Soundtrack of My Life

-=< O >=-

Someone asked me,
“If you were making a
Soundtrack of Your Life,
and it all had to fit on one
normal audio CD, what
songs would you
choose
???

That question
has been brewing in
my mind for a while,
so I had to try it
…
HERE IT IS
:

-=< O >=-

The Soundtrack
of My Life

(jack c olson)

-=< O >=-

House of the Rising Sun – The Animals

I don’t know when I first heard this song,
it has always been part of me. I was born in
New Orleans in 1959, and just by coincidence
this was what my guitar teacher chose when
I took lessons. It was the first and only song
I ever learned to play on the guitar.

I sold the guitar to a stranger who picked me
up hitchhiking one day. The cash was
easier to carry, and I never could
really play it anyway
.

-=< O >=-

Hit the Road, Jack – Ray Charles

My parents had a
vinyl record (LP 33 1/3)
by Ray Charles, and we had
a ‘stereo’ in the living room,
so this is one of the first
recordings I remember
hearing as a kid
.
My father’s
nickname was Jack.
He named me Jack,
& this song brings
back memories
…

-=< O >=-

Symphony #40 – Mozart

My father used to play this
to calm us down when it was time
to get ready for bed, so I think every
note of it is burned into my brain.
Since it is over 35 minutes long
it would kill this compilation,
so this little excerpt is
just a reminder
.

Thanks, Dad
!!!

I played the whole thing for
each of my newborn children as
soon as I brought them home from
the hospital, as a symbolic gesture
of “the first music you ever heard”
.

-=< O >=-

Within You Without You – The Beatles

The Beatles
probably had more
influence on me than
any other music group,
and we listened to many
of their albums countless
times. It is nearly impossible
to choose just one Beatles song
to represent their place in my life,
but this one clearly stands out
from the rest as something
that really spoke to
me personally
.

-=< O >=-

The Way I Choose – Bad Company

One summer,
we converted the
garage storage area
into a clubhouse. Into
this little closet we wedged
a desk, lamp & turntable,
and we decorated the
walls with posters
.
I would sit
in this tiny space,
smoke, and build little
plastic models while
listening to this
record
.

There were several songs
to choose from on this album,
but it was around this time that
I started to notice girls, so this
one seemed to fit best
.

-=< O >=-

White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane

As I was coming
into an awareness of the
world around me, I heard
phrases like, “Turn On,
Tune In, Drop out”
.
We mourned the soldiers
drafted into war without consent
;
others were protesting the power of
government, and it seemed to me
that people were investigating
other ways to be
.

-=< O >=-

Almost Cut My Hair – CSNY

There was something
about the late sixties that
really attracted me, but I was
born a little too late to really feel
a part of what was going on in
society around that time
.
I was not even ten years old
during “The Summer of Love”,
so by the time I was a teenager
my question to the world was,
“Where Did Everybody Go”
???

By the time I hit the streets
it seemed like the party was over,
and I was frustrated because it didn’t
seem like I fit into anything around me.
I resented school, church, government,
and just about everything else
.

-=< O >=-

Hello In There – John Prine

My whole life
I have desperately
wanted to “be cool”,
or at least have people
think of me as being cool
.
One night when I was in ninth grade,
I was riding around with some friends
and one of them suggested we stop
at the house of one of his father’s
friends. He lived in a quaint little
cabin behind a head shop and
did woodcarving for a living
.
He was a older person
(late 50’s?) but the minute
I met him I knew he was the
coolest guy I had ever met
.
At one point
he picked up a guitar
and started singing this
song, and I was just
blown away
.
I began to realize that
being cool was really not
what I had been seeking,
it was caring for people,
showing compassion,
and sharing
.
It was love
.

He was cool.
I wasn’t
.

I never saw him again,
but I’ll never forget
that night or
this song
. 

-=< O >=-

Landslide – Fleetwood Mac

Almost by accident
(if you believe in accidents)
in the summer of 1977 I found
myself living in a community in
Austin, TX that had been set up
as a “libertarian experiment”
.
I’m not sure how
the experiment turned out,
but it was there that I tried my
own personal experiment with
a major recreational drug,
crystal methedrine
.
Just as the rush was coming on,
someone turned on the stereo
and started playing this song
.

I
thought it was
the most beautiful
song I had ever heard,
and I still get a chill
when I hear
it now
.

That day
started my own
personal landslide
in a way, but let’s
not go there
…

-=< O >=-

Come Sail Away – Styx

Within a year
I had joined the Navy
to learn electronics. It was
a short career that ended
badly, but I had to include
this song as part of
my history
.
We had been in boot camp
for four or five weeks, with no
contact with the outside world
other than letters, and one day
they let us all pitch in a few
bucks to buy a radio
.
When we turned it on, this
is the first song we heard.
It was so appropriate,
it seemed beyond
coincidence
.

-=< O >=-

Can’t Find my Way Home – Blind Faith

So eventually
I woke up to find myself
a high school drop-out, a failed
navy career (never even saw a ship)
feeling like a failure in pretty
much everything
.
A disappointment
to one and all, with no
real skills and absolutely
no idea what I could do
to make a living in an
enjoyable way
. 

-=< O >=-

Worlds Apart – Jars Of Clay

Although
my life is more joyful
now – more cherished,
it has new struggles
and frustrations
.
This
song fits
my new life
so well, and evokes
the feeling I have had  
for years since, in seeking
truth and trying to over-
come my selfishness
.

-=< O >=-

Onward – Yes

Quite often when I hear music
I think of other people I’ve known.
This one always brings to mind my
beautiful wife, Cyndi.  She and
Jamie, Emily, and Charlie
ARE my life
.
I Love You
.

-=< O >=-

Gypsy – Ronan Hardiman

This is the end of
my soundtrack
.
The first music
my kids really seemed
to appreciate was Riverdance,
and later the Lord of the Dance
.
We never get tired of this music,
and some of us even dance
when we hear it
.
Good music
can affect people
like that, I guess
.

-=< O >=-

Now my
children can
start their own
soundtracks and
I will bring mine
to a close
.

-=< O >=-

Say Hallelujah – Tracy Chapman

But wait,
my life isn’t over yet!
Let me add one more
to commemorate my
future death
.
Since I don’t know whether
I will die tonight or next month
or in a hundred years, it seems
sensible to choose one now
and get it over with
.
I was torn between
this one and John Lennon’s
“Watching the Wheels Go Round”
but you’ll know why I chose
this if you listen to it
.

-=< O >=-

Amazing Grace – Blind Boys of Alabama

So this
is farewell
.
We started with
House of the Rising Son
.
This is the same tune, but
the words have changed
,
from Animals to Grace,
that’s my life in
a nutshell
…

-=< O >=-

-=< O >=-

What songs
would be on your
soundtrack
???

-=< O >=-