that story:

Shameless plug aside, I can’t take credit for the idea for this piece. That distinction belongs to Pierce McIntyre who prompted readers to write about both the 5 movies and the 5 songs that define them. Here it is for those of you that haven’t read it. It’s a great way to beat the old writer’s block:

For those that know me well, these songs likely won’t be all that surprising. But hey, maybe they don’t know me all that well … a girl’s gotta have some secrets, right? So without further adieu, the 5 songs that define me and what they say about your’s truly:

I Want Your Sex:

This steamy little ditty was from George’s debut solo album, Faith and was the third hit from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. It takes us back to 1987, a time that seems a million miles away. I was 16 and the world was changing in ways my parents and their generation found terrifying.

George’s unapologetically clear lyrics about wanting to get some freaked people out. By people, I mean parents, conservatives and evangelicals. They, including my mother, wanted the song to go away because it would encourage young people to engage in amorous activities. Even Casey Kasem refused to utter the song’s title on-air, calling it “the latest hit” (or something similar) by George Michael.

Newsflash, as freaking gorgeous as George was, he didn’t invent sex. Okay, I did sort of lose my virginity to this song, but to be fair, I had wanted that boy’s sex for a while.

What does this all say about me? Well, a few things. As a woman of a certain age, I’m experiencing a sexual reawakening (yeah, yeah, I know, ewwwww, nobody under 35 wanted to read that). Also, I have always loved me some George Michael! In fact, back then, I was pretty sure he was singing that song for me, you know, had he ever met me. It was a more innocent time, I wasn’t aware he had zero interest in MY sex or that of any other woman at the time.

It also sort of represents the time I grew up in, a time of social change, of pushing the boundaries, of wanting to live in a different sort of world than our parents did. It was a time when we, the younger generation, wanted to talk about and confront the realities of life and deal with them head-on with practical solutions, even though the previous generation didn’t.

I’m still like that. I still push the envelope. I still deal with things head-on. I was the mom of 3 boys that had the talk with her kids and then had the “condom fairy” routinely visit without a word. I’m the one who sees things as they are and just deals. And I’m the one that still loves my dear George.

Please Forgive Me:

This 1993 offering from Bryan Adams is a nice, romantic ballad. Honestly, Bryan is my least favourite of pretty much all of the Canadian artists I’m aware of. However, I love this song!

What does this tell you? Well, first, it tells you I’m a proud, flag-waving Canuck. And, yeah, I am. Stanley Cup, World Series, Olympics, when Canada brings the fire, I’m there cheering and probably crying. The Habs, the Jays, Sale and Pelletier, Andre DeGrasse, I’m there! Any time we can come out on top, especially if we can beat our wonderful pals to our south, I’m all over it!

But beyond that, it tells you that I’m a big old sentimental softie. I’m a romantic at heart, hopelessly. I believe in true love and I found it. I love with my whole heart. I can’t help it, I’m squishy.

Forever and Ever Amen:

Back in the late 80s, crossover artists were a big thing. Country singers were making albums that appealed to both the traditional fan and the pop music crowd. And this 1987 offering from Randy Travis was one of the first.

It was always on the TV. It was on the Top 7 at 7 each and every morning for a while when I was in grade 11. I liked the song. And I remember alternating between thinking Randy was cute, and then, not even close. He was cute in the right light, I suppose. But you couldn’t deny the voice.

What does this song say about me? Well, first, it speaks to my crazy eclectic taste in music. I like a lot of different stuff, pop, country, jazz, classical, bluegrass. And, it tells you I’m a daddy’s girl. My father used to sing and stomp around (you couldn’t call what he did dancing) to this song every morning. And he’d make me dance with him. It was his way of bonding with a kid he felt he was losing.

My father was a simple, decent man with a grade 4 education. He knew I was going on to bigger and better things. He always prized education above all and by the time I was 15 or 16, he knew I was headed way beyond what he or his family had ever dreamed of. He began to find it hard to relate to me as I came home discussing my complicated math and big ideas, but we always had the music. Those mornings were our time. I’d give anything to have them back.

Bitch:

Well, duh! This 1997 offering from Merideth Brooks kinda summed me up. I’m sweet. I love hard and deep. However, cross me or mine, and you’ll meet a bitch like you’ve never seen. I’ll unleash a reign of hurt and fury that will make your daddy cry, just sayin’.

Dark Horse:

Continuing to wave the Red and White, we have Dark Horse, the 5th single off Amanda Marshall’s self-titled debut album which hit the charts in 1997. I don’t even like 90s music as a rule, but this stood out.

Why? Because finally, at 26, I saw myself depicted in some sort of wider cultural “thing”. Read that, twenty freakin’ six. I saw Black people on TV, in movies and in music. I saw white people. I never saw me.

I didn’t see those of mixed race. I grew up in a time when depending on what side of the fence you were on, a mixed ancestry was whispered in hushed tones. “She’s got a Black father, you know.” Or, “you know her mother’s white…”

There was no classification for me. And yeah, maybe now that sounds like whining, but back then, the feeling of loneliness, the feeling of utter isolation and separateness haunted me. My mother always took great pains to remind me that I wasn’t white and would never be seen as such no matter how light my skin was.

But I wasn’t exactly Black either. The biggest joke that still exists on both sides of my family is that I’m the white sheep on one side and the Black sheep on the other. When you’re young, having no place to rest, no place where you fit, no people to look to as your tribe or whatever, is absolutely devasting. And it doesn’t matter how hard other’s try to include you, you have eyes, you have ears, you know, you see, you feel.

Then came Amanda. She was talented, she was gorgeous and she was openly mixed race. Finally, someone I could relate to! She was slim, but had that characteristic Black full bottom and hips, just like me. She was pretty fair-skinned, just like me. She had crazy curly hair, just like me.

You can figure out what this says about me. I’ve pretty much said it, so I won’t belabour the point. I have no idea where Amanda is now, but I owe her a huge debt of gratitude for giving me something I so desperately needed when I was young, a reflection of myself. I might have to do a whole story about her.

So there it is me, in 5 songs. I’m going to tag my usual suspects, Carl Parker, Jimmy Misner Jr. and KL Simmons to write a little something about the 5 songs that define you.