The Songs That Take You Back

Because The Peanut has gotten to that age when it is all music, all the time in the car, we listen to a lot of radio.  A lot of playlists on her iPhone.  A lot of music on the headset.

Just a lot of constant noise, which is okay because I like music a lot.

The problem is that the intersection between what I consider to be a "good" song and what she thinks is good is a widening gap.  One thing we've done is to just randomly set the iTunes app to random, mixed-up tunes, and that way sometimes my stuff comes on, and then hers, and so on.

The other day we were driving along, and The Church's "Under the Milky Way" came on, and I started singing along like I always do, because I love this song -- it calls to the inner angsty, pre-20-year-old buried somewhere between high school and college, who used to sit up late at night and haggle about political philosophy with visiting Model UN pals on college weekends or on high school field trips.  It speaks to me of pegged jeans and layered socks and big hair and a lot of carefree, non-scheduled, un-crazy fun.

You know, the exact opposite of what life as a grown-up, over scheduled, always on time, lots of responsibilities and duties working mom lives day to day.

It doesn't hurt that this song always makes me want to sit down and write the great American novel.  It's just a peppy little ditty, with a little angst and bagpipe overlay thrown into the mix, but it is seriously a time machine to my younger, more ambitious, more energetic self every time it plays.

So it is playing in the car, and I'm singing along...belting it out, if you must know...and I realize The Peanut is singing along, too.  Because she discovered this song on one of my playlists and absolutely loved it, too.

That may be partially due to the fact that I used to sing it to her to get her to sleep after her 3:00 am feeding when she was tiny, but I don't care.  She's not quite ready to embrace The Smiths and The Cure or too much punk music as well on the angsty '80s music continuum, but I'll take what I can get.

All of this made me think:  what songs that take you back in the day are now also songs that your kids enjoy?