Soundtrack To My Life - Millie
Today on Soundtrack To My Life we have Millie, who I met through the Filofax community. We share a love of paper products including diaries, notebooks and pens. Her blog is an eclectic mixture of craft, writing, photography, products that she loves and anything else that she fancies writing about. She also has a Desert Island Blogs occasional series in which I featured in July. Over to Millie for her song choices.
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This song (and in particular this music video) is the song that made me obsessed with Bon Jovi (and also Jon Bon Jovi as an individual, who is sadly happily married and about 20 years too old for me). I like looking at old music videos on the web and finding new artists, and that's how I discovered Bon Jovi. I don't really have a personal story associated with this song, but it is seriously one of the best love songs ever written and I love it. I'm not sure the world makes men like that nowadays...
A few years ago, I had the privilege of seeing McFly perform live at the castle near where I used to live, and it was a perfect event. Dougie performed this song by himself and it was wonderful. It was a perfect meeting of my childhood geography and my teen music loves and I will never forget it!
I studied Geology at university, and on a field trip in the Lake District we used to listen to Radio Carlisle in the morning on the minibus. The radio DJ used to play this every morning, and it became our anthem for the trip. We used to sing it when it was raining and cold. Lots of good memories, and I still listen to the song on iTunes years later!
This song is one of my favourites off the Black Parade album (easily their best album). I remember pre-ordering the special edition of this album, and then I missed the parcel when the postman tried to deliver it. Gutted! I had to bribe my housemate (at uni) into driving me to the sorting office to collect it. When I got it home I had it on repeat for pretty much my entire second year of uni.
I don't really indulge in band gossip, but I heard that the song was inspired by the group's falling out with another band they'd been close to (who shall remain nameless as I don't know how true this is).
Whilst my life is by no means The Most Tragic Life of Anyone Ever (TM), I had some crappy stuff with my Father when I was younger, and the release of this album coincided with a difficult time in my life when I was trying to deal with the legal things surrounding his death and struggling to work out what I wanted from life. I don't want to be melodramatic and say that this album got me through, but it certainly helped me be appropriately angry about everything that was going on!
I've spoken to other MCR fans on the web since who have similar experiences with the Black Parade album. I think it's an important album for that reason alone - it seems to have helped many people. A lot of us don't listen to the song Cancer (off the album) for personal reasons (my Dad died of cancer, so it was kind of topical for me). I suppose it's an OK song, and it's kind of integral to the album as a concept album (discussing cancer and death), but sometimes I wonder if they maybe shouldn't have flown so close to the wind and instead written a less private song. Nowadays, I listen to the album on iTunes and I deleted that track years ago.
Fun fact: this song is actually written about a girl called Georgia, not the state, although it is now the state anthem of Georgia in the U.S.
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Bed of Roses - Bon Jovi
Folks who know me from my blog will know that I have eclectic music tastes. I pretty much like everything except garage and house. For me, songs are maybe 70% about the lyrics, 30% about the melody (except for crappy pop music to dance to!). I love songwriters who can put their soul into a couple of verses and share with you part of what makes them human. (I promise you I'm not a pretentious person - I'm just a lyrics geek!)This song (and in particular this music video) is the song that made me obsessed with Bon Jovi (and also Jon Bon Jovi as an individual, who is sadly happily married and about 20 years too old for me). I like looking at old music videos on the web and finding new artists, and that's how I discovered Bon Jovi. I don't really have a personal story associated with this song, but it is seriously one of the best love songs ever written and I love it. I'm not sure the world makes men like that nowadays...
Transylvania - McFly
I'm making Nickie share the acoustic video of this song, for a couple of reasons. Lots of music snobs dismiss McFly as teen pop. However, those people are snobs and don't know any better. I'm not going to pretend the McFly boys are talented singers (you can tell in the video that they have quite weak voices), but they do write some good songs. This one is about Anne Boleyn's secret love affair (she was the wife of Henry VIII) and it was written by Dougie (the bassist on the left in the video). It reached #1 so I'm not the only one that likes it!A few years ago, I had the privilege of seeing McFly perform live at the castle near where I used to live, and it was a perfect event. Dougie performed this song by himself and it was wonderful. It was a perfect meeting of my childhood geography and my teen music loves and I will never forget it!
Bring Me Sunshine - Morecambe & Wise
Ha! I bet you didn't expect that. I told you I have random tastes in music! I challenge you to listen to this song and not smile! It's a brilliant song!I studied Geology at university, and on a field trip in the Lake District we used to listen to Radio Carlisle in the morning on the minibus. The radio DJ used to play this every morning, and it became our anthem for the trip. We used to sing it when it was raining and cold. Lots of good memories, and I still listen to the song on iTunes years later!
Disenchanted - My Chemical Romance
Oh no, a sad song! It's true, I have a dark emo side that likes to indulge in My Chemical Romance (in fact, they're one of my favourite bands and are awesome live).This song is one of my favourites off the Black Parade album (easily their best album). I remember pre-ordering the special edition of this album, and then I missed the parcel when the postman tried to deliver it. Gutted! I had to bribe my housemate (at uni) into driving me to the sorting office to collect it. When I got it home I had it on repeat for pretty much my entire second year of uni.
I don't really indulge in band gossip, but I heard that the song was inspired by the group's falling out with another band they'd been close to (who shall remain nameless as I don't know how true this is).
Whilst my life is by no means The Most Tragic Life of Anyone Ever (TM), I had some crappy stuff with my Father when I was younger, and the release of this album coincided with a difficult time in my life when I was trying to deal with the legal things surrounding his death and struggling to work out what I wanted from life. I don't want to be melodramatic and say that this album got me through, but it certainly helped me be appropriately angry about everything that was going on!
I've spoken to other MCR fans on the web since who have similar experiences with the Black Parade album. I think it's an important album for that reason alone - it seems to have helped many people. A lot of us don't listen to the song Cancer (off the album) for personal reasons (my Dad died of cancer, so it was kind of topical for me). I suppose it's an OK song, and it's kind of integral to the album as a concept album (discussing cancer and death), but sometimes I wonder if they maybe shouldn't have flown so close to the wind and instead written a less private song. Nowadays, I listen to the album on iTunes and I deleted that track years ago.
Georgia On My Mind - Ray Charles
I hesitated before including this song on the list. I had four other songs that could've taken this spot, and they're all equally deserving. However, I love Ray Charles, and I think he was a really talented musician. He's one of my favourite soul musicians: I love the tone of his voice and his skill on the piano. This song in particular reminds me of backpacking around the U.S in the summer of 2008. I made a U.S playlist on my iPod before I flew out and this song was constantly playing. I did briefly visit Atlanta, Georgia, on my trip, and it was the only state where it rained for the whole trip! My memories are of a rainy city with tall buildings shrouded in a cloud bank. I'm sure it's nicer than that, but I guess the city didn't want to come out and play that day!Fun fact: this song is actually written about a girl called Georgia, not the state, although it is now the state anthem of Georgia in the U.S.
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You can find Millie over at Planet Millie or tweeting as @mslogica. I really recommend adding Millie to your blog reading list as she's a little hidden gem.
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