This part of the playlist only spans for two years, but they were pretty significant years in my life - 10th grade in the U.S. being homeschooled because my compassionate parents agreed not to force me to attend a public high school; and 11th grade back in Nigeria, the first half of which I lived without my parents and four+ months of which I lived in a dorm.
22. "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" by Andrew Lloyd Weber & Emmy Rossum - My mom's college friend took us to New York City in July 1997, when I was 15, and we got to see The Phantom of the Opera. I became obsessed with the musical and listened to the highlights CD (all I had at the time) probably several hundred times over the next year. I'm not sure why, but this was my favorite song from the show.
23. "Hold Me Jesus" by Rich Mullins - I hadn't heard much Rich Mullins music before this. We'd sung the chorus of "Awesome God" in chapel, but I had no idea it was a longer song, nor that it was by Rich Mullins. Then in the fall of 1997, he was killed in a car accident, and suddenly I discovered his music, a treasure trove. This song in particular brought solace during this year of what I considered forced exile from my friends in Nigeria.
24. "Hymn to the Sea" by James Horner - I went to see Titanic not once, not twice, but three times when it came out. (I have since done this with other films, but at the time, it was considered ridiculous. I don't care.) I love love love this film. It makes me ugly cry every time, and this song rips my heart out of my chest whenever I hear it. Every.Single.Time. Sometimes when I've been in a melancholy mood but haven't been able to cry (this actually happens quite often), I've put on this film just so I can have a good cry. And no, I was not in love with Leo. I just loved the film and its music.
25. "The Message" by 4Him - During this year in the U.S., one of the things that gave me solace was Christian contemporary music. I didn't have much to spend babysitting money on, so I bought lots of CDs. One of my favorite groups was 4Him, and I loved this guy's voice in particular because it was right in my range. I'm not sure exactly why, but this album reminds me of happy times hanging out with a guy who lived next-door for about 6 weeks and made life tolerable at the time.
26. "Star Trek: Voyager - Main Title" by Jerry Goldsmith - While I had discovered Star Trek: Voyager during our furlough in 1994 during its first season and had started watching it any way I could when we went back to Nigeria, this was the first time I could watch it live on UPN each week. We had a rabbit-ear antenna, so the picture wasn't fantastic, but Jonathan and I watched it religiously when it aired and enjoyed reruns when it didn't. Although TNG will always be my first love, VOY is my true favorite.
27. "Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx - This song says it all. "Oceans apart day after day..." This was my theme song during that 10th grade year. I missed my friends desperately.
28. "And Still" by Reba McEntire - Finally, the summer of '98, I returned to Nigeria. My parents were originally going to join me after a few weeks, but life happened, and I ended up being there without them for seven months. For the first two months, I lived with my best friend's family, who are from Georgia/Louisiana, and I was introduced to country music. We listened to a lot of country music that summer, but this was definitely my favorite. So wistful and sad. I've sung it to myself dozens of times over the years since. Oh, the angst! (Just watched the music video for the first time ever, and it's a weird one. I'm not sure how the visit to a developing country fits into my idea of the song...)
29. "The Hairbrush Song" by VeggieTales - Another thing I discovered when I returned to Nigeria was VeggieTales. My friends loved it, and we would watch it at sleepovers, just laughing uproariously as we were pumped on on sugar and caffeine. Larryboy was our hero.
30. "Johnny's Camaro" by David Wilcox - I first heard this song in January '97 when it was pretty new, but I associate it with later in high school for some reason. I wanted to be Laura in this song. Somehow it made me feel strong and powerful as a teenage girl growing up in Africa. (While this is fine in Spotify, this YouTube link to a live performance is way better.)
31. "No Need to Argue" by The Cranberries - One thing about having been gone for a year in the middle of high school was that my friendships shifted significantly in by absence. Who knows what happened or why things changed? All I knew was that one of my best friends had changed and would continue to change, taking her farther away from me.
32. "Common Ground" by Sierra - I listened to this song over and over again, and I even played it for my friend who was drifting away. It didn't help and perhaps pushed her farther away. I didn't understand why, but as a result, this song represents my junior year of high school.
33. "Johnny's Soliloquy" by Harve Presnell - Twenty-plus years later, this song still pulls at my heartstrings. My junior year of high school, we performed The Unsinkable Molly Brown. I had a teeny tiny part, but I still got to be at all the rehearsals. And the guy who played the lead role of Johnny was just outstanding. It's a heart-wrenching song but brings back a flood of memories.
That gets us through 11th grade. My senior year was very full and has lots of songs, so I'm saving a separate post for that year.
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