OK, so the Goddess is ordering all minions she's linked ..................................

to list songs from our individual/collective "yoot" ......................... here's the thing - my birthday is in early December; also, earlier that year, I had the WONDERFUL opportunity to work at a radio station {in a clerical capacity} where the format {the kinds of songs they play} was middle of the road - the DJ's first song could be the Allman Brothers, and the next Frank Sinatra or Paul Anka ............................. ;-) {Billy Joel wasn't the force he later became} ........................... so there are a LOT more than 5 or 10 songs for me to choose from ......................... but the 3 below pretty much capture what I was 1) going through or 2) what I hoped for ...................... ;-)

Now, for the rest of the "meme" -
1. Go to the Billboard #1 Hits listings ;
2. Pick the year you turned 18;
3. Get nostalgic over the songs of the year;
4. Pick 5 songs and write something about how these songs affected you;
5. Pass it on to 5 more friends.


"AT SEVENTEEN"
By Janis Ian

I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired
The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth...

And those of us with ravaged faces
Lacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at home
Inventing lovers on the phone
Who called to say "come dance with me"
And murmured vague obscenities
It isn't all it seems at seventeen...

A brown eyed girl in hand me downs
Whose name I never could pronounce
Said: "Pity please the ones who serve
They only get what they deserve"
The rich relationed hometown queen
Marries into what she needs
With a guarantee of company
And haven for the elderly...

So remember those who win the game
Lose the love they sought to gain
In debitures of quality and dubious integrity
Their small-town eyes will gape at you
In dull surprise when payment due
Exceeds accounts received at seventeen...

To those of us who knew the pain
Of valentines that never came
And those whose names were never called
When choosing sides for basketball
It was long ago and far away
the world was younger than today
when dreams were all they gave for free
to ugly duckling girls like me...

We all play the game, and when we dare
We cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
That call and say: "Come on, dance with me"
And murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me, at seventeen...



FREE MAN IN PARIS
Joni Mitchell

"The way I see it," he said
"You just can't win it...
Everybody's in it for their own gain
You can't please 'em all
There's always somebody calling you down
I do my best
And I do good business
There's a lot of people asking for my time
They're trying to get ahead
They're trying to be a good friend of mine
I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
There was nobody calling me up for favors
And no one's future to decide
You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on
Stoking the star maker machinery
Behind the popular song
I deal in dreamers
And telephone screamers
Lately I wonder what I do it for
If l had my way
I'd just walk out those doors
And wander
Down the Champs Elysees
Going cafe to cabaret
Thinking how I'll feel when I find
That very good friend of mine
I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
Nobody was calling me up for favors
No one's future to decide
You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on
Stoking the star maker machinery
Behind the popular song.


Second Avenue
T. Moore

Since we can no longer make it, girl,
I found a new place to live my life.
It's really no place at all,
Just a hole in the wall, you see.
It's cold and dusty but I let it be,
Livin' here without you,
On Second Avenue.
And since our stars took different paths,
I guess I won't be shavin' in your looking glass.
Guess my old friendly grin,
Must have started to dim, somehow,
And I certainly don't need it now,
Still, I keep smiling through,
On Second Avenue.
I can still see you standing
There on the third-floor landing.
The day you visited we hardly said a word.
Outside it was rainin',
You said you couldn't be stayin,
And you went back to your flowers and your birds.
Since we can no longer see the light
The way we did when we kissed that night,
Then all the things that we felt,
Must eventually melt and fade,
Like the frost on my window pane
Where I wrote, "I Am You,"
On Second Avenue.

AND, anyone who wishes may take part in this exercise ......................... ;-)