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My Island CD

We've all been asked the question. What movies, what music, what foods would you pick if you were on an island, so here it goes. I'm gonna start some lists of my personal picks. I'm going to start with music. I'm going to make it a little difficult on myself. I'm going to limit it to ten songs. Not CD's, that would be too difficult. So ten songs I'd be stuck listening to day after day, waiting for the ship to find me, playing with my volleyball and avoiding smoke monsters. This is tough to think of. Anyone who has been fortunate or unfortunate enough to be stuck with me at the bar, knows I love me some Spice Girls, some T.I. and some Hanson, but would they make the top ten list? You'll have to wait and see.

Now this list is also a little different in that it's my island list. It's not like a driving CD where you want to crank Born To Be Wild and hit the gas. Nope, these are songs that mean something to me. They might even take me back to a special time or place. If I'm stuck on an island, my memories would be very important to me. So here it goes. Oh and by the way, these are in no particular order, so don't scream that I like MMMBop more than Wannabee.

1. Angels - Robbie Williams. This songs brings a little smile and a little tear to my eye. It reminds me of being on a bus, coming back from a day off while working at Pierce Camp Birchmont. Usually music would accompany it, but not always, sometimes it took nothing more than Jared asking Simon in his best British accent, "Simon, sing us a song." Simon would start and by the end, the entire bus was singing along. We'd sing this, American Pie, Omaha, and another song that will make the list. This song just makes me happy in so many ways.

2. Brandy (You're a fine girl) - Looking Glass. The first time I ever heard this song was during a karaoke night at Rockwell's in Tuckahoe. I loved it and asked the guy who sung it. I had never heard of them, but every time I hear this song, it just makes me smile. Recently, I was scouring youtube.com and found a cover of it performed by Red Hot Chili Peppers. It blew me away. I actually think it's better than the original. Just an amazing song. It reminds me of a simpler time in my life.

3. Three Little Birds - Bob Marley. Another of the songs we sung on the bus. There's just something about hearing this song in the morning that starts the day right. I used to play it on a Sunday morning after a rough night of drinking. Maybe something was stressing me and I needed something light to help. Something about Marley telling me not to worry, a warm cup of coffee and a day of nothing to do. It's just perfect for the island.

4. Blue, Red and Grey - The Who (Pete Townsend solo). Once again reminds me of Birchmont. It's a love song about how some people like different parts of the day, but he loves every minute of the day as long as his love is part of it. The ukulele just goes so perfectly with the song and the line "some people have to have the sultry evenings, cocktails in the blue, red and grey, but I love every minute of the day" is one of my all-time favorite lines. On the album, Who by Numbers, this light song ends and goes right into How Many Friends, another incredible song. Probably my second favorite Who song.

5. Last Kiss - J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers. Most of you probably know it from Pearl Jam, which is a version I truly despise. It's actually a very sad song about a guy losing his girlfriend in a car crash and how he has to be good, so he can get to heaven to see her again. If you listen carefully to the words, it's nearly impossible not to get a little misty-eyed. So why is this song important to me? Well, when I first heard this song I was about 22. I was dating a girl and she found an album it was on. Yes an actual record. It was actually on WCBS greatest songs of all-time and she found a record store that sold it. We both went and I purchased the four record collection. Every song on it was wonderful, but this one always holds a place. When you're young and in love, everything seems so insignificant, but as you get older you realize to cherish those moments, even as memories.

6. Carmina Burana - Carl Orff. OK, so it's not technically a song since it's classical, but who cares, this is my CD, not yours. If you've never heard it, or think you haven't, I bet you have. If not, click on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq6sX2Ki5bg&feature=related. It features the lovely Michelle Kwan skating to this odd choice for an ice skater, but it works wonderfully. It's so in your face and so powerful, the only thing I can compare it to is a thunderstorm. It starts slowly, but then grows in intensity. Oddly enough, another one of my favorite pieces is Musica Poetica by Orff which is the exact opposite. It's a gentle, tender piece that is featured at the end of Badlands and True Romance.

7. Rock Box - Run DMC. Now I love old school rap. I have always liked rap and there are hundreds of songs that would do for this CD. I kept thinking about the songs I can listen to over and over again. Dead and Gone by T.I. and Justin Timberlake is my current favorite. Follow the Leader by Eric B. & Rakim is probably the best actual rapping ever recorded. Tupac and Biggie have so many catchy riffs that I can listen to over and over again. I mean Changes and Juicy are probably two of my favorite songs ever. So why this song? The first rap album I ever bought was Run-DMC's first album. The hard rock guitar and the spitfire lyrics caught my attention immediately. Long before Walk This Way would get little white kids all over the country into rap, this song was the anthem. This album and this song defined my early adolescence. It was two young black men rapping with a hard guitar track behind it. It almost was out of place in the rap world and in many ways mirrored my life. The little white kid hanging in the hood listening to rap. Long before Eminem made it cool.

8. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath. Sure there are better songs. N.I.B. is probably my favorite, but I can't listen to it over and over. Iron Man was the most popular for a long time and I still love it. War Pigs is not only a great song, but is a great story, but I will never forget when I first bought this album. I had owned Paranoid first and went out to get this album. I remember turning it on and this was the first song. You hear rain, thunder and then a church bell, then the eerie music starts. It just slowly draws you in and then Ozzy belts out "What is this that stands before me, figure in black which points at me, turn around quick and start to run, find out I'm the chosen one...OH NOOOOOO!." Holy Shit! Literally! This is the kind of song you would actually feel comfortable in a cemetery listening to. This song just blows me away every single time I hear it We now see Ozzy as a shaking, mumbling mess, but back then, he was the Prince of Darkness. What makes this song even more amazing is that it came out at a time where there was no heavy metal. This was truly the first heavy metal song some people ever heard. Oh, and Led Zeppelin fans can kiss my ass. Zeppelin wasn't metal.

9. Straight To Hell - The Clash. The Clash are my favorite rock band ever. The Who and The Stones are close, but nobody ever really comes close to The Clash. They were my childhood. I learned to rebel with The Clash. They might not have been the best musicians, but for me there was nothing better. It also takes my mind back to the days of St. Ann's in Brooklyn. A very happy time in my life. Everyone was healthy, happy, I even enjoyed school back then. I remember when I first bought Combat Rock. I got it because of Rock The Casbah and Should I Stay Or Should I Go, but then I heard this and it transformed me. The song goes from speaking about immigrants and their dealing with racism, then to Vietnamese children who were fathered by American soldiers during the war, then about the American dream seen through these children's eyes, and then finally, about how difficult it is for immigrants all over the world. The song is so incredibly powerful and moving, but subject matter aside, it actually reminds me of a wonderful time in my life. When M.I.A. sampled it for Paper Planes, I was surprised and overjoyed. Especially since their song is pretty damn good.

So how do I end this CD? There are so many great songs and artists. Could I spend my days on an Island without Johnny Cash, Sinead O'Connor or Iron Maiden? A week without a Madonna song? There are also so many one hit wonders I'm missing. No Rolling Stones? How could I not have Wild Horses, Sympathy for the Devil or Angie? No, I need something that sends shivers down my spine. A band who has tons of songs I love, but I need a song I can rock out to, but listen to the lyrics and it can make me think of those I've lost along the way, one way or another. I don't believe in heaven and hell, but number ten is all about seeing someone you miss again.

10. When The Angels Sing - Social Distortion. How could a song which repeats the same words almost every other line be so good. I don't know, but I've listened to this song hundreds of times and it just makes me think that maybe, just maybe, those who I've lost along the way, might be in a better place. Like Mike Ness says "Who am I to question when it all comes down?"

So there it is. My Island CD. A mix of quiet songs, some loud, some quiet by bands known for being loud and some are just songs that take me to special places in my memories. I don't take photographs, I take mental snapshots. I don't need a picture to tell me who was there, what kind of day it was, or what I was wearing. Those things are filed away and sometimes you hear a song, smell a scent, or feel a certain way, and we flip through those albums in our mind and they let our emotions go to places only we know. We can share the experiences, but we can't share how they affected us. That's for us to know, to feel, to remember. That is living. No picture can describe that.

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