Greatest Love Songs of Leigh's Youth, as Assembled by Leigh

This post first ran on 2/14/08, but I thought I would pull it out for laughs for this, "Beach week".

With Love being the theme of the day I am posting my top 10 love songs from my teenage years. That was when loving someone or having someone to love was of utmost importance. You were nobody unless you had somebody, right? And so, with you sitting anxiously on the edge of your set....my top 10 love songs....

1. Livin of a Prayer by Bon Jovi. It's true. I never knew anyone in the union, or that worked on the docks, so I couldn't really comprehend the intense situation of it being on strike. And poor Gina, working all day stuck at the Diner with all that grease. NO wonder she cried all the time. But they had each other and that's alot-it was enough. I got that part. I mean, those things are tough, man! They were livin' on a prayer. "Take my hand and we'll make it, I swear." Now that was sexy. I knew that the song was probably in code to me. But for all the other screaming and swooning fans at the concert, Jon never did see my hand. (I'd Die For you, Bon Jovi was a close second, hand motions accompanied this song, wonderfully.)

2. Every Breath You Take-Police I hated the Police. I thought they were a joke. I mean, come on. Grow some hair and man up to a tattoo parlor like the other hair metal guys I adored (BTW-BAMA, if you or Sledge or Smooth EVER come home with a TATTOO I will personally remove the embedded ink from your skin with my creme broula torch). But my (X)"fran" that did me soooo wrong. Kelly, was their "Number 1 fan". My mother must have been drinking heavily (not really mom. I know she just spit out coffee on that one. She doesn't drink anything stronger than coffee, but to drive the point) to allow such, but she allowed me and my friend Heather and Kelly to spend the night in front of Boutwell Auditorium with 500 other of police fans to secure tickets. I was a good friend. I saw a rat as big as I was. And being in downtown, he was packing heat. But no, this is not why I listed this song. It was because Brett Butler of THE Atlanta Braves was being traded. At his last game with them they played this song and had a little video montage to him. Me and my cousin Gina were CRAZY for Brett Butler. Our hearts were broken into a million pieces. How would we go on? Would we follow Brett to his new home team, or stay true to the Braves. Ahhh ,Torn between two lovers (that song sucked, BTW)....we chose the Braves.

3. Leather and Lace by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley-this was such a sweet song. I rode around in my car just wishing I looked or could at least sing like my idol Stevie Nicks. In fact, I still do that. Listen Listen

4. Almost Paradise - Mike Reno/Anne Wilson -Hello! Footloose. Every young girl was "Almost in Paradise" when we saw Kevin Bacon dance in Footloose. Unlike every other girl, who thought he was "fine", I was more impressed with his dance moves. That man could D-A-N-C-E! But, I was more of a Willard type girl. How sweet to have no groove and yet try so hard to impress a girl. That was love, man. ListenListen

5. Is This Love - Whitesnake -If I couldn't be Stevie Nicks and I couldn't be Lita Ford, then I wanted to look like and be Tawny Kittean. What 16 year old girl didn't. If I was her, I know I would have the power to swoon Big Daddy to give me a second look or at least one of my backup hotties. I mean, I spent hours to make my hair look like this, frizzy and full. If I only had that white jag. I wore white. Was it enough? In my mind, That helped a little. That indeed would secure a deal. In any case, I spent the next 6 weeks practising my rolls across the hood of my moms cutlass supreme. Didn't work out for me. In more ways than one. Parents don't appreciate stuff like that.ListenListen

6. I want you to want me! by Cheap Trick. Actually I hated this song but I had to include it because Big Daddy played the guitar in the Air Band and this was the song they "played". Oh, Big Daddy (was little dude, aka slim then-but weren't we all...) with his flannel shirt unbuttoned, not a single hair on that 112 lb chest (I knew that because he wrested) Couldn't he see by now, that I did want him? I looovvvveeeddddd him. (Still do). He just couldn't see it past the bangs in his eyes. He was his own person. He didn't need the mullet like the rest of those inteh air band did. "I'm here! I'm Here!" I shouted over the crowd of hormonal 16 year old girls and boys trying to find someone who wanted them too. For me though, it was always Big Daddy. I hate this song. It gets on my nerves. I know mixed messages. But I am woman! http://www.amazon.com/gp/dmusic/media/sample.m3u/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk12_smpl?ie=UTF8&catalogItemType=track&ASIN=B00137VBKW&CustomerID=A2SRPX9AZVAMWT&qid=1203003478&sr=1-4&DownloadLocation=CD
If it wasn't this it would've been "Photograph" by Def Leopard. Being that I was a stalker of Big Daddy's for 12 years before he finally relented and gave in, this song allowed me to be cool. I think Def Leopard and I were one of the original stalkers. We made it cool. Now it's just a bunch of losers, certainly not like me.....

7. Close My Eyes by Ozzy Osborne and Lita Ford-What a sexy song. But today I hear it and it almost sounds like death. Imagine that the Prince of darkness singing about such grim subjects? I still don't know what they are singing about. I loved this song though. It was sad, it was deep, it was beyond my understanding. But Lita Ford rocked and in my book anything Lita did was a-ok. Listen Listen

8. Don't Know What You Got Til It's Gone - Cinderella -Ain't it the truth, man? I mean, how can you fully appreciate someone until they have broken up with you, sent your heat breaking into a million shards and then stomping on it? And then you pined and cried because "HE" was the one....How can you appreciate them until that happens? Listen Listen

9. More Than Words - Extreme. I can still recall seeing this black and white video for the first time on MTV. The nice little melody, no screaming, just a bunch of guys sitting around talking about love...because that is what guys do with other guys...they talk about and sing about love. I thought this song was ingenious and like nothing I had ever heard before.ListenListen

10. Angel by Aerosmith-Oh, takes me back...riding in the backseat of my best friend, Greg Stozier's, little corolla with by other BFF Jenny riding shotgun. Why oh why? Why can't he (special someone) see that I care for him. Why can't he feel the emotion and intensity there? "Play it again, Greg" (music cues and my hands pound the back of Greg's seat like a drum) Dun!-- Dun! Dun!---....Don't know what I'm gonna doooooo....about this feeeeeee-ling inside...." I think I made him play that song about 8 times back to back that night. As I moped and pouted in the backseat about unrequited love Jenny and Greg bickered back and forth about who made better milkshakes. McDonald's or DQ. We ended up at DQ downing and drowning my misery in a Mr. Misty cherry float. I didn't like milkshakes. Looking back now, I don't think that feeling inside was love, it was the 3 cherry Mr Misty's I downed......


While these are my top 10, I wouldn't feel right to not include :
Faithfully by Journey. "Circus life (singing to me here) under the big top, whoa...." Steve Perry sure had some pipes on him. This was a given song.
And finally,
There I was at Skate World with my friend Debby. It was here we were meeting our little bud's, Chris Cross and Chris Hatfield. Ah, but they dumped us to hang out with some other girls. We were furious, while "just friends", it sucked to be chosen last. I mean they had come to our schools skate day as our guest (they were from a different school). I learned alot about men that day. So, this song, brings back alot for me... the roller rink, the Chris's, the choosing of love over friendships......and then came couples skate. Now we had no one to skate with. "Lost in Love" by Air Supply. Enough said.