So, things have gotten a bit stressful these past few weeks, with no intention of letting up until next month. Oof. Between a mandatory work meeting, an upcoming trip to visit my 80-year old grandpa in Mississippi and tons of work for my classes (including a paper, an exam, and several chapters of reading), I'm ready to go back to being a kid for awhile.
You know what I'm talking about, right? The hardest decision of the day would be shoes with laces or velcro. Dinner would be on the table, already made and tasty to boot. Homework would take 15 minutes (tops) and going outside was the fun part of the day. I'm badly wishing I could do a reverse Big.
Since that's not an option (there's not a Zoltar machine in view), the only thing I can do is listen to music that takes me back to a simpler time. Without further ado, here are 5 songs from my iTunes library that always make me feel like a kid again:
1) 4 Non Blondes - "What's Up?" I can clearly remember this song being played at every single middle school dance that I attended. Whenever I hear it, I just find myself swaying back and forth and singing as loud as I can, "And I say heeeeeey-yaaaaay-yaaaaay-yaa-haaaay, heeeeeeey-yaaaaaay-yaaaaay. I say hey, what's going on?" (As a side note, this song also reminds me of my one night at Karaoke Kid... someone did this song and the whole bar burst into song at the chorus; it was magical.)
2) Carole King - "You Make Me Feel (Like A Natural Woman)" As my dad once told a boyfriend of mine (after a few drinks), "Picture this: 3-year-old Erika. Flat-chested as a boy. Belting out 'You Make Me Feel (Like A Natural Woman)' in her carseat!" Embarrassing as that moment was for me, it's all true. Anytime I hear this song, I almost feel like I'm back in the car with my mom on the way home from one of dad's softball games trying not to fall asleep before we pull into the garage.
3) The Jackson 5 - "I'll Be There" When I was younger, there were only two movies in my life: Now & Then and Clueless (and yes, I have the soundtracks for both). My best friend and I used to sing along to virtually every song in Now & Then, but we always had a thing for this song in particular. "Just call my naaaaame-buh, and I'll be there." No, I'm not sure why we added a 'B' sound to the end of name. That's just how we rolled.
4) The Beatles - "Michelle" This probably sounds like a strange one, but it makes sense to me. Remember those Saturday morning classes that some of your parents probably made you take? Well, when I was 8, my parents wanted me to sign up, so I picked French. We really didn't learn much except the very basics, but it was fun. One day I was listening to my dad's Beatles tapes and "Michelle" came on. I recognized the phrase, "très bien" since this was something our teacher said to us when we got something right (it means "very good"). So I asked my mom (who had taken French in high school) what the rest of the line was. Once I learned a whole sentence in French, I was on top of the world. I still feel pretty cool when I sing along today.
5) Big Bird & Waylon Jennings - "Ain't No Road Too Long" This one is classic. I grew up on Follow That Bird (this has been brought up in the past, and will no doubt appear in later posts). My sisters* (including my best friend) all baby sat for me at one point or another, and all were subjected to this movie multiple times. I hear this song, and I can picture being in the basement at my parents' house, piling pillows and blankets on the floor to bounce on while singing along with Big Bird. If that's not bliss, I'm not sure what is.
So what songs remind you of being a kid?
Hope everyone has a happy Friday and a wonderful weekend! :-)
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