People Playlists Continued

JOANNA

1. "A Whole New World", Brad Kane and Lea Salonga
2. "You Oughta Know", Alanis Morissette
3. "One of Us", Joan Osborne
4. "Name", Goo Goo Dolls
5. "Spiderwebs", No Doubt
6. "As I Lay Me Down", Sophie B. Hawkins
7. "Crazy", Patsy Cline
8. "Don't Know Why", Norah Jones
9. "Red Neck Woman," Gretchen Wilson

1: The Aladdin soundtrack was the first CD purchased for our household. Joanna and I thought we were hot shit because we owned a CD! But we had to share it, and there were fights...

2 and 3: 1995 was the year of Alanis and Joan. In a rare compromise, Joanna and I agreed we would each buy one album, and we'd share. But then there were fights... (Also, "You Oughta" must be included, because it is the source of the greatest mis-heard lyric ever: Joanna thought the line was "It's not fair to deny me of the cross-eyed bear that you gave to me.")

4, 5, 6: These were songs Joanna had on CD, that I would listen to when she wasn't home. And sometimes she would catch me with them. And then there were fights...

7: This was a top-contender for my "Dad" list, but it belongs here because one of the few things Joanna and I could agree on was that Daddy's country music sucked, and what kind of stupid woman would sing a song where she kept calling herself crazy? We were united in our hatred of something other than each other.

8: I had a burned copy of this album that I accidentally left in the CD player of my parents' computer while I was visiting from college. Joanna found it, listened to it, loved it, and sheepishly asked me if she could keep it.

9: We both developed a nostalgic taste for country music in our 20's, but we had rebelled against Dad's music for so long, we both kept it under wraps. A few years ago we were in the car with Mom and Dad, this song came on the radio, and we both started faintly singing along. There was this double-take between us: You like this song too?!?!

*****

TOM

1. "River of Dreams", Billy Joel
2. "It's Not Unusual", Tom Jones
3. "Criminal", Fiona Apple
4. "Bitch," Meredith Brooks
5. "Because You Loved Me", Celine Dion
6. "My Heart Will Go On", Celine Dion
7. "Don't Speak", No Doubt
8. "One Sweet Day", Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey
9. "Brown Eyed Girl", Van Morrison
10. "Piano Man", Billy Joel
11. "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", Paul Simon
12. "I Will Remember You", Sarah McLachlan

1: We're in Sara's basement, painting the backdrop for our Odyssey of the Mind skit, and singing this song.

2: The finale of Mars Attacks, which we loved when it first came out, and which will always be remembered as the movie where my Mom burst into applause. Twice.

3: The summer this was out, Matt had just bought this CD, and wouldn't shut up about a.) how great the album is and b.) how funny looking he thought Fiona was. Matt was playing this over and over at the pool party in Tom's backyard.

4: This was the anthem for the summer of '97. And also '98. And '99. How could we not like a song called "Bitch"?

5 and 6: If I had a copy of "The Prayer", it would be on here too. Tom and my favorite sport was handicapping and watching the Oscars, and Celine Dion sang at three of the four telecasts from our high school years. We loved to hate it, and hated to love it. (And we have thumped our chests in the finales of diva ballads ever since.)

7: Because we were the only high schoolers on earth who thought this song was a delicious riff on the mantra of Dianne Wiest's Oscar-winning performance in Bullets Over Broadway.

8: This song was played at damn near every high school dance, so Tom would sing the Boyz part and I would sing the Mariah part in a satirically histronic performance at the edge of the dance floor, that would ensure us unpopularity throughout high school.

9: Also played at every single high school dance, because the school always hired the same nerdy kid to DJ because he was cheaper than a real DJ.

10: Several times, while at a large party, we orchestrated everyone into holding hands, swaying, and singing along with "Piano Man." Because...um....well....uh....the reason being...

11: One of the last great high school moments. We were in a pizza restaurant in New Milford, waiting for our pizza to arrive, and this song came on the muzak. Without any planning or spoken agreement, we all started bobbing our heads in unison, and we managed to get through the whole song in silent choreography. After which we busted out laughing and it became legend.

12: Ah, our senior prom theme song. The sort of thing that would have made us blubber like babies if we weren't all itching to get the fuck out of high school.