30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel)

30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel), Day 20: A Song That Could Have Been Written About Your Life

My self-imposed ban on repeating songs that I chose in the original (June 2011) version of this Challenge is making it more and more difficult every day to match the perfect song to this month’s prompts.  My first choice for “a song that could have been written about my life” would have been The Rolling…

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30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel), Day 19: A Song You Used To Love But Have Now Outgrown

For a few years in my 20’s, I dated and lived with a Deadhead.  And I’m not talking about some amateur, weekends-and-summers only, tie-dyed, wake-and-bake, jam-band fan.  I’m talking about a Genuine True Believer.  He had whole cases of cassette-tape bootlegs from Grateful Dead concerts going back more than twenty years.  He was in touch…

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30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel), Day 15: A Song That Reminds You Of Your Best Friend

I really dislike the designation “best friend.”  I can’t entirely explain why but I’ve always felt like it’s an impossible-to-determine category.  What makes a good friend the “best”?  The time you’ve known each other?  The experiences you’ve shared?  What you’ve given or sacrificed or provided for one another?  Is it about quality or quantity?  Is…

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30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel), Day 14: A Song You Associate With Breaking Up

I have a whole complex theory about breakups, the first and most important axiom of which is that breakups hardly ever “take” on the first time.  As a rule, if you’ve been in a real relationship with someone– meaning, first, that you’ve invested a significant amount of time and emotion into the relationship and, second,…

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30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel), Day 18: A Song That Makes You Think of a Place You’ve Never Been

I’ve never been to Africa, which is particularly embarrassing in my case since I have a Doctoral Minor in African Studies and a large part of my dissertation involved the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  Not having been to Africa is far and away the greatest regret I have in my life, one that…

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30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel), Day 17: Your Favorite Holiday Song

It’s hard to think about “holiday” songs in the middle of June– in Memphis— so today’s entry will be brief.  I’m picking a Christmas song, not because Christmas is my favorite holiday (my favorite holiday is a tie between New Years Eve and Halloween), but rather because, c’mon let’s admit it, Christmas has the best…

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30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel), Day 16: Your Favorite Song From a TV or Movie Soundtrack

Today is a two-fer in my picks for the 30 Day Song Challenge, in part because the prompt itself is a compound prompt.  I’ll just say in advance that I’m only considering TV or movie “theme songs” and not any old song from a TV or movie soundtrack (which would include far too many songs…

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30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel), Day 6: Favorite Song for Flying Down The Highway At Top Speed

As I said back on Day Four of this challenge, my picks for the last three days can pretty much be taken as mix-and-matchable.  All three suffice for all three of this week’s categories so far: a “song for a sunny day,” a “song to drive around town with your top down” and a “song…

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30 Day Song Challenge (The Sequel), Day 13: Your Favorite Make-Out Song

First things first, if you don’t know the story of that Vancouver Kissing Couple to the left, one of the greatest stories and images of the last decade, read about them here. Love and Revolution are two of my favorite things. Picking my favorite “make-out song” violates more than a few of the Don’t-Get-Too-Personal rules…

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30 day Song Challenge (The Sequel), Day 12: A Song You Love From the 00s

I’m really glad I was born at a time that allowed my life to span two millennia.  I sometimes think about my historical counterpart 1000 years ago.  She would have been born in the latter part of the 10th century, when the world was dim and dark and governed entirely by authoritarian power.  She would…

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