What Songs Would Be On The Soundtrack To Your Life?

One of the things I was writing about here a few weeks ago was music, and how certain songs can trigger memories. And I've had this project for the past few years to assemble a playlist of songs which are, in essence, the soundtrack to my life. 

Currently, it exists as a Google Doc, with a list of songs broken down by the period of my life which I associate them with. I'll eventually compile it into a playlist and listen to it, but for now, it's a document I update whenever an additional song or two comes to mind.

For this project, I have a couple of ground rules.

• The songs included should all evoke mild to strong time and/or place associative memories when I hear them.
• The songs should evoke good memories, or bittersweet memories, but not bad memories.

It hasn't been something I could just sit down and complete all at once. There were songs that immediately came to mind when I started, and then others which have come to mind later. I also don't own all of the songs in question, so at some point I'll need to get the ones I don't already have.

It's also kind of a personal thing. Music often anchors us to a time or a place, a situation, an emotion, or any combination of these things, and it's not always something we're comfortable expressing.

At the time I'm writing this, I have 41 songs on the list. I'll share three of them to illustrate what I'm trying to achieve.

• "Far Far Away" by Slade - After graduating high school but before starting my career, I worked at a hospital. I had to work every other holiday, and the way it worked out was that I always worked Christmas. I was there in the hospital basement, where my department's office was, one Christmas morning shortly after 7am. My coworkers had all departed for their tasks and I was getting my gear. This song was in my head because I'd recently gotten an import Slade compilation CD. It's kind of a melancholy song, and I was in kind of a melancholy mood, not because I was working Christmas, but because of something else. Hearing this song always takes me back to that Christmas morning in that hospital basement.
• "Ramble On" by Led Zeppelin - From the same period of my life as the last song. It was summer, late July or early August, but an usually cool evening. It was a Friday I think. I had gone to see a movie with my friend Jen, then dropped her off at home to go meet my friend Paul to pick up a PC he had for me. I'd been listening to this song that day. While preparing to write this, I realized that this was the last time I ever saw Jen, as schooling and career took us along separate paths. When I was on Facebook, we reconnected for one, maybe two emails, but she wasn't a big Facebook user and I eventually left it altogether. She passed away a few years ago. Dropping her off after that movie would turn out to be the last I'd ever see her.
• "Alexandria" by Chris Poland - It was fall. I had begun commuting into the city a few months prior. The commute was a train ride, early, when it was still dark, and the cool, fall air provided a chill. I remember being on the train one morning with my headphones on, listening to this song. It fit the moment. The evening train is active and talkative, but the morning one tends to reflect the tiredness of the commuters.

It's been an interesting exercise compiling the different songs in my life's soundtrack. I'm not sure it'll ever be completed, as every once-in-awhile, a song or two gets added. But it's been fun.