Fighter

Although I insist on having my iPod blasting my eardrums at the gym, and greatly enjoy dancing and singing along to random music while I wander around town, I have never been a person who expressed negative emotions through music. Rather, I have always used music to make myself happy and get my endorphins moving. Lately, however, I have found myself downloading songs and culling through my iTunes collection with specific ideas in mind.

When I get homesick, for example, I crawl into my oversized Toronto Maple Leafs jersey and listen to HomeSick; my all-Canadian playlist featuring everyone from Stompin’ Tom to Spirit of the West. Then I turn to You Tube to listen to the "Hockey Night in Canada Theme" (classic, thank you) and "I Want to Drive the Zamboni". I dare anyone not to dance like a gleeful child when listening to "Goin’ Up" by Great Big Sea.

My latest iTunes playlist is called Girl Power. Recent developments in my life, I realize, are probably explanation enough but that would make for a rather short and boring blog entry, so I think I’ll expand on the thoughts and emotions that led to the pounding and blasting of everything from Pink’s “So What” to Gloria Gaynor’s “I’m a Survivor.”

For the most part, these songs put me in a place of power and strength in my newfound singlehood. Every so often, however, I accidentally listen to the lyrics (Lisa Loeb, “Stay”) and find myself drifting toward melancholy. For every “Irreplaceable” by Beyoncé I seem to find a “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” by Stars. I never thought I’d be one of people who cried at telecom commercials or who broke into tears at the sound of “that song” and it bothers me.

Traditionally, the music I choose to download to iTunes tends to be my own personal sensory time machine. Garth Brooks takes me back to getting drunk with the girls in Hen House back in Halifax whilst Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family” flies me straight back to grade nine. Mention of Iron Maiden in “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheetus always makes me think of my brother, BBA, and anything by Corky and the Juice Pigs reminds me of the fabulously bizarre night when I attended a concert of theirs in Toronto with a bunch of Pages from the library.

(Just as I finished that last paragraph “Gitchee Gitchee Goo” from Phineas and Ferb popped up on my Happiness playlist and I started singing aloud and dancing in my seat. Normally that wouldn’t be so bad except that I’m sitting in an outdoor patio in central Sydney and everyone in the bar now thinks I’m drunk, crazy, or [more likely] both.)

This vaguely pointless trip through my iPod makes me wonder what my readers are listening to. What do you listen to when you want to dance for joy down the crowded streets of your city? What songs do you listen to when you want to wash your face with salty tears? And what songs do I need to add to my collection to make my day brighter or bring me closer to your personal shade of bliss?