lidocaine

Yes, that's what I've been putting on my back for the last twenty-four hours, a lidocaine patch. It hasn't done much good, unfortunately. Today is the peace table at the Farmers' Market, and Licia (who still hasn't guest blogged) kindly volunteered to go help Shirley (fellow peacenik) set up. I'll hobble down there later and try to smile peacefully at people. But enough about my stupid back.

Today's post will be about something happy and near and dear to my heart, music. When things get me down, I turn to music. Since I have a rich (and very aural) inner head, I don't even need to play music to be cheered up by it. Right now I'm thinking about how Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian was housebound for years with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and still wrote great songs, many of which wound up on Tigermilk. Music can really help us through those bad times, and I, like Nick Hornby's character Rob from High Fidelity have a whole list of songs that remind me of certain times in my life. So here are a few of them in no order whatsoever:
Belle and Sebastian's "I Spent the Summer Wasting" Summer 2000, Pocatello, Idaho
Jimmy Johnson's "(I'm a) Jockey" mid 90's, American Falls, Idaho
"The Anne Boleyn Song" all my life, New Jersey, sung by my father
The Decemberists' "July, July!" Summer 2002, Portland, Oregon and Richie
The traditional Irish "Mountains O' Mourne", anywhere, anytime there's a chance for me to sing it a capella, but the first I heard it was the Don McLean version in the 80's
The Smith's "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now", first done in 1984, but I didn't hear it until 2000, late bloomer that I am. I have it in my head at work sometimes, nuf said.
And my all time in my head right now song, always my end-of-summer-song is (drum roll please) . . .
REM's "Nightswimming", 1992, but perfect for the end of any summer. It's nostalgic and sweet and slightly sexy, in a teenage discovery sort of way.

So those are the songs I rely on when I need to have a song in my head, for whatever reason. What songs do you hold dear? Whatchu got?