I’m participating in a mixed CD exchange on one of my online communities. The idea is that you come up with the soundtrack of your life and burn it onto a CD. You make copies and mail them to everyone on your team. They do the same. It’s a great way to hear some different music. I put together what would be the inside cover if I had the printing tools. But I’ll print this and enclose it with each CD, which should be mailed out tomorrow.
Track 1 – The Kite – You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown – 1999 Revival Cast
Of all the Charlie Browns, you’re the Clarlie Browniest. Charlie Brown is a good guy who always seems to have the odds against him, whether it be the kite that won’t fly or the friend who keeps pulling the football from under him. That’s me.
Track 2 – Piano Man – Billy Joel
This song goes back to college, my freshman year, in fact. My fraternity was participating in a competition called Greek Sing where we had to compete in a musical number. We had a guy with a really amazing voice and I played the piano. We didn’t just win—we blew away the competition.
Track 3 – Closer to Fine – Indigo Girls
Also in college, I had a roommate who loved the Indigo Girls and somehow got me hooked. This song always takes me back to those days.
Track 4 – I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing – Pet Shop Boys
In college, I finally realized that I was gay. Actually, my best friend from high school dragged my ass out of the closet. I made a few new friends who listened to the Pet Shop Boys and I listened to them a lot in those days.
Track 5 – You’re Not Alone – Olive
In 1997, I went to Disney World for the first business trip of my career. This song was popular then, and I had it on a CD single. I still do, in fact. I listened to that CD over and over on my new CD walkman on the plane and the CD player of my rental car.
Track 6 – I Come from Good People – San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus performance of Naked Man
Naked Man is the story of the journey gay men go on in our lives. This song, in particular, tells my story. I’m a lot like my mom, and I look so much like my dad. I come from good people. And in my family, if you don’ have a place to go, you’ll find a welcoming place with us.
Track 7 – Thank You Mom – Good Charlotte
Several years ago, I was looking to put together a mix CD for my mom. I was searching for something that would be appropriate to say thank you to my mom. I came across this song and instantly fell in love with the song and the twins who perform in the group. It also sparked my interest in punk music.
Track 8 – Together Again – Janet Jackson
This song will always remind me of my friend Josh. We dated for a while, and I remember that he was in Salt Lake City visiting his mom, and I was at home in Pittsburgh. We were chatting on instant messenger one night and we were chatting the lyrics to this song to each other. It seems really cheesy now, but back then, it was really sweet. We couldn’t make it work, but here we are almost ten years later, and we’re closer friends now than we’ve ever been.
Track 9 – I’m Learning – Boyzone
When I lived in Philly, I was seeing a guy named Dave who lived in Pittsburgh. I was working in New York, and he was working in Boston. The logistics of our relationship didn’t allow us to see each other much, and I thought we had something more than we really did. (I’d make that mistake again in the summer of 2003.) When I realized he wasn’t really interested in me, this song seemed appropriate to my feelings at the time. I was really getting into boy bands at that time and my taste in music over the next few years would certainly reflect that.
Track 10 – Naked in Pittsburgh – from Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know
I did a lot of travel when I was living in Philly and working as a consultant for a major corporation. I was on a minimum of three to four flights every week for well over a year. It was a lot of travel, and US Airways lost my luggage more than once. I can’t tell you how many times I’d have to find the nearest Gap store to have something to wear to work the next day.
Track 11 – New York City Boy – Pet Shop Boys
In all of that travel, I spent a good chunk of time in New York City. This song was popular at the time, and it will always take me back there. I kept an online journal back then, long before it was called blogging, and I had an entry called New York City Boy.
Track 12 – We Fit Together – O-Town
Remember what I said about boy bands? I really wanted to be in one, and when MTV was advertising for Making the Band, I was enthralled. Unfortunately, I was in my mid-twenties at the time, making me too old to be in a boy band. Still, I loved O-Town, and this was quite possibly the best song they made.
Track 13 – Cowboy Take Me Away – Dixie Chicks
This song will always remind me of my niece. She’s eight now. When she was about two, my sister would play this song in the car, and she would just sing her heart out.
Track 14 – I’ll Lead You Home – Michael W. Smith
I grew up listening to what was then called Contemporary Christian Rock or Rock with a Message. No matter where my beliefs may be these days, this song always takes me back to my roots and just makes me feel better about whatever is going on in my life.
Track 15 – Defying Gravity – Wicked
On January 3, 2003, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It was a really rough time. On top of that, I lost my job when the company I was working for went under. I spent three months trying to find a job and myself. That’s when I met a guy online and repeated a mistake I had made a few years earlier by falling for someone who didn’t share my feelings. This song is about facing adversity and well… defying gravity. I took an eight week contract job just to pay the bills and ended up staying 16 months. Incidentally, Idina Minzel is the actress who sings this song, and I got to see her perform this while in London last October. It was an amazing performance and I had tears streaming down my eyes as she sang this.
Track 16 – You Raise Me Up – Josh Groban
On December 30, 2004, I moved from Pittsburgh to Providence, RI. The contract on my job and the lease on my house were both up at the same time. It was time to start over, and that’s exactly what I did. The next night, New Year’s Eve, I was alone in a new city, knowing almost nobody. I heard this song for the first time when Josh Groban performed it on Dick Clark’s show. Somehow I knew that everything was going to be okay.
Track 17 – How Do You Like Me Now? – Toby Keith
A lot of people told me that moving to Providence was a bad idea. It was a huge risk. They were right. It was a really bad idea. And I made it work. In a matter of weeks, I started a new job in Boston. Two and a half years later, I’m still at that job and I haven’t looked back. I’ve since moved to Boston, much closer to work. I have a few really good friends, a career path, and an awesome Pug. This song is my way of thumbing my nose at the people who were taking bets on how long it would take for me to move back to Pittsburgh.
Track 18 – The Dance – Westlife
This is a cover of a Garth Brooks song, but I think I’ve established my love of boy bands. I’m a bit of a sucker for boy bands from the UK like Westlife and Boyzone. It reminds me of the crap I’ve been through the past few years. The summer of 2003 started a very tumultuous period of my life with emotional highs and lows. If I had known in advance what I’d go through, I may have never gone through it. And then I wouldn’t be where I am today. I like where I am today.
Track 19 – Special – Janet Jackson
I’ve always struggled with my self esteem and this song reminds me that we all have specialness inside of us. Janet says that we have to learn to water our spiritual gardens. What grabs me is how the song ends…. Work in Progress.
