My Roommate's Music; My Own Ensemble

The very first roommate I ever had in life was in my freshmen year of college. After having spent my whole life as the only child in the house, with my own room (and later my own bathroom too), you might think this would have been a horribly difficult adjustment. However, I discovered that there existed some perks that I would not have predicted. The number one coolest thing about my first roommate: her iTunes music library! I cannot even begin to count how many new and exciting songs I was able to acquire over the course of the two years that we shared a dorm room.

Freddy and I learned pretty early on that one key interest we shared was a love of musical theatre. Our room was like a Broadway Review blaring out of our laptop speakers. Friends of ours in our all girls dorm would be lured down the hall towards the beckoning melodies of classics like Phantom of the Opera, or new spectacles such as Wicked. Luckily for me, I never had to feel embarrassed by my adoration of all things Broadway, nor did I have to feel inhibited when the desire to sing along overtook me. Our room was a place where at any time you could find 18ish young ladies indulging their inner divas, and while perhaps not doing justice to Sarah Brightman or Idina Menzel, we certainly did our best to do them homage with our own vocal abilities.

One song in particular I will never forget singing along to is "My Strongest Suit" from Aida. Now to this day I cannot hear that song without recalling my former roommate and her friends dancing around our room and singing along at the top of their lungs. I was so immediately hooked by the tune and the clever lyrics that I made it my mission to learn the tune by heart in order to next time join in the fun.

I guess you could say that the itsy-bitsy vain side of me appropriated "My Strongest Suit" as its own personal anthem... Okay, if you just pictured me singing that song to myself as I put together the 'perfect ensemble', then I guess I'd have to say I'm guilty as charged. True, I am a bit of a fashionista when I try to be, and I'm often as obsessed with People Style Watch as a teeny-bopper. Don't be a hater just cause you're jealous of my mad styling threads and my ability to sing about them! If you aren't yet laughing you must think I am serious so... please laugh... I am definitely being facetious. Or you actually know me and you are laughing even harder now because you're saying, "who do you think you're kidding you vain little bitch?" *shrug* C'est la vie!

Anyways, it just so happens that I do recall a very particular day when I danced around my dorm room singing that song as I pieced together a very cutesy, very pink, and very Friday outfit. It was such a masterpiece - if I do say so myself - that I decided it deserved to go somewhere far more special than to my Math class. Therefore, I somehow found myself having ice cream with my gay male pal, his handsome Irish friend, and some girl I'd never even met! If anyone had asked me why I wasn't in class, I would have blamed that silly little tune for inspiring me to be lacey and pink-bowed and generally frivolous all day long!

So, I ask you all... what is your secret anthem? What song inspires you to be a little daring or a little irresponsible? Please share! And check out mine:

The song is here

Until next time, this is Megs saying find a song that makes you feel flirty, fabulous, and maybe a little bit frivolous.

Any Song with the Word Hyperbole in it...

So, let me say a little something about karaoke... I love it! It is a guilty pleasure that I fully admit to having. And wouldn't you know, I managed to find a boyfriend who indulges once in awhile as well. Our favorite NYC bar gives us the perfect opportunity every Thursday night. Dangerous, I know.

This past Thursday, we stopped in at our local hangout and as we entered I said, "oh yeah, I forgot it was Thursday." Honestly, I had. This is a product of not working for the whole summer. It's all just one big weekend to me. Anyways, we had only intended on stopping in for a round or two (don't we always say that?) but the sign-ups for vocal embarrassment were quite low that night and poor Lori the MC was just begging people to get up and belt out a ballad! Well, how could I resist? It was, after all, the altruistic thing to do.

Therefore, we (my b/f and I) grabbed the song book and began to page through in a quest for the perfect song. Why my boyfriend bypassed the 4 pages of Beatles we will never know. He loves them and they are so vocally friendly to just about anyone. But no, alas, he chose "White Rabbit." If anyone reading this even knows this song, I will dedicate a post to you!

Anyways, I did not know this song and the few in the bar who did couldn't help but cringe at the not so fresh rendition performed by my lovable but Jack Daniel's-ridden lover. I clapped wholeheartedly anyways... mostly because he had stopped singing, but we all make mistakes. I mean, let's be honest, karaoke is almost always a mistake anyways. This was just, well, particularly painful to my ears.

Now, I would like to say that when it was my turn to sing that I was just as horrid to make my love feel better. However, I inadvertently turned into the crowd favorite. I have a sneaking suspicion that my karaoke success is due more to the fabulous choice of song (that was a request from said boyfriend) than to my stellar vocal abilities. *note heavy sarcasm regarding my own vocal talents*

I sang "These Words" by Natasha Beddingfield. Now, if you are not familiar with this quaint love song, it just so happens to be sickeningly sweet and adorably sappy. And there I was, clad in my unassuming baby doll tee and khaki capris singing my heart out and smiling from ear to ear. How could the patrons not love a giggly little twenty-something asking "I love you, is that OK?" Seriously, I was like butter because I was on a roll *rim shot*

So, if you ever feel the need to serenade your loved one with something oh so catchy and lyrically playful - as my boy says, "any song with the word hyperbole in it is OK by me" - then choose this one:

The song is actually here.

So leave a comment with your favorite karaoke song or a song using the word hyperbole!

Until next time, this is Megs saying sing out loud, sing out proud, and for heaven's sake please try to sing on key!

Cut a Rug with the Scissor Sisters

While I was in college, I discovered a happy little tune that never ceased to lift my spirits no matter how low my feelings had sunk. I would press play on my iPod and from the very first few bars I could feel my toes start to tap and my head begin to bob... next thing I knew, my hips were swaying of their own volition to the irresistible beat.

I have always been a fan of "dancing it out" long before I fell in love with Meredith and Christina of "Grey's Anatomy" fame. The childish need to sing into a hairbrush and bounce on the bed travelled with me to college and there I discovered this new addictive anthem. It was like my own personal "Hakuna Matata." How could I feel blue when the Scissor Sisters crooned in my ears? Impossible!

Of course, perhaps the English dork within just couldn't help but adore the irony of boogieing down to a song whose title is, in fact, "I don't feel like dancing" *giggles* You see, even now I find that hilarious and it makes the song all the more endearing to me. Trust me, if you know the song, you know what I'm saying. The beat catches hold of you and just won't let go until you surrender to the melody and break into a little jig. I can definitely muster up more than just "a little soft shoe or gentle sway" when I crank up this tune.

And then, just when I thought I couldn't get enough... Addison Montgomery (formerly Shepard) left good ol' "Grey's Anatomy" and struck off on her own in "Private Practice." She told her former boss, the Chief, that she was going to dance around naked if she wanted to now that she was heading to L.A. Lo and behold, in one of those very first episodes, Addison hopped out of the shower, dropped her towel, and busted a move to my very favorite mood lifter music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwZq2-bG4Ig

I have included a link to this fabulous feel good tune on YouTube complete with lyrics! I hope you check it out, enjoy the music, and leave a post with your own favorite feel good song. When you're feeling down, what song do you jam out to?!?

Can't wait to hear some of your feel good tunes!

Until next time, this is Megs saying, feel the sunshine, feel the love, and feel the music...