Put your records on (or in today's case, your iPod)

You're having the worst day possible. Nothing is going right. Your boyfriend dumped you for some younger, hotter chick. You got fired from your mediocre job. While carrying the contents of your desk to your car you drop your cell phone and it breaks. You reach your car to find you have a flat tire. On the verge of a total breakdown, you slide into your car, crank the engine and plan to take a moment to collect yourself before imposing your awful luck on everyone else in the world. Suddenly a song on the radio catches your attention. It's a pop song from your teen years. Back when you were unexperienced, untainted and completely optimistic of the future. Before you know it, you're driving down the road, singing along and you're actually SMILING. How did that happen? It's the music, man....

It's amazing how music can alter a mood. I've been having days like the one mentioned above, and the right song comes on, and suddenly everything doesn't seem quite so dreary. I've been in a great mood, heard a sad song, and suddenly felt melancholy. Alternative music seems to fuel my angry moods, and love songs make me appreciate my husband more. How does that work?

Obviously, not everyone has that emotional tie to music. My husband is one of those people. He hardly ever listens to the lyrics of a song, and never ever sings along. Frustrating. I'll be all mushy sometimes and ask him to listen to a song. Halfway through it I realize his mind is somewhere else entirely. "Are you even listening?" I'll ask, exasperated. "Of course," is his usual reply, until prompted to repeat the chorus, which he cannot.

There are songs on my iPod that I always play when in particular moods. These songs for some reason made me have an emotional reaction, and in return end up in my list of all-time favorites. A few are so personal to me that I don't even like listening to them unless I'm alone.

I won't give reasons for why each of the following songs are on my favorite list, but I'm sharing a few in the hopes that someone will listen to one of them at the right moment, and it will leave an impression on them the same way it did me.


I'm Moving On - Rascal Flatts
It Ends Tonight - All-American Rejects
Something To Belive In - Poison
Don't Stop Believing - Journey
Mexico - Incubus
Stained Glass Masquerade - Casting Crowns
Learn To Be Still - Eagles
She's Got A Way - Billy Joel
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
Help Me Believe - Nichole Nordeman
The Reason - Hoobastank
November Rain - Guns 'N Roses
Hey Jude - The Beatles
3 a.m. (acoustic) - Matchbox Twenty
Acoustic - Goo Goo Dolls
Nearness of You - Norah Jones
Soul to Squeeze - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright
Jaded - Aerosmith
Nobody Knows It But Me - Babyface
Voodoo - Godsmack
Old LA Tonight - Ozzy Osbourne
Look What You've Done - Jet
Cry Me A River - Justin Timberlake
Papercut - Linkin Park
The Memory - Pantera
Broken - Seether
Groovy Kind of Love - Phil Collins