Lesson 75: Favorite Song #5

As promised, here is the beginning of my top 5 favorite songs of all time, starting with #5 and I'll work backwards to #1 throughout the rest of the summer.  These songs are not my "theme song", which I will post sometime this fall.  They are my FAVORITES--ones that withstand the test to time.  There is a difference, and I suggest you begin thinking about your favorites, and also finding one that fits you perfectly enough to deem your theme song.  It may not even be written yet, and you'll have to keep searching for it, and that is fine.  Some things in life are not found until later, like peace of mind, financial security, or even love.  So even if you don't have your theme song yet--keep listening.  It will find you.  Until then, you can at least compile a list of favorites.  Again--please send them to me when you do.

When you are an elementary school teacher, you find kids have favorite everythings:  favorite songs, favorite movies, favorite teachers (always me, until I give a test, of course).  When I taught kindergarten for a hellish one year stint (say prayers tonight for any Kindergarten teachers you know), when I would ask kids about their favorite whateveritwas, they would always say, "They are all my favorites."  That is testament to their immaturity.  It's hard to choose a favorite when you've only had 60 months of life experiences. Sure, I have my list of current favorites as fickle as the Kindergartner's favorite flavor of ice cream.  I have a huge crush on Tim McGraw right now and that's all I've been listening to, but can Timmy and that to die for ichthus tattoo withstand the test of time?   I don't know, we'll just have to see.  As we grow and mature, songs come in and out of our lives, just like people do.  They give us memories and smiles and even sometimes tears.  You can always connect a place and time with a special person or a special song.  Which ones have stayed with you for all of your years?  What songs do you connect to special people or events in your life?  True favorites.  Find yours.

This song has been around for a long while--in 1968 it held the stop spot for four straight weeks.  The cool thing about this song, Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay, was that the singer Otis Redding, a mere twenty six years old, died in a plane crash just three days prior to its release.  The song is actually considered unfinished.  Listen to the whistling part at the end.  According to legend, there was going to be another verse there, and Otis had not completed it yet.  When he recorded the demo, he just whistled the part hoping to fill it in later.  Tragically, Otis never got the chance.  Erieites, another interesting fact is that Otis Redding's last performance was at some little bar in Cleveland, Ohio.  From there, he and some of his band mates were flying on a small aircraft to Wisconson for their next gig, and the plane crashed over a lake outside of there.  One band member did survive the crash.

It is also chilling how the song is about a lonely man who trekked 2,000 miles across the country to San Francisco and parked his butt on the dock of the bay and pondered life.  He didn't seem to have any plans on going anywhere and was content to watch the tide roll in and out.  It seemed to me after listening to it a few times, that this man was lonely, but he wanted to get a fresh start somewhere else.  He just stared out at the water and rested and contemplated what to do next.

That is exactly the thing I do when I need to clear my head.  I seek out water.  My sister will tell me that it is because I am the astrological sign Pisces, the fish.  I don't believe in that stuff, so I pay her no mind.  You can't tell me everyone born in March is drawn to the water.  When the stresses of life get to me, I'll find a creek (luckily there is one that runs through my yard, so I never have to go too far), or go to the shore of Lake Erie and sit awhile.  I've been to the ocean a few times in my life and that is a marvelous place to go, especially at sunrise, to ponder life.  If you ever doubt for one second that there is nothing beyond this world---that we are all here as some sort of cosmic accident, I beg you to go sit quietly by a body of water, whether it be the vast ocean, a great lake, or a stream.  I guarantee that "knowing" will find you too.

The photos on the movie I made above are all taken from my parents' little beach side paradise otherwise known as "the cottage."  It was a little steal they nabbed almost 25 years ago and I've spent my summers there ever since.  I love to play with my pictures on Picnik.com, but I promise you I doctored NONE of them.  The skies in the last two weeks were just those colors.  Spectacular.  I am sure you will agree.

Enjoy my top 5 favorite tune and the beautiful sunsets that only God could design.  Come for a visit, Slovenians.  I live in a beautiful place.  I'll take you for a walk on the beach and we can look for beach glass.  The green pieces are my favorites.

Always,
Eloise