Jamie Cullum –– “Photograph” from “Catching Tales”
This is my cell ringtone. Great contemporary jazz music sung by an Irish lad with enough stage presence to soothe even the rowdiest football hooligans. Cullum revitalizes some of the classic jazz songs from a variety of periods and also writes a number of his own pieces. The lyrics remind me to celebrate the small moments in life.

Dan Bern
Often touted as the new Bob Dylan, Dan Bern’s lyrics are often funny and always unnerving. This is the sort of music you listen to over and over again and discover new complexities in what he is saying. Given that the content of his songs is as often sobering as not, it isn’t something I want as the soundtrack for my life; but it does hang there on the outskirts, waiting to get in.

Ben Folds Five -“Stephen’s Last Night in Town” from “Whatever and Ever Amen”
This is an older song, but given the number of goodbye parties I threw or had thrown as I left Southern California, this song has been on my mind and in my car a good bit. A bit of pop, certain jazz sensibilities, and Ben Folds’ knack for stringing together sentences whose endings are in doubt until the last moment.

Magnetic Fields – “69 Love Songs”
A song for every phase of love. This will be, I think, the soundtrack for my life for years to come. The liner notes suggest that Stephin Merritt was trying to write a love song in every possible musical style using every possible metaphor. The three CD set may or may not actually do this, but there is something there for everyone.

Bright Eyes – “Another Traveling Song” from “I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning”
The relentless forward motion of this song –– to say nothing of its literary quality –– compels me to listen to it over and over again. This is my running song. It is almost the perfect pace to keep me under ten minute miles on long runs. I stayed away from Bright Eyes for awhile, assuming he was just another poppy pretty boy. In fact, this album transcends the pretty boy genre entirely.

“Corner of the Sky” –– Pippin
This was the song that I felt defined my life from Freshman year of high school, when I first heard it, until somewhere midway through college. It is Broadway. It wears its heart on its sleeve. There is no hidden meaning or depth. It does capture a certain type of angst rather well though.

Stephen Sondheim – “Merrily We Roll Along” and “Company”
Two lesser known Broadway shows. Which particular song I prefer changes, but I find myself using these songs to explain all manner of events and emotions. “Merrily We Roll Along” is famous for progressing backwards through time. You hear the decaying parody of the song before you hear its innocent beginnings. Sondheim’s operatic scores provide a musical complexity to some rather intricate lyrics in both shows.

Spoon – “Small Stakes” from “Kill the Moonlight”
This was the first and last song I played as I drove up to Washington from Southern California. It isn’t the lyrics so much as it is the force behind the song. Would I lose points for making a “driving beat” joke here? In general, Spoon is worth listening to for their variety, solid lyrics, and catchy melodies.

Jack’s Mannequin –– “Deep Blue” from “Everything in Transit”
By far the most “pop” of my list. I don’t think it is part of the official soundtrack of my life, but I can’t get the song out of my head. I don’t know what the lyrics mean, and I never really think about it. I just sing loudly along as I am driving, or, occasionally, as I am shopping.

Snow Patrol – “Hands Open” –– from “Eyes Open”
A hard-hitting, unsentimental love (?) song from a group that my musical friends tell me is really breaking new ground. Some of their music was used in Grey’s Anatomy, but I think it fits my life much better than that show.