One summer afternoon in Tucson, my CASA girl and I were driving around in Big Ugly, and she was enjoying a little channel surfing on my car's XM radio.  She hooted and cheered when she figured out that if you turn the channel to 5 – you get music of the '50s, 6 = '60s, 7= '70s, 8= '80s, and so on. I told her to “stop right there!” (in honor of Meatloaf) on the '70s... and the dial has rarely moved since.

My husband says I am stuck on/in the '70s because it's the channel that I can sing all the songs. I know all the words... and if I don't, I still sing anyway. The memories, the fun, the music – bad and great, bring such a smile to my face.

So I thought, what if I made a timeline of music in my life? Songs that mean something – to me. People I love. The words + music = life. The hardest part was keeping it to just a few songs... but the truth is, it could have been hundreds.

Please feel free to click on an image if you feel like listening and singing along.:

The first song I am going to honor in my life, reminds me of my mother, the eternal Barbra Streisand lover. I am sure she has a shrine for her still, even in the great beyond. Oh the joy! The drama! Can't listen to this without smiling.

BARBRA STREISAND
HELLO DOLLY!

In honor of my father, I have to showcase the song I always ask the mariachis to sing for him. He cried every time I had it played for him.

VINCENTE FERNANDEZ
EL REY

In honor of my youth it was truly hard to choose one song, because every single song I listened to, brings memories. I chose this one, because it reminds me of summer days, playing records on my turntable and this song got played over and over again.

BILL WITHERS
AIN’T NO SUNSHINE

Thinking of my brother, our creativity with music expanded. Times also changed with the arrival of MTV, which means you not only got the sound, you got to see your favorite musicians make their lyrics come alive. One of my brothers and my favorite early music videos is Bohemian Rhapsody. Magnifico-o-o!:

QUEEN
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

And then I had children. Raffi was king, with Baby Beluga, Sesame Street ruled and I knew all the words to the songs like, Lady Bug's Picnic. But one of the most magical, is a song that I wouldn't even list as a children's song, but my children enjoyed it, to the point that I cannot listen to it without hearing the voice of my little girl belting out the song in her safety seat, so many years ago, as I played it in our cassette player, in the car.

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
ALEGRIA

More recently, I experienced quite a 10 years plus journey as a single mother of three, and there were many years times that this song played in my head.:

BIZ MARKIE
JUST A FRIEND

or even this-

PINK MARTINI
HEY EUGENE

Thank goodness, things have calmed down, at least most of the time, and the soundtrack is new, but, with a familiar voice. Now, on both my husband’s and my MP3 player, we play, over-play, and then play again, this album (old words die hard).:

SADE
SOLDIER OF LOVE

In honor of my daily yoga practice, I will end this blog post with the song that we sing at the end of every Kundalini Yoga class. May the long time sun shine upon you. Words to live by.

SNATAM KAUR
LONG TIME SUN

Sat Nam,

Ana Lewis
Founder
WomenontheVerge.net