Musical Meme

Well, "She Who Must Be Obeyed," (Betsy, who writes My Whim Is Law ) has tagged me to do my very first meme. Isn't that cute? Mama's taking off the training wheels (or the gloves, or the skirt or something).

Brief aside for those who, like me, are just clawing out from under a rock: a "meme" seems to be a prescribed writing challenge which involves listing aspects of one's life/personality, etc... Memes are used in a tag-like game; a person completes the assignment, and then passes it on to others.

The challenge: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

1. Aerosmith, Pink. I just like tough rocker Steven Tyler growling the words "pink" and "flamingo." No, it's not my favorite color, but the tune makes me happy, and happy mama = ain't nobody gonna die tonight. And my kids like it because they think they understand it (which they totally do NOT).

2. Eminem, Mosh. Rap is great for running to if you've been on a diet, like, your whole damn life, and you're never gonna ever ever EVER have thin thighs, and you want to send out a big "fuck you" to diets and the fact that you care about thin thighs so much in the first place. Mosh has the added bonus of taking me back to when the video came out, like a week before the election, and Bush must have been having fits all over the Oval office. I smile every time I think about it -- honest!

3. Capella Gregoriana, Gregorian Chants. My 5-year-old has gotten into the habit of having these playing in her room when she falls asleep. I like hearing them when I go in to snuggle her good-night. The music makes the moment feel so sacred -- which, of course, it is.

4. The Diane Rehm Show theme song on NPR. It's 10 AM, I've just driven my kids to everlovin' mars to attend the Baltimore Waldorf School (so it was really Baltimore we went to, not Mars...same difference). Now I'm looking at several hours to myself -- all strung together, and Diane is a' talkin'. God, I love Diane Rehm. I might marry her one day. It doesn't even matter what she's talking about; it's what she's not talking about. See, Diane is a grown-up and she's talking to ME about stuff OTHER THAN not wanting any more salami sandwiches in her lunch, needing additional Pokemon cards (especially Shining Charizard), and wanting to watch TV (can she, please? huh? can she? can she? WHY NOT?) I could just pull the car over and do a jig when I hear Diane's theme song.

5. Anything Johnny Cash because, yep, I thought he was just some old -fashioned country dude until I saw the movie. Never consciously listened to single tune. Ashamed to admit it, but there it is. And Joaquin was amazing, but Johnny was the Real Deal in every way, for sure.

6. Pete Seeger's version, Des Colores. Gosh, because we just saw Pete in a die-and-go-to-heaven concert with Tom Chapin, Tom Paxton, John McCutcheon, Sweet Honey, and all these gods and goddesses. Pete is a man who exudes integrity, soul, and love. He's just one of those. Knows what he's here for and has never shied away from living BIG. Years ago, I was lucky enough to sing Des Colores with him on stage (along with 40 other women in the Anna Crusis Women's Choir), so that song has a special place in my Pete-lovin' heart. And that's him in the photo up there, but I can't figue out how to do captions.

7. Willy Mason, Oxygen. Because he describes the real State of the Union, and actually believes we can improve it. Willy says:

I wanna be better than oxygen
So you can breathe when you're drowning and weak in the knees
I wanna speak louder than Ritalin
For all the children who think that they've got a disease
I wanna be cooler than t.v.
For all the kids that are wondering what they are going to be
We can be stronger than bombs
If you're singing along and you know that you really believe
We can be richer than industry
As long as we know that there's things that we don't really need
We can speak louder than ignorance
Cause we speak in silence every time our eyes meet.

That's it for me, and now, I am tagging Shelley, Chelle and Trista...and the first four delurking today will also be tagged.