My parents have a cabin in the mountains just three hours north of our home in sunny Southern California. They rent it out throughout the year, but for one weekend every summer and one weekend every winter, it would be reserved just for the five of us. I have so many wonderful memories from that beautiful brick cabin — my first time seeing snow, building snowmen in the front yard with my two sisters, a series of summer hikes overlooking Big Bear Lake — but some of the memories I love most came from our car-ride venture up the mountain. Three hours with three kids, two parents, and a dog aptly named Trouble trapped in a stuffy car has the potential for disaster, but with a little music, screaming turned to singing and bickering turned to blues.
We’d listen to “Heard it Through the Grapevine” while driving through the California Grapevine, “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” while my sisters and I pleaded for gas station slushies, and “The Tracks of My Tears” when our parents inevitably vetoed our constant request for snacks — belting each song along the way. My dad took particular interest in “My Girl” as he sang to his four lovely girls. My mom would call him “Broadway Bob” because anything that reminds him of a song is a reason to sing, and sing loudly. But I adore my loud, goofy, out-of-tune dad; he gave me my sense of rhythms and for that I will always be grateful.
I think I get a lot of my music taste from my dad and from those long, loud car rides. My childhood was filled with music and I’m not going to let that change in my adulthood. So, I have created a playlist inspired by my many memories growing up in California with two crazy but caring sisters, my loving mom, and my silly, musical dad. Most of these songs you’ve likely heard before, but I suggest you listen to them again, and again and again, as I have over the last 21 years. Maybe you'll make some memories of your own listening to the songs I’ve come to love.
- “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen
This is my favorite song of all time. It is the first song I remember ever hearing and hundreds (if not thousands) of listens later, it somehow has not gotten old. But it's not just meaningful to me, my whole family loves this song. Ten years ago my huge boisterous family gathered for Easter brunch. My older cousin started humming this song, my dad couldn’t help but sing along, and pretty soon 30 crazy Bonds were attempting to harmonize to this Queen classic. Speaking from experience, it may not be the best song to harmonize to, but it sure is the best song for making memories.
- “Mr. Blue Skies” by Electric Light Orchestra
This is my dad’s favorite song of all time (my second favorite). I first heard it when I was 14 and my parents took my sister and I to an ELO concert. Fourteen-year-old me did not know who ELO was and did not love the fact that I was out in public with my parents, but as soon as this song played, my teenage angst faded to bright blue skies.
- “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
This was one of our many car-ride classics. There was no such thing as parts when we would sing it; it was just just all five of us in a car belting every line at the top of our lungs. But when my Nana passed three years ago, it took on a whole other beautiful meaning as this was the last song my sister and I sang to her.
- “Do You Remember Walter?” by The Kinks
I found this song the summer before starting college. I’d be leaving behind friends and family to find what I want to do and who I want to be. I was of course excited but also sad and scared that I would lose the connections I hold most dear. Listening to The Kinks helped me to accept that life was going to change and I was going to change with it. And that’s ok. No amount of distance or change could take the memories I have made and the people I love most in the world away from me.
- “(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding
This song reminds me of my Opah. He was a fisherman who loved the water. He had a small fishing boat and would take me and his four other granddaughters for a cruise in the harbor almost every weekend. To put up with all us grandkids on one small boat, he sure was patient, and he sure was kind. I imagine him sitting on the dock for hours to catch fish in his youth, maybe even listening to Otis while he waited.
- “Great Big Bundle of Love” by Brenton Wood
I have no concrete memories associated with this song, but everytime I listen to it I just feel happy. And that’s what music is all about. This is one of Brenton Wood’s lesser known classics and let me tell you, he never disappoints. So if you want to feel like a great big bundle of joy, Brenton is your guy.
- “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” by Natalie Cole
This song is the opening of Another Cinderella Story, my favorite movie growing up. Each time I hear it, I think of roller skates, red diner seats, classic cars driving along the valley, and watching it all on a comfy couch cuddled up with my two older sisters.
- “Help Me, Rhonda” by The Beach Boys
I am and always will be a California girl. I'd be betraying my bushy bushy blonde brothers and sisters if I didn’t add at least one Beach Boys song to this list. The Beach Boys — “Help Me, Rhonda" in particular — has been the soundtrack for many beach days, park trips, and pool parties of my childhood.
- “Easy (Like Sunday Mornings)” by Charles Givings
This was another movie classic from one of my dad’s favorite movies, Baby Driver. Don’t let the name fool you, there was nothing baby about it. I was much too young to be watching this graphic car-chasing film, but I absolutely loved it. The main character, Baby, would listen to music as a way to drown out the noise from his surroundings. “Easy,” and just about every song on this list. has the same effect on me. I feel lighter, and life feels easier when music is playing.
- “I Saw Her Standing There” by The Beatles
My dad sang this song for his 50th birthday. Our family friends played the guitar and the drums, and my dad took center stage in a backyard concert. He took the mic and sang to my mom as he flailed his arms and stomped his feet out of rhythm. It was the dorkiest, silliest, most dad-like dance I’ve ever seen, and it's one of the many reasons I am grateful to have a dad as crazy about music as I am.
