Favorite Song Project

Got a favorite song? Better yet, got fifteen? It’s been more than thirty years, but I think I finally have my list. Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve tried to create my list of favorite songs. For a long time, I searched for the definitive song – that one song I could claim as my favorite - the one that played in my head in a constant loop of self-reassurance, the soundtrack for my life. This song, I would tell myself – this song is me!

I mulled it over incessantly – in my room listening to records, riding the bus to school, while my friends and I debated Lennon versus McCartney, whether Jim Morrison was alive and selling burritos from the trunk of his car at Dead shows, or how Run DMC sold out the day they let Steven Tyler into the recording studio. I first chose a Beatles song (“I Feel Fine”), then the Doors (“The Soft Parade”), then moved to “The Lemon Song,” by Led Zeppelin until, while listening to the record in my friend’s bedroom, his mom walked in, heard the lyrics, turned the record player off and sent me home in shame. Her concern was that Robert Plant, while exhorting the baby in the song to squeeze his lemon, was apparently referring neither to an infant nor citrus fruit.

Then I discovered The Clash, The Ramones, Joe Jackson and The Jam. It’s tough to pick a favorite when they’re all less than two minutes long. On I searched, spending much of my formative years listening in vain for my favorite song. Flirtations with Foreigner, Frank Sinatra, Linda Ronstadt, Talking Heads, Devo, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Hank Williams yielded no success. Even month-long obsessions with Patsy Cline, Stevie Nicks and Joni Mitchell left me no closer.

I now know choosing just one song is a fool’s errand. I’ve dedicated a better part of my life trying to craft that one perfect collection of my favorite songs – the mix partygoers would hear next to the keg, nodding subtle approvals to each other over the din of the bass and drums, or the collection my friends would play at my funeral, or as the soundtrack for the video tribute charities would commission in my honor for all the nice stuff I did for sea birds and trees. Cue the video of me nursing diseased conifers back to health as Cheap Trick’s “Dream Police” fades into Boston’s “More Than a Feeling,” while I scrub oil off a pelican’s soiled beak. And just before the screen fades to black, I shed my hazmat coveralls and look off across the calm sea while Hall and Oates’ “Your Kiss Is On My List” plays softly in the background.

The truth is I made those mixes with the hope others would hear them and judge me – that somehow an O’Shea Original Mix would show up backstage in the hands of ZZ Top or the surviving members of The Who. They’d hear it and send forth their roadie minions to locate the true genius who captured the perfect combination of songs, showering me with praise, front row seats and a black concert tee shirt for free. Alas, roadies don’t ring my house, and my music snob friend Don still reminds me of the mix I shared with him ten summers ago that had the temerity to include Skid Row, Journey and Ratt songs. Our friendship’s never been the same since he learned I knew all the words to “I Remember You.”

Once I dismissed the idea of happiness through others’ approval, I found the path to success in this life-long quest. The songs I’ll choose will be my favorites, and they’ll tell a story about me and no one else. I’m not alone in this idea, and to prove it, I’ve asked dozens of friends to share their favorite songs with me. What an education! I have lists upon lists - everything from U2’s “One” to Jerry Vale’s “Old Cape Cod,” to “Paradise City” by Guns N Roses to “Islands in the Stream” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton to the Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen.”

I’ve learned that an ex-Marine named Rufus loves “I Like My Women on the Trashy Side,” that Roberta Flack still has one big fan in Vermont, and that the Rolling Stones make most lists but the Beatles make almost none! I found out that my buddy Ed - the guy who once swore Kiss was the greatest band of all time - has refined tastes that run from John Prine to Graham Parsons and Tom Waits, but “Love Gun” is nowhere to be seen. And I know my pal Don won’t accept the idea that .38 Special’s “Hold on Loosely” could be on anyone’s favorite list. “There’s something wrong with you if you put it on your list,” he warned me, a look of crazy lurking behind his music-snob eyes.

“Asking to pick a favorite song is like asking to pick a favorite brother,” wrote my second favorite brother Mike. He had some trouble with this assignment because, “You can really only pick your final list if you stop listening to music or just before you croak.” He then shared his top fifteen and did a nice job of combining Bach, The Bogmen, Radiohead and The Ventures into an eclectic sonic stew.

So today I launch the Favorite Song Project, an effort to share our favorite songs, to remember why we love them, and to tell each other what makes them our favorites. The Favorite Song Project, or FSP, is simple. Write down your favorite songs, narrow them to fifteen and share them – you can share with me, your buddies, your family, your co-workers, or complete strangers. Nothing says, “Understand me for who I really am” by baring your soul through fifteen song titles that help define you. Sure, your mother-in-law may not know a crunk cup from a sitz bath, but that’s OK – if Lil’ John’s opus “Get Low” is on your list, then pass the crunk juice and write it down!

We don’t judge in the FSP. If your top songs include the chorale version of Psalm 87 as sung by the Gelding, Indiana Men’s Choir, go ahead and write it down, even if the next guy’s favorite song is “Jesus Christ Pose” by Soundgarden. There are no bad songs or bad choices in the FSP – except for a cappella Billy Joel songs. The FSP draws the line at “For the Longest Time.”

So join the FSP and share your favorites with others. You can email them to the project’s mailbox (favoritesongproject@gmail.com) or you can join the new Favorite Song Project group on Facebook.

So what’s a favorite? It’s a song that makes you smile, cry or remember a time you laughed so hard your stomach hurt. A favorite song is one that reminds you to call a friend from grade school, hoist another beer or brew a second cup of tea, the ones that have you wondering what happened to that girlfriend from eleventh grade, the one who dumped you because you loved the Stray Cats more than her. My favorite songs are the ones that make me feel alive. They set a groove, move me, ease my mind and remind me how much love, hate, pleasure and pain there is in the world. My favorite songs help me make sense of my life, in all its good and bad.

So give it some thought – post your fifteen favorite songs on Facebook (search on “Favorite Song Project”), or send an email to favoritesongproject@gmail.com, or just write them down and listen to them. It’s a good thing to feel alive. Cue the music.

Tim’s Favorite Songs, in no particular order

Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright – Mike Ness
Blank Generation – Richard Hell and the Voidoids
Rosalita – Bruce Springsteen
Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose – Dwight Yoakam
Let It Bleed – The Rolling Stones
The Pretender – Jackson Browne
English Civil War – The Clash
Buick City Complex – The Old 97’s
Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who
The Seed 2.0 – The Roots
Custard Pie – Led Zeppelin
Me and Bobby McGee – Janis Joplin
Fly Me to the Moon – Frank Sinatra
I Call Your Name – The Beatles
What’s So Funny ‘bout Peace, Love and Understanding – Elvis Costello