top to bottom.

One of my favorite movies of all time is High Fidelity, which is based off a Nick Hornby novel and stars John Cusack - that is one of my favorite authors and favorite actors, so that explains my adoration of the movie. In the film, the main character is basically going through the Top 5 break-ups of his life. It doesn't sound very cheerful, but it is a hilarious movie, and afterwards you will find yourself obsessively making Top 5 lists for everything.

Take this knowledge and combine it with the latest adventure I've undertaken with my friend Mallory. The other day at work, one of the lawyers was playing Dave Matthews so loud I thought my ears were bleeding. Ironically, Mallory emailed me (even though we are two cubicles from each other) how annoyed she was because she also hates Dave Matthews. This started a conversation back and forth about music, and we came to discover that we have more even more similarities. It is truly becoming creepy.

So, Mallory and I started discussing music. As I've mentioned before, I am a rather "old soul" when it comes to music. Mallory is a total hipster in the best way. She listens to music before it becomes part of a movie's soundtrack because some LA jackass "discovered" the band in some concert circuit. Without making a solid plan of it, we both started compiling lists of our all-time favorite songs. She is BA and finished her's that night and came up with 85 songs, which can be read here: http://malloryalyse.blogspot.com/ I am not that music savvy, so I'm going to take the High Fidelity route and list my Top 5 songs, with some alternates because that's how I roll (and there are so many good ones to throw out there, but I don't want to diverge from the Top 5 idea). So, here we go:

1. "Better Man" by Pearl Jam
2. "Hey Girl" by O.A.R.
3. "The Joker" by Steve Miller Band
4. "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison
5. "Collie Man" by Slightly Stoopid

Alternates:
"Baba O'Riley" by The Who
"What Is and What Should Never Be" by Led Zeppelin
"Farmhouse" by Phish
"Hear You Me" by Jimmy Eat World
"Champagne Supernova" by Oasis
"The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" by Brand New
"The Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel
"Let It Be" by The Beatles

There is something about #1 that gets me every single time I hear it. Maybe it's because I saw Pearl Jam in concert a few years ago (ok, almost 5 years ago... because I am getting really old) and the song holds some really great memories for me of a really great person. It also used to be my ringtone. It is a little bitter and sad, but I've always chosen to interpret it incorrectly and pretend it's positive. No harm, no foul.

The next one is my all-time favorite O.A.R. song, and I have a lot of 'em. I've also seen O.A.R. in concert four times, each show being better than the last and culminating with an amazing show at Red Rocks Ampitheater in Denver. I love this song for so many reasons, one of which is because when I saw them in Kansas City, a guy proposed to his girlfriend on stage in the middle of this song (it was planned beforehand with the band, which is even cooler). Oh, this song also used to be my ringtone.

Ahh, Steve Miller. I knew a guy in high school named Steve Miller. Clever parents. Anyway, this song just kills me in a good way. "I'm a picker, I'm a grinner, I'm a lover, and I'm a sinner." It might as well be my biography, which is why I think I love it so much. Plus, the "wah waaahh" part makes me giggle. Go listen to it and you'll see what I mean. And guess what? This also used to be my ringtone.

#4 is self-explanatory. My uncle has danced with me to this song at every family wedding I've ever been to, so it also has a traditional-aspect to it. In a world full of blue-eyed beauties, it's nice for the "mud pie" -eyed girls to get some lovin', plus Van Morrison is badass. No, this was never my ringtone, but it is the ringtone you hear when I call my mother. I set that one up for her, and I'm sure she's never been more grateful.

And lastly, the wild card. No, this song doesn't fit in with the rest of them. But at just over two minutes long, somehow this song can completely elevate my mood no matter what. It is the single most-played song on my iTunes, beating out the next most frequent by almost one hundred plays. It's a really chill song and completely unlike any other Slightly Stoopid song, but it's phenomenal. It also has one of my favorite lyrics of all time: "Some man lives his life on profits alone/ that very same man he lives his life all alone."

So there you have it, my Top 5 songs and a handful of alternates. It is a really interesting aspect to see what songs have withstood the test of time, because I go through so many phases of musical preferences and will listen to nearly anything. Check out Mallory's eccentric list, but be sure to round out your musical adventure with some older stuff off mine.

Where words fail, music speaks.