Category Archives: SONGWRITING

A few months back I had a reoccurring dream. I was at a venue, standing off stage, about to begin my set. The rest of the band was on stage, playing the first few bars of a song before I walked out. But I couldn’t tie my shoe. I was standing on one foot, falling all over myself, and I just couldn’t get it tied! The band kept playing that intro over and over again, staring at me, waiting for me to come out and start the song! I love it when your subconscious is not so “sub.”

Ever since I took a show in a few weeks (March 16th at Exit/In!) I haven’t had the dream. I am still silently freaking out–I haven’t performed since July 2010. Under a veneer of excitement and self-promotion (sorry in advance…) I am scared shitless. I know it’s part of my job, and it will get easier. But I think I have some stage fright.

Photo from the Life Archives – the beginning Marlene Dietrich’s show for warfront troops (I wonder what my dream would have been if I only needed to show my shoe!)

Do you have a song that you love so much you remember exactly where you were when you heard that song for the first time? The song became kind of like a mile marker for you, everything you heard after that was somehow changed by how much you loved that song. Sometimes there are friends, old loves standing by those songs, alongside all the other things that make your memories. But when you hear the song now, you don’t care about the memory it fosters, the feeling is fresh, the song still casts its light. What are the songs you can’t forget? I’d love to know what are on other people’s lists.

Here are three that come to mind -

1. Joni Mitchell – “A Case of You”

2. The Innocence Mission – “The Lakes of Canada”

3. Paul Simon – “Graceland”

What are some of your favorite songs of all time?