I love big, loud, inspiring songs about pursuing your dreams–whatever dream matters most to you.  Apparently quite a few other people do too, because my post on the subject has been one of my most popular.  So I thought–why not a follow-up?

My last post featured two of my favorites, “A Piece of Sky” sung by Michael Crawford, and “Santa Fe” from Newsies.  Here are a handful of other particularly inspiring ones!  As usual with songs, links will take you to a song video.

“It’s a Long Way Up” by Barry Manilow

If Barry Manilow has any recurring theme in his songs besides “I loved her and I lost her” it’s about chasing dreams, and “It’s a Long Way Up” is just about perfect–loud, defiant, determined.

“Don’t give up the dream, you know it’s dark before the dawn.
When you think you just can’t take it, you see, that’s when you’ll make it.
But you got to fight a little harder, you got to push a little more,
You got to gamble everything you’ve got to get you through the door,
‘Cause it’s a long way up when you’re coming from nowhere.”

Just apply it to whatever you’re struggling with, and sing it loudly!

“Just Around the River Bend” from Disney’s Pocahontas

I love Pocahontas’ exhilarated singing as she thinks about choosing a safe path, but can’t resist the call of her dreams somewhere in her future – “why do all my dreams extend, just around the river bend?”

“Before the Parade Passes By” from Hello, Dolly

A large-scale production number about stepping out and embracing life: “I need a goal again, I need a drive again, I want to feel my heart coming alive again…before the parade passes by.”  In this clip, Streisand doesn’t get properly enthused until 3:40 into the video, but it was the only one I could find.

“Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl

Another Streisand song, this is all about charging ahead even if you fail–and don’t let anyone deter you: “Don’t tell me not to fly, I’ve simply got to.  If someone takes a spill it’s me and not you.  Who told you you’re allowed to rain on my parade?”

“Defying Gravity” from Wicked

This song did more to make me like and understand Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, than Maguire’s entire 500 page book.  Elphaba has decided to cast off ties, cast off restraints, and set out to change her life and the world, defying all limits along the way.

“I’m through accepting limits because someone says they’re so.
Some things I cannot change, but ’til I try I’ll never know…

And so if you care to find me, look to the Western sky.
As someone told me, they believe everyone deserves a chance to fly.
And if I’m flying solo, at least I’m flying free.
To those who’d ground me, take a message back from me–
Tell them how I am defying gravity.
I’m flying high, defying gravity!”

A surprising predominance of soundtracks, which I didn’t realize until I assembled this list–maybe it means I need to look farther afield.  What would you recommend? 🙂

Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, and that has me thinking about what would be appropriately themed for the holiday.  I hit on songs.  I’ve had a few Irish CDs for as long as I can remember, the Irish Rovers and that sort.  There’s a particular flavor to traditional Irish songs: they’re usually about death or drinking, and despite that, they’re usually cheerful!

They also frequently tell a story, which may be one reason I enjoy them.  I am, after all, all about stories.  🙂

Links go to versions you can hear on YouTube; I won’t swear they’re the best renditions, but they’re what I could find, and should give you a good idea of the song if you’re curious.

“The Whistling Gypsy Rover” is an unusually cheerful one–no death, just a girl who runs off with a rover, and even though her father goes in pursuit it ultimately ends happily.

“The Minstrel Boy” is an unusually sad one, not only about a sad subject but also with a sad melody.  It’s an inspiring song, though, about a boy who goes to war and remains defiant even when captured.

“The Wild Colonial Boy” is one of the most story-driven, about Jack Duggan who leaves Ireland to be an outlaw in Australia, and is eventually chased down by a group of lawmen in a final stand-off.

“The Unicorn” is a fable about all the animals Noah loaded into the ark, but the unicorns were having too much fun splashing about to come–“and that’s why you’ve never seen a unicorn, to this very day.”

“The Orange and the Green” is a light-hearted song about a serious subject.  The singer’s father is Orange (Protestant) and his mother is Green (Catholic) and he’s been caught all his life between “this awful color problem of the Orange and the Green.”

Anyone else with favorite Irish songs?  Or any good St. Patrick’s Day plans? 🙂

I love quotable lines.  I’ve been trying to revive my long-neglected and very dusty Quotable section, so I have quotes on the brain.  I love the clever things other people have said.  Especially the ones that somehow become part of my mental landscape, deservingly or not.

Today, I want to talk about the random ones.  Not the soul-stirring, life-altering quotes–I have plenty of those too, but today I’m in the mood to look at the other ones.  The ones that somehow creep into conversation, the ones I find myself saying with varying degrees of regularity (and varying degrees of comprehension from the people I’m talking to!)

My friends and I all say “Curses, foiled again,” fairly often.  It comes up more than you would think–especially playing board games.  It’s the trademark line of a character in Piers Anthony’s Xanth series.  I think it must be from something else too, because I’ve found it in an old Star Trek short story that I know I wrote before reading Xanth.  If anyone can clear up that mystery, please let me know!

Confronted with difficult situations, I’ve been known to remark, “Sure, it’ll be easy–like peeling a turtle.”  No one ever knows what I mean by that, and neither do I (nor would I recommend thinking about it too hard).  All I know is that Bing Crosby said it in Holiday Inn, about something he obviously didn’t think would be easy.  After watching that movie most Christmases, it’s worked into my brain.

There’s a dessert place near where I live which is very popular and a favorite of my friends and me.  It happens to be named Rick’s, so inevitably if we’re talking about it, and how crowded it always is, at some point I’ll say, “Oh you know, everybody comes to Rick’s.”  Usually about half of my friends catch that one, and the rest don’t realize I’m quoting Casablanca.

I’ve had even better times when people don’t realize I’m quoting.  I honestly can’t remember the context that led to this, probably a discussion about different food, but I do recall I ended up saying, “Some cultures are defined by their relationship to cheese.”  I was kidding–I was quoting Benny and Joon–but next thing I know the people I’m talking to start discussing cultures where cheese is important!  The Greeks, I think.

Sometimes even I’m not sure what I’m quoting.  For years the line “Sooooo…how did it go?” was part of my mental landscape and I honestly didn’t know why.  Then I rewatched Aladdin, and there’s Iago asking Jafar, “Sooooo…how did it go?”

There are more, but that’s a fair sampling.  I trust I’m not the only one who occasionally steals a good line in conversation, or has someone else’s words rattling around in their brain.  What quotes do you find yourself saying?