2 Songs

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?