Song a Day Meme: Day 21

[willowisp]

High school was, for the most part, not a happy time for me. I was ostracized by most students, bullied, and some other stuff I may someday write about. I was active, though, in a few organizations, including Students Against Driving Drunk (SADD). One of my favorite high school memories involved a dance sponsored by SADD. As a member/officer of the SADD chapter, I showed up to all the dances. At the end of the night most of the students had gone home, but there was a small group still lingering. At that point the DJ put on what I consider to be the defining song of today's artist, and those of us left formed a semi-circle, holding hands, and swayed to the song. It was one of the few times I felt a part of most of high school life, and identified with those other students.

Fast forward to after I dropped out of Oswego. I believe the year may have been 1994. I was working for a company in upstate NY, and the radio station my co-workers tuned into was thankfully one of those which does not play the same song twice in a 24-hour period. The radio station also had another stricture -- they would not play a song by the same artist in a given hour. One day, though, the DJ announced that he was making an exception. It was the birthday of one William Martin Joel, and thus he was going to play two of his songs. One of them was "Piano Man", the song which evoked such strong good memories from that SADD dance. The other was one of his newer songs, "River of Dreams", which happens to be today's song, eg one I listen to when I'm happy.

• day 01 – your favorite song: "Shades of Gray" as performed by The Monkees.
  
• day 02 – your least favorite song: "(She Was A) Hotel Detective" by TMBG.
  
• day 03 - a song that makes you happy: Beethoven's 6th, 1st movement.
  
• day 04 - a song that makes you sad: "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton.
  
• day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone: "Trouble Me" by 10,000 Maniacs. (Ray Hall)
  
• day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event: "The Throne Room" by John Williams. (Our wedding recessional)
  
• day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere: "Blackstairs" by Clannad. (My uncle's house)
  
• day 08 - a song that you know all the words to: "Irony" by Leah Zicari.
  
• day 09 - a song that you can dance to: "Caribbean Blue" by Enya.
  
• day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep: "Music of the Night" by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
  
• day 11 - a song from your favorite band: "Perfect Time" by Maire (Moya) Brennan.
  
• day 12 - a song from a band you hate: "Tequila" by The Ventures.
  
• day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure: "Trigger Happy" by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
  
• day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love: "The Final Countdown" by Europe.
  
• day 15 - a song that describes you: "Eyes of Mercy" by October Project.
  
• day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate: "Jerusalem" as performed by Anuna.
  
• day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio: "When She Cries" by Restless Heart.
  
• day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio: "Everything Possible" by Fred Small, with special note to the version as performed by The Flirtations.
  
• day 19 - a song from your favorite album: "Epilogue (Finale)" from Les Miserables -- The Complete Symphonic Recording.
  
• day 20 - a song that you listen to when you're angry: "Living in Wartime" by Michael Callen.
  
• day 21 - a song that you listen to when you're happy: "River of Dreams" by Billy Joel