A blog about my life, fitness and fun! (...and maybe a few cat pictures...)

A blog about my life, fitness and fun! (...and maybe a few cat pictures...)

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

2 Songs

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Kristen @ Sweat Courage started a new blog series- 10 Day You Challenge.


Today is 2 songs!

We're getting down to the nitty gritty, as I am almost done with this challenge!

Of all the themed days, I thought this one was going to be the hardest. The thing is, I don't have any special songs! You'd think I would. First of all, everyone has special songs... and I'm a music teacher for crying out loud! But seriously, Paul and I don't have a "song", and I don't even think there is a song that reminds me of him.

So... in true Meg Go Run Style, I will change this up a little bit. I'm still going to give you two songs. But I'm going to pick two songs that when I hear them, they AUTOMATICALLY transport me back to a certain time in my life. I think that will be more interesting to read about!



1. Back on the Chain Gang - The Pretenders


Whenever I hear this song, I think about the time I wrecked my car while I was student teaching! 

Let me set it up for you. I was student teaching in Ebensburg, PA- about three and a half hours from home. I lived all alone out there in a tiny two room apartment. It was the weekend, and I was driving to the Wal Mart in Punxsytawny (yes, where the groundhog lives) to meet my friend, Acacia. I don't know why we were going to Wal Mart, but that was the meet up spot. 

It had snowed the day before, but the roads were clear and I didn't think it was too dangerous to drive my old Cutlass Sierra. I was jamming out to a mixed CD and came to the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. As I turned the corner to go down the hill, my car hit ice and slid. In my inexperience, I had no way to recover control of my car. I slid down the hill, down a snow covered embankment, and into a field of fluffy white snow. My car didn't tip or roll over or anything. It wasn't even a rough trip down into the field. It was almost like I was sledding. 

As my car came to a stop, Back on the Chain Gang was blaring through my stereo. My cell phone rang. I answered it. It was my best friend Sherrie, calling from Philly, to tell me she just got hired for a new job. "I just wrecked my car! I'm fine, but I gotta go!" I told her. Two dudes in a truck rolled up soon after that. They had chains (haha) and pulled my Cutlass out of the field and back onto the road. There was no damage to my car and I drove it home. As I was pulling out, someone else hit ice on that hill and flew into the field, too. 

When I think back to that day, I feel like I was in the Twilight Zone! So now every time I hear Back on the Chain Gang, I am immediately transported back to that field, somewhere between Ebensburg and Punxsytawny!




2. Willamania - from the musical The Will Rogers Follies

Willamania is the opening production number from the musical The Will Rogers Follies. When I was 12 years old, I was cast in a community theater performance of the show. Actually, I was cut because the director thought I was too young to be a Zigfield Girl. But when a girl dropped out, the director called my mom and asked if she would let me join the cast. Of course my mom let me! So I was the youngest Zigfield Girl in the show. Most of them were in their late teens/early twenties, so I didn't really fit in. But I still had a ton of fun in the show because there was a lot of dancing!

Obviously, this is a much more obscure song, but I did have to include it because every time I hear the opening riff of Williania, I remember standing backstage, waiting to climb up those steps amidst the smell of the fog machine. Good stuff. 

Here is a video clip of Willamania from the 1991 Tony Awards. I wish I had a clip of our low budget performance, but I have no way to upload it onto the computer. Plus it was from 1995, so the quality is probably pretty shoddy!

Do you have any songs that are special to you?
Are they any songs that transport you back to a different time in your life?

12 comments:

  1. I wouldn't say there are any songs in particular that are special to me. Though there are many songs when I do hear them I think of certain people or situation. -L

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  2. Ah! I always think I would enjoy living somewhere with seasons and snow, but have never considered how dangerous the driving could be!

    Summer Girls by LFO always reminds me of summertime in the late 90s. I was in middle school and just hung out watching MTV all day with my best friend wishing we were pop stars ;)

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    1. I remember that song!!! NSYNC tends to remind me of the late 90s! (Which was HS for me.)

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  3. Great post! I loved reading your stories. It's amazing how songs can transport us back to such specific times, places, memories. Same with smells. Sensory memory is very powerful!

    When I read your sentence "As I was pulling out, someone else hit ice on that hill..." I totally thought you were about to say "and then they plowed into my car just as I was pulling away!" Glad that wasn't the case!

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    1. I know! If my car had not been moved she totally would have hit me!

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  4. I love the stories behind your songs. Glad you didn't get hurt in the ice slide - scary to be so out of control.
    I've never heard the other song - I guess because I haven't seen that musical.
    Brown Eyed Girl has always been one of my favorite songs even though I don't actually have brown eyes.

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    1. My HS boyfriend used to sing brown eyed girl to me! Now I play it in music class. The kids love the "sha-na-nas"

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  5. I had that same experience with the Aerosmith song What it Takes when I was in college. I hit some black ice and did a slow spin down a (thankfully) deserted stretch of road and it felt like everything was in slow motion and there was nothing I could do except ride it out. I came to a stop without anything happening, but anyway, that song was on the radio. Another song that comes to mind is "Stay" by Lisa Loeb. It was the popular song during my first major breakup and it would be on the radio when I was driving and I cried every time. :)

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    1. Girl, What It Takes is a super creepy song to be sliding down ice to! Very good song, though! I freaking love Aerosmith.

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  6. Gosh, this would be hard for me to choose two songs. I like quite a few. ummm, The Pretender and Best of You from the Foo Fighters?? Sweet Nothing by Florence Welch and Calvin Harris?? I don't know!!!! LOL

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  7. I can't remember the music I was listening to in my two accidents! I love that you have such a clear memory of that totally....calm?....wreck!

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  8. I never heard that one. I am into Elvis' Blue Christmas :) Paul and I like the harmonize to that!

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