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Thread: Five Songs That Have Made an Impact on Your Life

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    Stuck on the Border Prettymaid's Avatar
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    Default Five Songs That Have Made an Impact on Your Life

    Since some seem to be struggling with the Greatest Songs of All Time thread (including me), I thought I'd throw another option out there. I'd like to see it narrowed down to five songs, because for me, when the lists get longer than that they just seem diluted and I tend to gloss over them.

    So, have a go at it. I'm going to think about it before I post mine.
    ~ Cathy ~

    And I dream I'm on vacation 'Cause I like the way that sounds,
    It's a perfect occupation for me.

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    Default Re: Five Songs That Have Made an Impact on Your Life

    I can't restrict it to five.

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    Default Re: Five Songs That Have Made an Impact on Your Life

    Quote Originally Posted by Freypower View Post
    I can't restrict it to five.
    Yes you can.
    ~ Cathy ~

    And I dream I'm on vacation 'Cause I like the way that sounds,
    It's a perfect occupation for me.

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    Default Re: Five Songs That Have Made an Impact on Your Life

    Yes, it's hard to limit it to five, but really think about it and narrow it down. It makes those five songs all the more special.

    Here's mine:

    She Loves You - The Beatles, 1964
    I was 6 years old, but I knew this was something like I had never heard before! In the next few years I would be amazed at the musical experimentation this band would put out.

    Peace Train - Cat Stevens, 1971
    It would take years to discover how much I enjoyed some of Cat Stevens work, but the message in this song was not lost on me, even at the young age of 13.

    Take It Easy - Eagles, 1972
    I easily fell into the Southern California rock sound of the early 70's, and when I heard this song on the radio at 14 years old, it was love at first listen.

    Monday Morning - Fleetwood Mac, 1975
    I remember listening to the Fleetwood Mac album when I was 17 and hearing the abrupt beginning of the first track on side one and thinking, "This is my kind of music." The entire album was superb, as was Rumours.

    Magic Man - Heart, 1976
    I was 18 years old, walked into my friend's bedroom and saw the Dreamboat Annie album lying on the floor next to a turntable. When I heard the first track I knew that I was hearing something great. It expanded my musical tastes even further.


    ETA: Oops, I forgot I was going to include

    Rocky Mountain High, John Denver, 1972
    This song had a huge impact on me when it came out because of its strong ties to nature. I think I would have to exclude Heart to limit it to five.
    ~ Cathy ~

    And I dream I'm on vacation 'Cause I like the way that sounds,
    It's a perfect occupation for me.

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    Default Re: Five Songs That Have Made an Impact on Your Life

    Great idea for a thread, PM. My list of songs is a bit eclectic. I'm not a musician by any stretch, but music has been a big part of my life.

    1. Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah from Disney's Song of the South
    This song is meaningful not because of the movie, but because my father sang it to me when I was a kid. It always put a smile on his face which put a smile on my face, too.

    2. Do-Re-Mi from The Sound of Music
    My first trip to a drive-in theater was to see The Sound of Music. Of course I promptly fell asleep, but my father knew he needed to wake me up for Do-Re-Mi. At the time, it was my favorite song from the movie and my entire family sang along. This movie and The Wizard of Oz kick-started my love of musical films.

    3. The Rain in Spain from My Fair Lady
    The first musical theater production I saw was My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison. Unfortunately Julie Andrews did not play Eliza Doolittle. I absolutely love this show in particular and musical theater in general.

    4. Take It To the Limit by the Eagles
    Yes, there is an Eagles song in my list. This is the first Eagles song I vividly remember playing on the radio. I swear I heard this song every day for quite a while. I credit that repetition for solidifying my love of the Eagles.

    5. Star Wars Main Theme by John Williams
    I was blown away when I first saw Star Wars, now called Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. The special effects were amazing and the film's score was so powerful. I realized that a great song doesn't necessarily need lyrics.

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    Default Re: Five Songs That Have Made an Impact on Your Life

    Well this is interesting. My Fair Lady is my favourite musical film apart from Singin' In The Rain & the songs are part of my DNA. I also grew up with both Mary Poppins & The Sound Of Music. But I wouldn't put any of those songs into a list of five songs which made an impact on me. I also could not seriously include the Beatles because I was too young at the time they were recording.

    I had to be ruthless here:

    Galveston - Glen Campbell (1969)

    The song I believe started my llifelong obsession with travel & songs about travelling & places.

    Children Of The Revolution - T. Rex (1972)

    The first rock song I consciously remember thinking how great it was. It may have subsconsciously influenced my political beliefs.

    Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen (1975 - but I didn't hear it until 1976)

    I don't know what to say about it. If a song changed my life, this is it. How? I don't know.

    Hotel California - Eagles (1976)

    Introduced me to American culture.

    Romeo & Juliet - Dire Straits (1980)

    Combined rock music with my ultimate hero, Shakespeare, while also brilliantly referencing the modern adaptation of the play, West Side Story.
    Last edited by Freypower; 04-20-2016 at 06:49 PM.

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    Default Re: Five Songs That Have Made an Impact on Your Life

    I knew you could do it, FP.

    That's what I wanted - ruthlessness. What good is a list if it's a mile long?

    I know what you mean about a song influencing your life, but you're not exactly sure how. Some songs, like She Loves You, in my case, influenced a whole generation. I was swept away with the Beatle's revolution and it changed my life in ways I can't even understand.
    ~ Cathy ~

    And I dream I'm on vacation 'Cause I like the way that sounds,
    It's a perfect occupation for me.

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    Border Desperado WS82Classics's Avatar
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    Default Re: Five Songs That Have Made an Impact on Your Life

    In no particular order,

    "From the Beginning" by ELP is the only song that commands my attention every time. My favourite song, and it conveys my own philosophy of life: "You see, it's all clear. You were meant to be near from the beginning."

    "Aqualung" by Jethro Tull is my mind's idea of what a musical soundscape is all about.

    "Day Tripper" by the Beatles sparked my interest in playing guitar.

    "What is Life?" by George Harrison is the most powerful question ever posed in a song.

    "I'm Not in Love" by 10cc so perfectly fit the time in which I heard it back when I was 11, and it fits even more right now.
    All carrot, no stick.

    "He's just another power junkie, just another silk scarf monkey. You'd know it if you saw his stuff. The man just isn't big enough."--Glenn Frey/Don Henley

    "You think you know me, but you haven't got a clue."--John Lennon/Paul McCartney


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    Default Re: Five Songs That Have Made an Impact on Your Life

    geez. lol

    Angel- Jimi Hendrix. I first heard this song when my ex husband and I started dating years ago. I was getting more into rock and discovering Jimi was the best thing ever. he went out same day and got me his box set. even though we didn't part on the best of terms I played it constantly after he passed away.

    She Talks To Angels- Black Crowes. Another ex song. because he would always say that this song made him think of me.

    And I Love Her- The Beatles. This song made me fall head over heels for them lol

    Am I The One- Beth Hart. got me through a difficult phase in my life

    Oh Happy Day- Edwin Hawkins Singers. my family sang it at my mothers funeral. I still find it difficult to sit through.

    Bonus one is Desperado.

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    Default Re: Five Songs That Have Made an Impact on Your Life

    I’ve been meaning to get around to doing this for a while, so here goes. I’ve decided to present my list in chronological order.

    Sky Blue And Black – Jackson Browne
    I would have first heard this when I was 8 years old. I remember my parents playing Jackson’s I’m Alive album in the car on cassette. I didn’t really understand what the song was about then but the power of this beautiful song still reached me. I also think it subconsciously shaped my musical tastes – once I had heard quality songwriting like this, the dance pop stuff in the charts was unlikely to do it for me! It haunted me (in a good way!) for years even though at one point I probably went about six years without hearing. It was between this or The End of The Innocence, which I heard at a very similar stage of my life, although I went for this as the artist behind the latter song will appear later…

    Sultans Of Swing – Dire Straits
    It would have been about 2007 (when I was 12-13) when I was introduced to this song. My Dad had (still has) the Money For Nothing compilation album on CD and I think I’d read something negative about Dire Straits, so he must have decided to play me a song from this disc to prove this wrong. This was the first track on the album and it immediately clicked with me, I knew straight away that I absolutely loved it! Back then I used to just put in the CD and play this song 4-5 times over. This was years before I got into any of the rest of their music but this song truly was love on first listen for me.

    My interest in music inexplicably dwindled between about 2008 and 2010. I honestly wasn’t that bothered at that stage, which is unusual as I was at a stage when a lot of people find their musical identities. Receiving the 2 CD edition of the Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac for Christmas in 2010 reignited my love of music (albeit a lot of it being tracks I'd already heard), along with another album...

    You’re A Big Girl – Bob Dylan
    That other album was Blood On The Tracks, and this track became my initial favourite. I always loved the mournful harmonica at the end and the poetic lyrics but I think the most important thing was Bob’s moving and heartfelt vocal. After hearing this song, Dylan would no longer be ‘that guy who can’t sing’. It also showed me that there was really great music out there to be discovered.

    Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
    This is a bit of a strange one, because the first time I heard this was a bar band playing this while I was on holiday in the summer of 2012. I remember being enchanted by the chorus lyrics ‘When I was a child, I had a fever’ and the guitar work. After I got back home, I listened to this song in full and loved it, downloaded it. Within six months I had got the Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here albums and was already a huge fan of this band.

    Life In The Fast Lane – Eagles
    This will partially overlap with the topic about becoming a fan of the Eagles (another thread I plan to post in, hopefully sooner rather than later) as it was very shortly after I first listened to them, almost three years ago. Indeed, this was only the second track I listened to, after Hotel California itself. I was immediately impressed, with the standout moment being Don’s great vocal on the ‘he had a nasty reputation as a cruel dude’ line. I thought the lyrics and guitar work were great and I then decided to upload the entire Hotel California album from my parents’ CD. The rest is history! I also think this song (along with Victim Of Love) also opened the door to listening to hard rock music with more risqué lyrics, so it was not only a song that made me an Eagles fan, but it smoothed the road for me become a fan of bands like Led Zeppelin too.

    The single most important factor is that these songs must have made an immediate impact on me. For example, The Last Resort is one of my absolute favourite Eagles songs, yet it only became great to me on about my fourth listen, so even though it has made a huge impact on me, it was not really ‘immediate’. The easiest choice for me was probably Sultans - I can remember it more clearly than memories from earlier in my childhood and there was less competition from other songs than in the later cases. I also restricted it to one song per artist, so massive favourites like Take It Easy, Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Bob Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone, all of which I loved straight away, lose out to songs that I heard at an earlier stage of my fandom. Lastly, with only five slots available, I had to pick songs that were important in the development of my musical taste (introducing me to new artists or styles of music) – Man On The Moon by R.E.M., for instance, was another song I immediately loved, but it is ‘just’ a song I love. Listening to it didn’t really open any doors to me, and I didn’t become a mega-fan.

    I was born in 1994, so there is a complete lack of music that has been released in my lifetime here. The truth is that there just have hardly been any songs from modern bands that have made an immediate impact on me; many of the songs that have from this era I have only discovered at an advanced stage of my fandom (I think of certain tracks from Long Road Out Of Eden and Mark Knopfler's solo albums). From a personal point of view, the single biggest exclusion is the lack of anything from Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, an album I have loved for longer than any other and I would hazard a guess the album I have heard the most times in my life. This is because I have known these songs for so long that I honestly cannot remember when I first heard them.

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