Music Monday, a Birthday, and the NPR Song Challenge

So....
It's my birthday.
Quarter century...
And I can rent cars (!)
So go me?

Yea, not an exciting birthday,
as I'm a few weeks away from a major exam.
So I won't be doing anything today.
But I will be sharing photos some time this week from the epic birthday weekend Peter planned for me
{it was early, since my exams are around the corner}

I figured I could celebrate by sucking up my laziness and completing the NPR song challenge
I first heard about it on Betsy's blog,
and I've been wanting to do it ever since,
but I take these things VERY seriously.
So I took my time
{I put it off for months and it took four minutes this morning. I'm impulsive, what can I say?}

Anyways,
Here it is-
Be warned, things are gonna get awkward real fast!

1. Cat Stevens- Moon Shadow

This song and I go wayyyy back. My lovely mother used to sing us songs at bedtime, and this was one of them. I didn't know it was a Cat Stevens song then. We listened to his records all through child hood, and when I was fifteen and boarded a plane alone for the first time, my Dad sent me on my way with his best hits CD for my walkman. So I guess you can say it's a family thing :)

2. Linkin Park- Numb

I could have glazed over this one. It's not the type of music I listen to often any more. But that would be dishonest, less awkward, and no fun at all, so what the hell- I was an angsty, artsy teenager, and the chick in this video {who also starred in Step Up 2- The Streetz! Kind of ruined it for me} seemed to share my angst- obviously, in my self-centered teenaged head, she was me. besides, I probably listened to this song a total of 1,565 times, so it definitely tells a part of my life story. haha. I hated my middle school, I had no friends, nobody got me and I loved to draw. This video/song were made for 13 year old me.

3. Less Than Jake- The Science of Selling Yourself Short

Moving on to high school- the angst was still there, it was just more upbeat! I spent a lot of time in high school going to local ska shows- some put on by my friends' short lived local legend, Skuff'd Shoes. I still cringe when I realize that I met the lead singer of Less Than Jake, Roger, and asked him why he played his bass guitar with a guitar  pick. I warned you....Awkwarddddd

4. Fleetwood Mac- Never Going Back Again

I first fell in love with Fleetwood Mac- the British-American rock band moreso than the original, more bluesy British group- some time in 10th grade with their self-titled album, but it was Rumours that changed everything for me. I couldn't get enough of that sound- it was even hard now to choose one song from this record, and I am still torn- Second Hand News is so catchy, and The Chain is just plain epic. But Never Going Back Again fits with my still-angsty high school personality. Also, it's simply beautiful. 

5. Iron and Wine- He Lays in the Reins

Fleetwood Mac's Rumours opened up a whole new genre to me- folk. I picked up the In the Reins EP from my best friend at the time, and I was done- It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. The soft melodies, the imagery {I was a horse girl and very into Clint Eastwood Westerns}- I can't put into words what this song, what this record, meant to me at the time. The fact that I still listen to it regularly, even now, almost 10 years later, is the only way I can demonstrate the power of this song. Years later, my fiance and I bonded over the message hidden in the words of the Spanish Singer- 

I never thought that I'd ever have the chance to rediscover the road again and make a better world. 

6. Orthodox Chant- Agni Parthene

I almost chose Foo Fighter's Best of You for this spot, but I have to give it to this Orthodox hymn written by Saint Nektarios. My mother actually recorded a version of this song in harmony with a friend, and I wish I could figure out how to share it here; it's so beautiful and calming. She will be chanting at my wedding on Crete, and this is what I will walk down the aisle to. 

So there you have it. my #6songs. What are yours?

Georgia