Kenny Rogers, “The Greatest”: This song depicts the quintessential picture of a little boy playing baseball. He walks outdoors dreaming of all of his baseball heroes that he sees on T.V. carrying his baseball and Louisville Slugger baseball bat. He pictures them and then himself in their position, in front of thousands of screaming fans, playing the sport he loves. He thinks about the pressure situations, in the game, that make names go down in history. This was me too, at one point in my life. My love of the game came from my father, who taught me to play baseball. We used to spend hours upon hours of playing catch and talking about anything, but mainly baseball. After I came to be the age that I could play organized club baseball he would always be there with my mom, yelling words of encouragement from the bleachers. I cannot remember a game where my dad was not there, even with his packed busy schedule, he found a way to make it to my games. I think he could see a lot of himself in me, because he had been an avid ball player himself, when he was a little younger. He had played on some city league team in Indiana, and still held onto his old uniform. There were times when he would be driving me to baseball practice when this song would come across the radio, and the two of us would sit there silently and share the love of the game by listening respectively and thoughtfully to this beautiful song.



Chevelle, “Vitamin R”: Not only does the name of the band remind me of times spent with my brother and my father, it has literal meaning too. Over the course of my high school career, during the summer my brother would come back from college classes and the three of us would work on his ’69 Chevelle. Over the course of a couple of summers we transformed a broken, rusted out, beat up car into a fully restored classical muscle car. But the most important and memorable aspect of these summers of my life has to be the time I spent with my brother and father. We spent hours and hours sweating profusely underneath that car tearing out old broken parts and installing new ones, trying to restore a piece of history. Also we would often travel to nearby parts stores to buy new parts rather than order them by catalog, which allowed us to speed up the restoration process, and also spend more time together in the car talking together. The car has now become a symbol of many things for me. On one hand it symbolizes my dad, because it was he that imparted his vast knowledge to my and my brother (mainly my brother) and also because the car reminded him of his youth, when he would drive cars similar to this one. On the other hand the car reminds me of the summers of my youth spending time with my family, which I can see now, even when this was not so far in the past, is a commodity that is going to be rare in the future. And finally the car reminds me of my brother, for when he looks at it I can see pride in his eyes, which gives me satisfaction, knowing that I helped to create something that can instill such emotion in someone so close to me.



Jibbs, “Chain Hang Low”: One of the more memorable times of my youth was time spent with my school buddies. These are people I will never forget, having spent the better part of my life thus far with them. Playing sports was our thing to do, it is what we loved. My senior year before the basketball season started we had a couple weeks of practice. After all of the hard practices and the near impossible conditioning sessions, we would play this in the locker room and relax. This became the theme song to our senior basketball season. What was once just a catchy tune is now filled with meaning and memories. Upon hearing this song, memories of shooting around before practice come flooding back. When we used to practice free throws we would try as hard as we could to get the guy shooting to laugh and in the process, mess up his shot. Memories of these crazy antics come up when I hear this song. After successful home games, we would crank the volume up on the stereo we had in the locker room and take turns trying to keep up with the fast paced lyrics, and everyone of us would fail miserably. Any more it is hard to try to enjoy the song based on the musical attributes themselves. I can’t help but think of the season of our dreams, playing in a state championship game with all of my closest friends, when I hear this song. It will forever be representative of our senior season of basketball and spending so much time with friends playing basketball.



Feist, “1,2,3,4”: Everyone at some point in there life gets nervous for various reasons, one of them, in my case, was the first meeting with my college roommate. I applied for a random roommate that I had no idea who they would be or what they would be like. After meeting my roommate, while everything was still new and awkward, this song came across the radio. At first glance, or listen rather, you may not think that this would be a favorite tune to two college guys. But little did I know that both of us would have similar taste enough to both enjoy this song. Ever since it has been representative of the friendship that has blossomed between my roommate and I. The feeling of nervousness and then the following relief are all brought back when I hear this song. From that first meeting to the first real bonding moment when this song came across the radio, this will remind me of awkward moments dancing and attempts to sound like the girl in this video. The tone of the song almost speaks the relief I felt about my roommate situation with the soft voice of the, “Feist” singer. Even in describing the video to a friend, my new friend and I use the same adjectives and phrases to explain in our own same words. The entire uniqueness of the scenario and similarity is evident in the song, comparatively, more so in our tastes than in the actual content of the song.



Andy Griffith, Theme Song: This song along with the series has always been a favorite of my father’s. The series began in his childhood and has continued, as the two of them have gotten older. In a way the series has mirrored his life. When I was smaller, my father and I would watch reruns on T.V. I have many fond memories of sitting on his lap as a child and laughing at the many hilarious antics of some characters and thinking on the thoughtful behavior of others. All the while this was going on I was building a lifelong bond with my dad, or rather building a stronger bond. Most sons have relationships with their fathers, but I like to think that because of times like these spent bonding has made our relationship stronger. Many life lessons are taught, or were, in the many different episodes throughout the length of the show’s life. In the show, sheriff Andy Taylor has a son, Opi, who are very much like my dad and I. Opi often gets into various sorts of mischief, much like myself, and the widowed Andy Taylor plays the part of the stern, but loving father figure, that sorts him out. As well as the similarity in behavior, Andy and my dad share many of the same personal attributes. Both have a sense of humor and a powerful sense of right and wrong. The theme song to this series will always remind me of my dad and the many life lessons that are evident in the show, that are also a part of my history, that my dad imparted to me.



Reading Rainbow, Theme Song: The television series that this song opens to has been a large part of my life for many years, granted years earlier in my life. The principle of a love for reading that is obviously forefront in this series was imparted to me early on. I grew accustomed to watching this show on Saturday mornings and became a part of my weekend routine. I would watch longingly as the host used different methods to try to make reading interesting, and showing how many different things can be learned about in books. This is shown in the opening sequence where so many things are shown that children, who were most definitely the target audience, could not normally do. For instance the illustration of the astronaut shows how children can interact in something that would be impossible for them in any way outside of books and reading. This caught my attention early on and gave me a hunger for reading that I have carried with me through my life. Very early on, before I could read, I would have my parents read to me and after learning to read I could hardly quench my thirst for reading. Literature was a big part of my childhood and early years, largely on the part of the Reading Rainbow show. I was a big fan of science fiction, for I loved to be more than what a child in the world was, limited on account of my age. Reading gave me a window into much more than my sheltered life. The series shaped the early part of my life in a good way that I am thankful for today.



Nebraska, Tunnel Walk: This song has been lodged into the hearts of Nebraska boys for years. The song being the signal for the Nebraska football team to come charging onto the field. Growing up in Nebraska, I have been familiar with this, “Theme Song” for a while now, and each and every time I hear it, it sends chills up my spine. Automatically I think of all the times I’ve spent watching the Huskers on Saturdays, and sitting around the television with my family. At the same time I think of the feelings I had when I saw my first Husker game in person. I can feel the Goosebumps long before they come, and all my hair stands on end. And finally when the team comes out of the tunnel, they transfer their enthusiasm to the crowd they respond by screaming at the top of their lungs. Its more than just a song to get you pumped up though, the song has tradition all around it, to the Husker football team along with families all over the state. I can hardly count the number of times I have heard this song and watched the home state Huskers come out and trounce the opponent. It changes little kids all over the state, changing their love of the game of football into almost an obsession. This song has definitely sparked something inside of me, because ever since all those Saturdays ago, hearing the tunnel walk, and then seeing the Huskers come charging forth, I cannot quench my love for Husker football.



Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, theme song: This song, a good couple of years ago, jumpstarted a fad that rampaged throughout the United States. Ninja Turtle fans came jumping out of the woodwork as the show reached its peak of popularity when I was young. The foursome made it cool to be teenagers, and also popularized some slang words such as, gnarly, radical, and cowabunga. The show spoke to young people and indirectly put adolescents in a good light, where as before they were kind of displayed as the bad eggs of the next generation. The four brothers put a new spin on crime fighting that appealed to young kids. Their karate fighting style went along with other televised programs at the time too, like Karate Kid, and others like it. When me and my close cousins would get together, we would play Ninja Turtles and we would always fight over who got to be which character, because everyone wanted to be Leonardo, the fearless leader. Raphael was more of a rouge and an independent, and Donatello was the technology whiz. And finally there was Michelangelo who just loved to party, so I guess there was a little something for everybody but in our case Leonardo was just the personal family favorite. This aspect of being able to relate to so many was another reason that the program was so popular during this time. I spent many hours watching their crime fighting moves, just to go out in the backyard and try them out on invisible bad guys. I never really got the hang of all the karate, but it was fun while it lasted.