Do Your Favourite Songs Paint A Biography Of Your Life In Music?


A friend of mine recently asked me to compile a collection of my favourite songs from the 60s, 70s, and 80s as a way to highlight what, from those various eras, caught my attention. And while I got to thinking about it, I began to wonder how much each of the songs we pick as favourites in our lives really say more about us and our lives than just a simple list of songs we like more than most other songs.

What is it about a favourite song that we connect with? Is it the melody? Is it something we pick out from the lyrics? Is it just an emotional connection? Does when and where you heard it and connected with the song make much of a difference? Why do these songs rise above all the other songs we simply "like" time and again? And more importantly, what do these songs say about us as individuals? Does our unwritten biography already have a built-in soundtrack?

I'm not musically literate enough to write melodies. And my writing style is far too long winded to be able to write in such a way that I could capture an idea or theme in a little three to four minute capsule with the main points repeated numerous times in a chorus. So, I can't write my own songs and many others are also not skilled in that manner. Yet I can still find songs written and peformed by either the writer or a separate vocalist and somehow find a way to identify with the song and make it my own. I know I'm not the only one who does this, as evidenced by the current trend at weddings, where the couple getting married often send their guests home from the ceremony with a compact disc in hand that contains a collection of "significant" songs to the newlyweds. Perhaps it's the cryptic nature of songs, where every last detail is not captured, that leave the lyrics wide open for a variety of interpretations? And in a manner that can connect with a listener in ways never imagined by the songwriter.

While one song in itself may or may not speak volumes about the type of person we are, as individuals; we also find writers and performers who write and/or perform multiple songs that we can identify with and give those artists the label "favourite." What is it about these artists that we more consistently identify with as opposed to those artists where we can only relate to just one or two songs? And when we think of favourite artists, are we more attracted to their catalogue of work than any individual song from their repertoire? If you had to narrow your song choices by a favourite artist down to a single song, would we be able to identify an absolute favourite song? Or would your choice constantly fluctuate?

If you were to compile your favourite songs into a CD collection (whether it is a single disc or a multiple disc set), would you need to explain why each song is significant to you? Or would each song somehow piece together an accurate biography of you? If you were no longer able to speak, would this collection be able to tell someone who met you for the first time about the kind of person you are? Would you feel vulnerable in sharing those songs with others?

And would these songs be better able to describe you than any words on a printed page?

Do you wonder what your favourite songs say about you?

Ryan Cameron