Song: Feed the Tree
Artist: Belly
Moment: This song brings back a couple moments. I think I first bought this in high school after seeing the video on 120 Minutes, so it gives a vague recollection of summertime and MTV. It also reminds me of my sophomore year in college, summertime also. I was working for an indie health food shop (The House of Something Better--and it was a great old Victorian house) and got to play whatever music I wanted to (it was a 1-shopgirl-at-a-shift kind of place). I often looped this tape. It is so good and went so well with a book I was reading at the time called Sister.

Song: Father Figure
Artist: George Michael
Moment: Middle school, maybe late 7th or early 8th grade? My friend Amy L and I were beginning to try out makeup. I used to love to match my eyeshadow to my outfits (oh, faux pas! I know that now...), and I had a heavy hand with the old blusher. Friday nights were often spent at one another's homes making each other over.

Song: Got My Mind Set On You
Artist: George Harrison
Moment: Sleepover in 7th grade at Jenny Garbacz's house. We prolly spent some time playing Lounge Lizard Larry (one of those PC games where you type in the commands for the game characters) and making crank calls and then feeling all guilty because our marks were so nice to us. She'd always been quite the fashionplate, and I still remember how awesome it was that she had set up a cool dresser/vanity area inside her walk-in closet.

Song: The Reflex
Artist: Duran Duran
Moment: Summer, 1983 (84?). My very first rockstar crush was on John Taylor. He made made my heart flutter, for real. He was so pretty! Anyway, it was a summer night and MTV was doing their weekly video countdown, and I remember standing in front of the TV in my nightgown (a snazzy little number with red psychedelic flowers sewn for me by Mom) as this video came on. I think I got to stay up late that night because we were expecting some of my mom's relatives, who were driving in for a visit from Montreal. I always love a full house with the warm chatter of fun family!

Song: Back to Life
Artist: Soul II Soul
Moment: Visiting Chicago sans parents with friends. Late high school (?). I remember heading up to the city for some shopping and hanging out with my friend Sean and then-boyfriend Craig (who is a bastard, no more to be said about that). I think we stopped the radio on 93 XRT and this song was playing as we drove up Lake Shore Drive. I still love this song, though I love a much better boy now.

Song: Steppin Out
Artist: Joe Jackson
Moment: being a kid in the summer. I think I was 6 or 7. I can still recall the video of the maid trying on the "fancy" black and gold dress and going out on the town and thinking how glamorous it all was. For some reason, I always correlate this song with the city of Chicago, which was the "big city" we would make occasional roadtrips to. It must be the high rises and cabs in the video and one rainy roadtrip to Brookfield Zoo.

Song: Closing Time | Intergalactic | Save The Night
Artist: Semisonic | Beastie Boys | Eagle Eye Cherry
Moment: Summertime, just starting a new job with Interim Technology Consulting. The first month or so was spent "on the bench," wearing suits daily to go and hang out in their coporate office in Oak Brook, across from Oak Brook Shopping Center (a fine outdoor mall). Shortly after, I was assigned to work at Volkswagen Credit, where I would meet the man I would later marry (who would've ever surmised?!), my monkey!

Song: Waiting for a Star to Fall
Artist: Boy Meets Girl
Moment: Middle school. I think it might've been 8th grade, late summer/fall. I thought it was such a sweet and innocent love song, and I was doubly impressed that the singers were married to each other. This all fit into my innocent love for romance, and I think Breathe's "How Can I Fall" was also out around the same time (I loved that video, still remember the outdoor cafe and hugs strings of lights).

Song: Hands to Heaven
Artist: Breathe
Moment: Nearly all of middle school. I must tell you, I was in love, love, lurve with David Glasper of Breathe. I bought Smash Hits and all sorts of import glossies that might carry a poster or two of this band. Even now, though I no longer carry the torch for David Glasper (I have my very own, very lovely David from Surrey, thank you), the song brings back all the innocent and lovely memories of being young and idealistic, and having grand notions of romance and love and beautiful British boys. It was like the world of romantic love was just beginning to open up to my girlfriends and me. And though we were singletons for most of middle school (spotty summer flings don't count, yes?), the sweet feeling of knowing the potential for romance was truly awesome. I think that is why the nostalgia still rings loud and clear with this one.

Very funny misheard lyrics here.

Song: Piano In the Dark
Artist: Brenda Russel
&
Song: Two Occasions
Artist: The Deele (I had to look this up! I remembered Babyface being the singer in his white tux at his white baby grand in the video...)

Moment: End of the school year, 7th grade. At Jackson Middle School, the tradition was an end-of-the-year field trip to Great America. We'd arrive early (close to pre-dawn) and board a chartered bus, where the radio was blaring with the top 40 station in town (the station quite responsible for many of my great nostalgic moments, I should say) before we would set off for a day of frolicking on mechanical rides.

Also fun, found in my search: misheard lyric.