Picture this . . . 

You’re just leaving work. The engine is running but you haven’t started to drive. As you sit in the parking space going over the rough day and wonder how you might leave the last 8 hours behind, your radio gives you a gift. Your song. We all have at least one, though most of us have several. I don’t mean the “oh this is a good one, I won’t change the station” song. I’m talking about your jam. That song that no matter where or when its played, the volume must always be raised. It can be fast, slow, loud, soft, any genre, doesn’t matter cause it is “your song”. Whether its literally “Your Song” by Sir Elton, or “I Wanna Talk About Me” by Toby Keith (neither of those are on my list, just so we’re clear), when you hear your song, its on. The world seems to belong to you for the 4 minutes its playing. There are many reasons the song or songs on this “ultimate jam” list are chosen. Maybe that song is the background of your first high school road trip. Maybe the song at the top has so much energy, you can’t help the head bob. It could the first song that helped you out of a negative place or it could be the song that kept you company while you dove head first into the problem. Whatever the reason, nothing will change the attachment you have to your song. That emotional connection you share with your life’s soundtrack is unbreakable. 

Songs have the ability to transform an ordinary moment because of the emotion they evoke. And whether they are positive or negative, those emotions are extremely difficult to override. The power of music to bring about a certain thought is almost involuntary. As Third Eye Blind so eloquently stated “the four right chords can make me cry”. The greatest soundtrack and film score composers can swell into a moment with such precision and feeling that you can’t help but get drawn into the moment. Building suspense like John Williams’ half step theme for the greatest white shark ever in “Jaws”, or it could the pinnacle of inspiration with Vangelis’ “Chariots of Fire” which I would have on repeat if I ever signed up for a marathon. The emotions and the songs that carry them may skirt a fine line of parasitic relationship, potentially ruining a decent song with an associated negative emotion. Life can sometimes attempt to take away the good feeling of a song and replace it with a negative connotation like a couple’s first dance song ruined with a bad divorce. Whatever emotion, positive or negative, a song holds is instantly recalled from the first drum groove or guitar riff. And for someone like me who remembers everything, good and bad, there are many soundtracks for my life’s moments. 

With all that said, I am going to give you my best David Letterman and provide my “Top Ten: Ultimate “My Jam” Songs” 

Number 10 - “Definitely Unexpected” Hans Zimmer, The Holiday (Motion Picture Soundtrack) 

Number 9 - “Opening Titles” John Powell, The Italian Job (Motion Picture Soundtrack) 

Number 8 - “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)” Stevie Wonder, Signed, Sealed, Delivered 

Number 7 - “Twist and Shout” The Beatles, Please Please Me 

Number 6 - “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues” Spin Doctors, Pocket Full of Kryptonite 

Number 5 - “Sweetness” Jimmy Eat World, Bleed American 

Number 4 - “Sell Out” Reel Big Fish, Turn The Radio Off 

Number 3 - “Stairway to Heaven” Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV 

Number 2 - “Tripping Billies” Dave Matthews Band, Crash 

And the number one song on my “Top Ten: Ultimate “My Jam” Songs” is: 

“Washin’ + Wonderin’” Stroke 9, Nasty Little Thoughts 

Until next week, stay tuned.