Ode to My Twenties

Driving home earlier today a song came on which reminded me of great friends, dancing in flip flops and proper summer time. This got me thinking of all the tunes which rocked my twenties and thus I bring you a musical ode to the decade that was my twenties!

• Girl from Mars - Ash.  By the time I'd hit my twenties I was just about over the horrendous homesickness of leaving Northern Ireland and venturing into my second year at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.  You can guarantee that pretty much anywhere in the world if you play Ash you will get people from Northern Ireland on the dance floor and my cord jacket twin and I were most definitely there.

• Last Night - The Strokes.  More Aberystwyth dancing.  Downstairs at The Bay.

• Hear You Me - Jimmy Eat World.  "I never said thank you for that".  

• Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead.  

• Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley.  I could select any Jeff Buckley song but have gone for this one as we had to leave university and I wasn't quite prepared for how sad that was. I still love you all!

• Star, Star - The Frames.  Went to see The Frames with my brother and fell massively in love with their music.  Was so moved when my brother phoned me from a later gig so I could hear this.  Yes, I cried!  And black and white, vignetted video, yes please and thank you.

• All My Life - Foo Fighters.  Unfulfilling post university jobs, "done, done and I'm on to the next one".

• Strange Religion - Mark Lanegan. Long, long hours on PGCE, "just keep driving".

• Modern World - Wolf Parade. "I'm not in love with the modern world".

• Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  The fabulous Karen O helped me run many a mile around Lichfield!  Maps is still one of my favourites.

• The Blower's Daughter - Damien Rice.

• Anthem for a Seventeen-Year-Old-Girl - Broken Social Scene.  Again I could pick so many of their songs but watching my own classes change over the school year meant this song went round my head in a loop. For months.  

• River Man - Nick Drake.  Beautiful man.

• Gin Soaked Boy - The Divine Comedy.  Another lot from Northern Ireland who have been in my life for years.  This song has always been a favourite and now sticks out as being a track R and I played very loudly driving through Wales the summer after we had left full time teaching, very liberating!

• Rivers Run - Karine Polwart, with Steven Polwart and Inge Thomson.  Introduced to Karine Polwart's music by the wonderful man I will be marrying next year.  In return I introduced him to . . . 

• People Have Names - Juliet Turner, who has accompanied me since those early Summer Madness days.  Would love to hear more from Juliet but wish her every success with Speech Therapy work.

• Amelie - La Valse D'Amelie - Yan Tierson and Orchestra.  Deliberately not linked to moving image, you must watch the film, it is fully splendid.

• Snow is Gone - Josh Ritter.  

• Charlie Darwin - The Low Anthem. 

• One Day Like This - Elbow.

• To Go Home - M Ward.  Discovered M Ward, again thanks to my brother, after we'd moved to Scotland and he is a constant in my ear when I'm working.
• In the Wee Small Hours - Ben Webster and Oscar Peterson.

This soundtrack is getting huge!  I am quite sure I'll be back to edit and add even more, am thinking Sigur Ros, REM, TV on the Radio, Tori Amos, Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire and The Killers, who inspired this retrospective!

It is difficult to select just one track, sigh!  Hope you discover something new to enjoy.