The soundtracks of our lives

I love music, every kind of music. It's also one of the few topics that I know a lot about. For instance, remember that show, Rock N' Roll Jeopardy, which is like regular Jeopardy but way better because it's about rock? Yeah, I own at that game. I'm like a fountain of useless knowledge when it comes to music. Sure, I know albums, artists, all that stuff, but I also know lyrics. If they still had Name That Tune, I'd own at that too. We'll be flipping through the radio stations, and I'll immediately know the song on just about any channel, and of course I always sing along...even though I can't sing for shit. Since I was little, I've had this love for music, and it's always been a big part of my life. Growing up, my dad was one of those sometimes distant dads, who just didn't always know how to relate to a girl. The only way we really communicated for a long time was through music. He'd taught me all about classic rock, the original "guitar heroes", he'd introduced me to all the greats, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, all of them. It was just easier to talk about music than other stuff. So it's natural that I've always used music as a kind of soundtrack for my life. When I was really angry, I'd listen to Riders on the Storm (The Doors). When my first boyfriend broke up with me and I was sure that I would never love again and my life was over, I made a mix tape of just The Rose (Bette Midler) and Love Hurts (Nazareth), just put them back to back, so I could have 120 minutes in uninterrupted wallowing. I could listen to anything and think of a place or time where it would've applied to my life. Some may call it vain, I call it awesome. I think it could have something to do with me being a drama queen and thinking that I should totally have my own soundtrack. So even though it may not be weird for me to have my own soundtrack, I think it may be a little weird when I start making soundtracks for other people.

See, in my head, I've made a soundtrack for Barack Obama. I figure they'll make a movie about him, and I want to do the soundtrack. I don't have all the specifics worked out yet, but I've got some ideas. For instance, I see him telling his staff about how important votes will be, every vote will be hard fought, etc. Then it will cut to the volunteers fanning out over the communities, signing up voters, shaking hands, telling people about Obama, and in the background Waiting on the World to Change (John Mayer) will be playing. Ok then, in another scene, on election night, it will show people's reactions, spliced in with his acceptance speech, and then his voice will fade out and be replaced by Signed, Sealed, Delivered (Stevie Wonder). Genius right? Lastly, I see the final scene of the movie, the part where they show a still frame of the actor playing Obama (which totally is going to be Will Smith), and then the screen dims for a second, and real-life pictures of his presidency, the First Lady, his children, the heart warming pictures of the whole family, and all the while in the background you'll hear Bob Marley's voice singing Redemption Song. How awesome is that? That's a kick ass movie right there. Of course that's only three tiny parts of the movie, to make it really work I'd need a whole script, someone to buy the script, a studio to finance it, actors, producers...but I'm totally on top of the soundtrack.