Have this three day week-end to myself and thought I would take the time to list my favorite songs of all time. What is the critera for my top ten list? Nothing particularly fancy, sophisticated, or scientific and certainly don't claim any objectivity. These are songs that I just never get tired of listening to and they frequently generate an emotional response everytime I hear them. That's the criteria, pure and simple. None of the songs are less than a few years old and some of them go back to my teenage years and I may have left out a few favorites that slipped my mind. The following list is not in any particular order of perference. 10 doesn't mean least favorite and one doesn't mean favorite. Just listing them in order as they pop into my head...so...without any further ado, here is the list....

1. Your Song: Elton John.....This is the first song I remember as a teenager. I was in love and remember listening to this song over and over and over while I fantasized about a girl named Karen. Sat nexted to her in the sixth grade and my infatuation with her lasted until my freshmen year when I saw here walking down the hallway, hand in hand, with a varsity football player. Big time reality check. Lost the girl, not that I ever had her, but never lost the love for the song......

2. Nights in White Satin: Moody Blues.... Used to listen to this song on local FM stations late at night. Something really haunting, in a beautiful and surrealistic way, about the song. Can't put it into words. The use of the Orchestra and the poem at the end make it unique in the annuals of rock and roll history. Still get the chills everytime the song comes on. No personal story behind the song other than it connects with my subconcious in some way I don't really understand...

3. Annie Lennox: Into the West....While the credits begin to roll in the last chapter of the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the voice of Annie Lennox fills the theatre and my soul. The highlight of my movie going experience. I could have sat there for hours listening to this song over and over and over. Beautiful song. Alan Lee's sketches provided the backdrop to the credits and the combination of Annie Lennox's masterpiece created a magical moment for me. Doesn't get any better than this. Was the last person in the theatre to leave and will take this experience to the grave with me....and hopefully beyone into eternity where my soul will rest somewhere "Into the West"......

4. Jeremy: Pearl Jam.......Eddie Vedder at his best. The song builds to a climax at the end and leaves this listener deeply moved by the raw emotion of the song which is complimented by equally moving lyrics. Powerful song which reminds the listener that all is not well in the suburbs of modern America.....

5. Strange Waters: Bruce Cockburn......The anthem of my life during the late nineties and early 2000's....Reminds me of my humanity and the mystery of life. It's a mystical rock and roll song which more than any other song reflects the yearnings of my heart and my emotions. Cockburn may not be a household rock and roll superstar but his music and this song in particular is deep and emotionally satisfying to this listener....

6. A Child of the Wind: Bruce Cockburn....This song sums up how I feel about myself these days and captures the essence of my identity. "I am" a child of wind and this song reminds me that I wouldn't have it any other way....

7. Seascapes: Michael Jones....Started listening to this song/album over twenty two years ago. The songs on this album all kind of blend together into one and bring a peace to my soul that is only rivaled by the silence of the desert or walking in the forest in Redwood National Park.

8. What Sweeter Music: Cambridge Singers/John Rutter....If heaven is a place beyond this world and angels really do exist and can sing than I am sure they must sound like the Cambridge Singers. If the sound of angels is better than the Cambridge Singers than the desription of heaven mentioned in the Bible is justified....

9. Bad, Sunday Bloody Sunday, With or Without You, 40: U-2......Don't really have a favorite U-2 song but since they are my favorite band I really couldn't leave them off the list. Their music doesn't touch me as profoundly as many of the songs I have mentioned but the body of their work and their concert performances, in particular, have added alot of joy and satisfaction to my life, therefore I couldn't leave them off the list...

10. No clear cut number ten song so I will just mention a few songs that pop into my head to finish off the list.....Come down in time: Elton John, Oliver: Good Morning Sunshine, I Can't see New York: Tori Amos, and The Crininal Under my own Hat: T-Bone Burnett....May have left some off the list but when you get as old as I am getting your memory has a hard time registering it all sometimes......