Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life.  In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.

One of my comedy heroes has always been Jack Benny. He claimed to be 39 for most of his career. It was one of the many personality traits built into his comedy character. In 2009, I actually turned 39 and have celebrated the anniversary of my 39th birthday ever since.

2009 once again brought changes as it was when my partner and I were let go from our morning show. They replaced us with a form of syndication. They had one person in Flint, and the rest of the crew was on the west side of the state. It hurt because we always talked about the importance of being local. Now the majority of the show is miles away and the only “local” Flint got was traffic and weather.

I think had they let us continue, we would have continued to do well in the ratings. Our program director loved what we were doing. When he passed and a new one came in, I always felt that they had it out for us. Why? So that they could do the morning show instead. In a sense, that is what happened.

It is one of those things that I have to look back on. When I do, I know that had that not happened, my life may have turned out very different. So I have to look back and be grateful for where I am now.

Ok, let’s look at some music.

I wrote all of the above without realizing that my first song is Lucky by Jason Mraz. This was the song that one of my former sisters-in-law used as her wedding song. Of all of my ex’s family, I miss her the most. I used to love making her laugh out loud. I think of her often.

This was a song I really liked right from the get go. I loved the blend of their voices. What was neat was to hear of their mutual love for each other’s music. Colbie Caillat said:

“He (Mraz) emailed me many months ago, saying that he loved my music, that he’s heard my album and he has a song on his album that he wanted me to help him finish writing and collaborate with. We finished writing through email. When he was in London recording his album, I was over there doing promotions for my album and I went over there to do vocals.”

Jason said:

“I became a fan of Colbie through MySpace and just cold-called her to see if she’d want to write and sing together. I dug her laid-back style and her attention to little things that make relationships work. She was a delight to share the mic with.”

They recorded the song without telling their respective record labels. The labels were not really into the idea. Those labels were obviously wrong as this won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Lucky

It has been said that “men only want one thing.” I suppose there are many “things” that can be interpreted to be that “one thing.” If you think that one “thing” is money, well, here is a song for you.

I remember the first time I put this one in the CD player at work. It follows the classic “flip.” In other words, you have this slow, serious sounding introduction. That is immediately flipped into something not so serious. Does that make sense? Give it a listen and you will understand what I mean, I hope.

The Trace Adkins songs I have featured here have always had a very serious tone to them. He has had his share of hits with that serious tone, too. But every artists needs to break away from those ultra serious songs now and then. Trace says:

“It’s just fun stuff. You have to try to balance these records. I try to go deep on some, but you’ve got to do some that are just mindless – just stuff you can listen to and turn it up loud and drive fast and just have fun with it and smile and sing along and laugh. You’ve got to have that stuff.”

That’s exactly what “Marry For Money” is. It is the picture of a low down, cheating, male gold digger. And with that being said, it is fun to listen to!

Marry For Money

I had DJ’s enough high school and middle school dances to hate Miley Cyrus. Urgh! That Hannah Montana stuff that the kids loved was just crap to me. That is until I heard, The Climb. It was the first song where I felt like, “Ok, she can sing” and “That song is a hit!”

The song was written by Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe. I was worked with Jessi before, as she did a show for our listeners at the Moose. She seemed shy and quiet, but she sang like a superstar. I always thought her debut album should have done more.

This was the first single to be taken from the soundtrack of the 2009 Miley Cyrus film Hannah Montana: The Movie. When this reached #1 on the on the Adult Contemporary chart, Miley was 16 years and seven months old. This meant she was the youngest artist to top that survey since LeAnn Rimes. It was Miley’s first #1 single on any of Billboard’s airplay charts.

The song’s lyrics remind me of the poem “The Dash.” The poem is about a grave stone’s dates and the dash between them. Life isn’t about the date of birth or date of death, it’s about what happened between them – the dash.

Here is the chorus of The Climb:

There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

Life is about the climb!

The Climb

The next song is one that really hits home for me. Not that it was important in 2009, however, it reflected my thoughts on a situation in the mid-90’s. Without giving too much info that folks who know her would figure it out, here is the story.

There was a gal who I really liked. Ok, loved. I hated seeing her with this other dude, who totally treated her like crap. She deserved more. Deep down, I wondered if I ever got a shot to be with her. If I did, I would treat her much differently. I would treat her like he should have. She would often come to me upset because of her relationship. I wanted to scream, “Dump him! I’m here!” That never happened.

Taylor Swift explained the song this way:

“This song is basically about wanting someone who is with this girl who doesn’t appreciate him at all. Basically like ‘girl-next-door-itis.’ You like this guy who you have for your whole life, and you know him better than she does but somehow the popular girl gets the guy every time.”

Last I heard, that gal married the guy. We lost touch, because of that guy. We were such good friends at one point. It is sad to think about.

You Belong With Me

When I used to DJ, I sort of had a rough play list. I started almost all of the weddings the same way. I would play Unchained Melody after all the wedding dances were done. This got all the couples on the dance floor to dance. After it, I would play a fast song to keep the floor packed. Depending on the age group, it might be Old Time Rock and Roll, Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It, Get The Party Started, or something else.

When the Black Eyed Peas released I Gotta Feeling, it was my go to “kick off” song. All age groups loved it. It was the perfect song to talk up, too. “I gotta feelin’ we’re going to have a great night tonight! What song can I play for you, etc….”

It was a great party song and a great radio song. The song was a number 1 song for 14 weeks! The song was the first ever single to be downloaded more than one million times in the UK. Said Fergie:

“It’s exhilarating to know we are so connected to our Peabodies. Hopefully the good vibes from that song will continue to brighten people’s lives.”

According to will.i.am, he literally dreamt up this tune. He said:

“I’ve written songs right from a sleep. Have you ever had a dream where there’s a melody in your dream? I’ll wake up out of my sleep and record that! ‘I Gotta Feeling’ was one of those songs.”

I Gotta Feeling

Next is a song that I remember playing when I worked at the Adult Contemporary station. I was, of course, familiar with Colby Caillat’s music already. It wasn’t until I had moved in with Sam while going through my divorce that the lyrics of this one took on a whole new meaning. I really did begin to fall for her.

Caillat explained to Elle that the song is:

“about falling for a guy I was friends with. We went out on a date and I realized that there was no one else in the room. The room was silent, and I was on this high from it the next day and wrote this song.”

If the guy in the video looks familiar, Colby explains why:

“Bobby Moynihan from SNL plays my love interest, and the whole video is about this guy who’s not my type, but he does all these dorky things on our date that somehow impress me. So he picks the roses from my garden instead of buying me flowers. And then we’re going to go surfing and he almost hits me over the head with the surfboard. And he also has this really funny fantasy dream where he’s dressed all ‘Guido’ in white shoes and his chest is showing and I’m in this ridiculous bathing suit with huge hair and we’re dancing at a DJ party on the beach. It’s just a funny, silly video.”

Falling For You

I have been friends with a gal for almost 40 years. She always said, “Remember to smile, it’s contagious!” I always loved that. There are plenty of great sayings about smiles. “Smile, it makes everyone wonder what you’ve been up to” is another great one. One of my favorite DJ’s used to say, “If you are walking down the street and you see someone with no smile, give them yours and tell them Don Alcorn says hello.”

There are some great songs about smiling, too. “When You’re Smiling” by Dean Martin and “Smile” by Nat King Cole immediately come to mind. Well, Uncle Cracker’s isn’t a bad one either.

Uncle Kracker told Billboard magazine this is: “probably the most positive song I’ve ever written.” He added that the overall tone of the album Happy Hour, “is pretty positive in light of everything that’s going on in the world.” He said: “I made a conscious decision to try something positive. It’s what I needed. it’s a positive spin on everything.”

It’s one of those positive songs that I love!

Smile

Remember the saying, “A stranger is a friend that you haven’t met yet?” That was the thought I had when I heard the title of this Michael Buble’ song. Whether it is an unborn baby or a future lover, the song can have special meaning.

When it came time to record the Crazy Love album, Michael told song facts:

“I started this record knowing I was going to record it differently than my previous ones. I dug way deeper and was more introspective on this one. Basically, I sang the truth – made each song autobiographical – and you can definitely hear the difference. I went back to the way my idols made their records. I wanted an organic feel – so people could feel like they were in the studio with me. The musicians and I all sat in the room, recorded it right from the floor and we let the sounds all come together and bleed into one another. It’s not contrived. Not too perfect. It just feels really good.”

In an interview with The Associated Press, Bublé was asked what the message is he’s trying to send with Crazy Love. He replied:

“I think the message is that all of us can relate to this feeling, this emotion called love and it’s a complicated feeling. It doesn’t just come with butterflies in the stomach and happiness and sunshine and lollipops, it comes with heartache and jealousy and sometimes rage and sometimes insecurity and sadness and regret. It’s a beautiful, complicated, and really special feeling that keeps us all connected.”

This was the first recording by a jazz crooner to reach the Top 30 of the Billboard singles chart since Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why” seven years previously in 2003.

Haven’t Met You Yet

The next song stood out to me because of the sound. The first time I heard Hey Soul Sister by Train on the radio, I loved it! That ukulele cut through like a knife to me. Train’s Pat Monahan said, “The ukulele made everybody happy. I think that along with the song itself and the melodies, people gravitate towards that positive part of it. The ukulele made a big difference.”

He told Billboard that the song and the album were a return to their folk roots. He said:

“There’s super catchy riffs and melodies in it, which I think are way more important that any production trick or great-sounding vocal production. It’s kind of us going backward so we can go forward.”

The song was the most downloaded on iTunes in 2010 and is just a great feel good song.

Hey Soul Sister

Lady Antebellum (Known now as Lady A) was one of those groups that came through on a radio tour and left me speechless. They were SO good. I knew that they would be stars. They music they played, their vocal stylings, the dynamics of the group – they had it all.

Lady A is Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and David Haywood. Need You Now was from their second album. Hillary Scott explained that the song, and many others on the album, “Are about what we are learning as we go through the ups and downs of different relationships.” She added: “All three of us know what it’s like to get to that point where you feel lonely enough that you make a late night phone call that you very well could regret the next day. But you do it anyway because it’s the only thing that’s going to give you any relief in that moment.”

Charles Kelly said that initially there some concerns about the song’s lyrical content from executives at their record label. “The response from the get-go was so big,” he said. “I remember even having some conversations with the label and people were [saying], ‘Oh no, hope they don’t get offended by the ‘I’m a little drunk and I need you now’ line. And I said, ‘But that’s honest! We’re talking about Country radio, right? What happened to the old Waylon [Jennings] songs and stuff and people said what they felt?’ It’s storytelling.” Dave Haywood added, “The three of us have been there, too. I mean, we’ve been in serious relationships and when you get out of that, all you want is that person next to you.”

I don’t know one person who hasn’t felt that way after a break up. The song connected with people everywhere and went straight to # 1. When this ballad reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart in its 10th week, it achieved the quickest climb to the top (excluding seasonal titles) since Phil Collins.

Lady A performed “Need You Now” at the 2010 Grammy Awards, where it won for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. It marked just the second time a country song won the Record of the Year prize and the third time Song of the Year went Country.

The song is a great song, and sadly at its peak was overplayed on the radio.

Need You Now

So there you have my picks from 2009. Did I pick one of your favorites? Did I miss one of yours? Tell me about it in the comments.