Happy day after Thanksgiving! Hopefully everyone is stuffed full of turkey and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie goodness. I got to eat everything I was craving yesterday… except tamales. I really wanted some good, greasy tamales. But, alas, there was nary a tamale to be found this Thanksgiving. I wasn’t really expecting anyone to have them, I just woke up really craving them for some reason. And a day later, I still really want one (or six, maybe seven, don’t judge). Maybe since Christmas is right around the corner my internal clock was slightly off and started craving the typically served-around-Christmastime food a day early. I don’t really know, the origins of why I wanted a tamale are a mystery to me. But let me just say, if there are no tamales on Christmas, someone is going to pay.
While a post in tribute to the goodness that is a tamale is starting to sound intriguing to me, I actually wanted to post about one of my other favorite things. Music. Isn’t it funny how you can hear a song, any song, and you are instantly transported to a time and place in your life? I’ve been feeling a little nostalgic lately, and while I’m not really sure what’s driving it (much like the tamale craving), it gave me an idea that I’ve been toying with. The idea? Create a soundtrack of my life. I know, how very High Fidelity of me, right? But I thought I’d start off easy with the Top 5 songs of my college years.
A little background – I’m a third generation Aggie (WHOOP). For anyone unsure of what an Aggie is or the school affiliated, google it, it will explain some of my choices…
5. David Grey – Babylon OR Nelly Furtado – Like a Bird
– I realize I’m technically cheating by picking two songs as my #5, but both of these songs were songs I listened to at a similar time/point in my life and both evoke similar feelings. On the long drives between home and college, or Austin, where my boyfriend was going to school, I would sing these songs as loud as I could and search for meaning in them. Consider these the emo music of my day, I guess…
4. Nine Inch Nails – The Only Time
– During the summer I would come home and “intern” at the company my dad worked for. My sister had the same “interning” gig, so we would oftentimes go to lunch together. I had permanently borrowed my boyfriend’s Pretty Hate Machine CD (good thing he later married me and got it back) and she and I would jam out in my truck during lunch. We particularly enjoyed this song, mostly the first two lines.
3. Robert Earl Keen – The Road Goes on Forever (And the Party Never Ends)
– Oh, how can you not love Robert Earl Keen? Any one of his songs will take me back to the many fair grounds and amphitheaters I saw him perform in during my college days – but this one has always been my favorite, and was always his last song. When this song came on you knew it was time to drink up because the concert was over, but just like the song said, the party wasn’t ending yet. In fact, it was just getting started.
2. The Rolling Stones – Honky Tonk Woman
– I think it would be safe to say that I hung out in a lot of honky tonks in college. And all of them had this song on regular rotation. It’s probably also safe to bet that the few still around, still do. Ah, takes me back to the nights spent in smoky bars, drinking cheap beer and playing pool all night… and of course the more we drank, the better we played.
1. (The Greatest Band Ever) ACDC – Shook Me All Night Long
– So many great songs from this band (see title), but this song in particular just takes me back to college every time I hear it. Just the first few notes take me to a dance floor with my girlfriends, with EF doing her trademarked lasso move. It’s also one of my most favorite songs ever. If I could dance to one song, just one song for the rest of my life, this song would be it. It would also be my runway song. You know, the song that if the opportunity to strut your stuff down the runway ever presented itself, you would want that song on the speakers? Don’t act like you’ve never thought about it…
There you have it – the Top 5 songs of my college years, pretty eclectic bunch, but then, they all have me in common.
-Shan
Quick Honorable Mention Songs:
– Dixie Chicks – Fly, Jennifer Lopez – Waiting for Tonight, Tupac & Dr. Dre – California, Marylin Manson – The Beautiful People
What would your top songs be? I’d love to hear ’em…
This is Shan's Blog 