AJ is currently obsessed with REM�s �Lotus� from their 1998 album Up. Every morning after breakfast, he finds the CD on its shelf, puts it carefully into the stereo and moves it to track two. Then he gets on his hoppity ball and hops around the living room in time to the music.

This is not the first REM song that AJ has responded to. That award goes to �All the Way to Reno� from 2001�s Reveal. Even as a baby, AJ liked to rock rhythmically back and forth on all fours to that song in what we called �the butt dance.�

The husband and I like REM too, but we�re both more partial to their earlier albums. AJ�s clearly found his own groove. Like both of his parents, though, AJ has a seemingly limitless bent for listening to his favorite songs over and over again in a row.

I�ve been thinking about favorite songs this week as I attempt to fulfill an assignment given to me by Smed to list my five favorite and least favorite tracks from the mix CDs he sent me and explain why I picked them. At first I thought the least favorites would be the hardest, because the CDs were awesome and there really wasn�t much I didn�t like. But, as it turned out, that wasn�t the case. There were five clear least favorites and they were all on the list for the same reason � screaming vocals and masturbating electric guitar solos. (I can hear Smed tallying up what he thinks is on that list � patience! It will arrive soon!).

The favorites, however, were much harder. In a turnabout from Tolstoy�s �happy families� comment, happy tunes are all happy in their own way, while unhappy tunes are all alike.

My relationship with my favorite tunes is complicated, so I tried to figure out what went into the selection of a favorite tune. In an effort to �cull the herd,� I eliminated songs that were happy primarily due to their nostalgia value, and that was quite a few. Because nothing sends me back on a trip to the past like a good song. The Cars� �Bye bye love� had me remembering fondly a high school crush, for example, and I like to listen to it for the trip down Memory Lane. Of the rest, some of the tunes I reacted to with my head, and some with my heart. There were several songs that turned on the musician part of my brain and made me want to listen to them over and over to figure them out (Captain Beefheart, especially). Others were just fun. And then there is one really silly tune that makes me laugh and I can�t figure out if I want that to be number five. It doesn�t have the musical value that the other do, but it�s very entertaining. A puzzle.

So, dear reader, your assignment (should you choose to accept it) is to tell me about one or more of your favorite tunes and why it is your favorite. I�m interested especially in hearing what you think is behaind what you like. Is it nostalgia? A particular musical timbre or melody? The meaning of the words? Or a combination of all of these things? Something else entirely? Respond in notes, comments, guestbook or your own entry.

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