A recommendation is free... or Pass It On

I recently found some awesome blogs though other blogs and through ThriftyFun. I love the "frugal" community, because they get sharing all the way through, for both it's financial and karmic advantages.

I made my sister the following CD to listen to. I burn myself CDs to themes. For "Cleaning the House" "Songs for missing J" "Driving Lou to California" etc. Music balances me out, helps me to sing it all out before I cry myself blind. I need the catharsis and I appreciate the artistry and the emotion a song can encapsulate, also I love to sing. I really love to sing in the car. It makes traffic bearable, and as I have said before, it distracts the side of my brain that has the terrible imaginings that would keep me from driving otherwise.

Here's the current play list (Songs for missing J****):

Trapeze Swinger - Iron and Wine the song to be played at J's funeral

Young at Heart - Frank Sinatra "life gets more exciting with each passing day, and love is either in your heart or on it's way..."

You're Not Coming Home Tonight - First Aid Kit look these girls up they do a cover of Fleet Foxes' Tiger Mountain Peasant Song that will give you goose bumps.

All You Need Is Love - The Beatles because, love IS all you need, or it just feels that way when you feel all the glee singing those words

So Far Away - Carole King we're apart alot, I translate all those on the road references to our situation

Ain't That A Kick in the Head - Dean Martin I love that phrase, and for me, it evokes reading "On the Road" and getting very little from it [so he was wordy and drug addled and a bum?] but the phrase "for kicks". I love Dean, and those horns!

Fallen From the Sky - Glen Hansard (from the Once Soundtrack) I highly recommend Once, also listen to the Frames, his band. J doesn't care for this song but I love it

Somebody To Love - Queen Freddy Mercury really rang every drop from a song.

Mercedes Benz - Janis Joplin Iz and I sing this song together. Iz is 3. "Oh Lord, woncha buy me..." It's one of those small amazing things I am priveleged to experience. This song reminds me of my mom. I didn't know what "dialing for dollars" was, she does.

Firestarter - Chris Whitley this makes me feel all fuzzy guitar... I couldn't find a link, you'll have to hunt it down.

Hanging Around - Counting Crows I'm a sucker for the clappy sing along feel. Also I love this band. And I relate to the way he says, "way way way too long".

Northern Sky - Nick Drake One of my favorites of his, one of those songs that plays in your head. I love how the guitar gets right around my brain and the tinkling feeling it works up... It feels like gentle rain.

Hunger Strike -Temple of the Dog Who doesn't love this song? It's a perfect song.

Sunny Days - TV Themes (Sesame Street) Um. I love Grover and Oscar the Grouch and Snufflupagus from way back. It's a good song, full of nostalgia for me. Come and Play!

I Want To Hold Your Hand - T. V. Carpio (from the Across the Universe Soundtrack) She puts all this wanting in this song I never heard in the original. This is probably my favorite "cover" of all time.

Hold On -Sarah McLachlan (from No Alternative) her lyrics and her singing...

Rockabye - Shawn Mullins I like the storytelling devises of this song... the beat, the song.

Because -The Beatles Lennon's lyrics are so clever and simple, "because the world is round, it turns me on..." Just the way he lilts "because" melts around the corners.

Golden Slumbers I will never meet Paul McCartney, but I always felt comforted with the idea of him singing a lullaby to me, and really belting it out....

Carry That Weight I sing this to myself sometimes, I can't tell you why...

The End - The Beatles The greatest band in the world, and I almost didn't buy this CD?

I recently purchased my fourth copy of Abbey Road. I have been buying this CD since I was 14, if you can believe that.... I had said, before, that I was never buying it again, that I had already paid for it so many times! But then, I got a gift card for my birthday. And it was prominently displayed in the store with all the other Beatles CDs I already own, saying to me, Come on, girl, don't be so cheap.

So, I bought it. Or rather, my husband did, via the gift card. (Yeah, it's always the right color and size and I am guaranteed to buy myself something I love with it.)

I came home kind of grousing, but put it on my imac and onto itunes, and immediately, I realized it was worth every penny. Each time I bought it.

Jesse and I have pretty large music collections. We are of the same mind when it comes to music we truly love: It will pay for itself in due time. [Even if one is buying it again after losing it to a failed relationship or a bad move or just left it in someone else's car....]

And so, here is my recommendation: if you don't know these songs you can click them for links or look them up. If you own a Beatles CD put it on. If you know Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine, sing all those "I know, I know"s (sixteen seconds of self admonishment, whoa) and feel in right down to your soul. Singing in the car saves my day I can't tell you all how often.

I wonder, dear reader, what's on your playlist?