Streets with no name - U2
Belfast, winters night, an invitation back to a girlfriends house ending with her plugging in a video recording of U2 singing on the streets of Las Vegas. Dark room, bright eyes, blurred into a passionate night spent under her goose down duvet. I never ever wanted to leave that bed.
Your Song - Elton John
I lived in America at the time and thought Elton John was an American. I just remember thinking how clever he was to write a song that surely everyone would wish they'd written and could present to the one they loved. I use to imagine serenading my girlfriend with it but never plucked up the courage. Besides I couldn't/can't sing!
My Sweet Lord - George Harrison
Snipping grapefruits was the only way we could earn our keep back then. At least our transport to the orchards had a radio. Every day without fail it would broadcast the above mentioned song, morphing our flat bed truck into a chapel filled with Memphis gospel sounds. It summed up my time spent in Israel so completely. Still does.
Chasing cars - Snow Patrol
There comes a time when you have to stand back from your children and let them deal with the twists and turns that life presents, but remain there to dust them off, stand them up and send them out again whenever a punch has landed.
The first time I heard this was when my son played it, over and over again.
I later learned he had split up from his first girlfriend.
To me this will always be a song about growing up.
Over my shoulder - Mike and the Mechanics
I worked every hour that god sent, for little pay, determined to make my decision to move back to England a successful one.
Once settled I did look back at where I'd been. This song captures and will always capture that moment.
Bitter Sweet symphony - The Verve
Intellectually challenged she had an unconscious innocence I found beguiling.
The daughter of a friend she played this for me, singing along as if it were her own.To me it always will be because she'd been the first person to introduce me to it.
Mr Brightside - The Killers
One of those moments when my son forgot to rebell against me.
When a song and an album can reunite two generations then it is priceless in my book. Other lyrics from the album such as "Save some face, you know you've only got one" and "Change your ways, while you'r e young" built a bridge back to where we'd been before hormones wreaked their havoc.
Hotel California - The Eagles
A hot barmy night in Norway, curtains billowing into a room still trying to rid itself of last nights tobacco and beer - vinyl sparked lyrics off from spinning tops of drama. Definitley a case of right time right place, that single moment ensuring it would be remembered long after I've forgotten what my name is.
I saw them in concert last year, their performance showering even more pearls into a jewel box already stuffed with diamonds from their past.
Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
Home from Gloucestershire where I'd been on holiday with a friend, this gem burst onto the scene. The past behind me, an uncertain future ahead, I adopted this as my anthem, taking time to learn every twist of its imaginative lyrics.
Even now, when I fall from the horse, this always manages to get me back in the saddle again.
American Pie - Don McLean
Florida, National Discount Carpet, me in the throws of trying to sell a roll of shag pile, this crackles through muffled speakers and captures me forever. Still Magical!
My Love My Life - Abba
"I know I don't posess you, good by my love god bless you" summed it all up at the time, unrequited love, a genuine belief that things would never be the same again, captured in a song by a group at the pinnacle of an unlikely career.
I played it endlessly at the "Chimpanzen Club" and it never failed to fill the dance floor. But then again nothing from their "Arrival" album ever did.
So what's your top ten?
