<p>I thought to make my soon-to-be-college freshman daughter a music compilation of appropriate songs as a send-off gift. Not too maudlin or sentimental – more a ‘you’re off on your next great adventure’ mood. I know there are musicologists and lyricists on these boards – any suggestions?</p>
<p>“Forever Young” I prefer the Bob Dylan version, but Rod Stewart has his own take on this.</p>
<p>I like “Send Me A Song” and “Soft Goodbye” from the Celtic Woman CD. I would never suggest this for a boy, but it’s nice for a girl.</p>
<p>"when the light begins to fade
and shadows fall across the sea,
one bright star in the evening sky.
your love’s light leads me on my way. </p>
<p>there’s a dream that will not sleep,
a burning hope that will not die.
so I must go now with the wind,
and leave you waiting on the tide. </p>
<p>time to fly, time to touch the sky.
one voice alone, a haunting cry.
one song, one star burning bright,
may it carry me through darkest night. </p>
<p>rain comes over the gray hills,
and on the air, a soft goodbye.
hear the song that I sing to you
when the time has come to fly. </p>
<p>when I leave and take the wind
and find the land that faith will bring,
the brightest star in the evening sky
is yours to find for me. </p>
<p>is yours to find for me."</p>
<p>–Soft Goodbye</p>
<p>Teach your children - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young</p>
<p>You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.</p>
<p>Teach your children well,
Their father’s hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you’ll know by.</p>
<p>Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.</p>
<p>And you, of tender years,
Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.</p>
<p>Teach your parents well,
Their children’s hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you’ll know by.</p>
<p>Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.</p>
<p>Free to do what I want, any old time by the Stones</p>
<p>Freebird by lynarrd skynarrd</p>
<p>I immediately thought of the Beatles song when I read the thread title, but I don’t think that’s the mood you’re looking for… interesting title choice. :p</p>
<p>But that’s all I have to contribute.</p>
<p>california girls by the beach boys</p>
<p>Like a Bird on a Wire (judy Collins version, not Leonard Cohen)
Imagine John Lennon
A Poet’s Heart Kate Wolf
A portion of the Prophet (gibran – he reads it: "Our children come through us but they are not ours etc.)
End with Beatles – Goodnight</p>
<p>Oh, the Places You’ll Go!</p>
<p>Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!</p>
<p>You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.</p>
<p>You’ll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.”
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street.</p>
<p>And you may not find any
you’ll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you’ll head straight out of town.</p>
<p>It’s opener there
in the wide open air.</p>
<p>Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.</p>
<p>And when things start to happen,
don’t worry. Don’t stew.
Just go right along.
You’ll start happening too.</p>
<p>OH!
THE PLACES YOU’LL GO! </p>
<p>You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.</p>
<p>You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed.
You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you’ll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.</p>
<p>Except when you don’ t
Because, sometimes, you won’t.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to say so
but, sadly, it’s true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.</p>
<p>You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You’ll be left in a Lurch.</p>
<p>You’ll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you’ll be in a Slump.</p>
<p>And when you’re in a Slump,
you’re not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.</p>
<p>You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked.
A place you could sprain both you elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?</p>
<p>And IF you go in, should you turn left or right…
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.</p>
<p>You can get so confused
that you’ll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…</p>
<p>…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.</p>
<p>Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a sting of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.</p>
<p>NO!
That’s not for you!</p>
<p>Somehow you’ll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You’ll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.</p>
<p>With banner flip-flapping,
once more you’ll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!</p>
<p>Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.</p>
<p>Except when they don’t.
Because, sometimes, they won’t.</p>
<p>I’m afraid that some times
you’ll play lonely games too.
Games you can’t win
'cause you’ll play against you.</p>
<p>All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you’ll be quite a lot.</p>
<p>And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance
you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.</p>
<p>But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.</p>
<p>On and on you will hike
and I know you’ll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.</p>
<p>You’ll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You’ll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life’s
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.</p>
<p>And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)</p>
<p>KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!</p>
<p>So…
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,
you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!</p>
<p>—Dr. Seuss</p>
<p>My Wish–Rascal Flats</p>
<p>A sampling:</p>
<p>I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
and each road leads you where you wanna go,
and if you’re faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin’ till you find the window,
if it’s cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile.
But more than anything, more than anything…</p>
<p>My wish,
for you,
is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
your dreams stay big, your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
and while you’re out there getting where you’re getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.</p>
<p>Thanks all! Great suggestions so far. This idea came to me as I drove home from dropping my D off at camp. I was listening to the soundtrack from the movie Elizabethtown, when the song came on: “This time around – you can be anything.” Then I popped in the Garden State sountrack, which ends with that great song: “You’re going to find your way home…”</p>
<p>Thanks again.</p>
<p>chld of mine by carole king
wide open spaces by dixie chicks</p>
<p>oh, one more…</p>
<p>make your own kind of music …i cannot remember the artist but a great song for your purposes.</p>
<p>Ah yes…it’s by mama cass elliot</p>
<p>The Mamas and the Papas - Go Where you Want
Jimmy Cliff - You Can Get it if You Really Want
Michelle Branch - Goodbye to You</p>
<p>I’ll think of more, I’m sure. I’ll go through my collection!</p>
<p>sueinphilly–my DD just got the Dr. Suess book from my mother yesterday at her grad party!</p>
<p>It’s a cliche by now, but how about “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack? Hoplessly sentimental, but many parents can relate to the message it sends to their children.</p>
<p>we like, you can’t always get what you want, by the stones-</p>
<p>kmacmom- I just made a montage for my youngest for her bat mitzvah and the first two songs are Circle game by Joni Mitchell and then Wide open spaces by the dixie chicks. I had a hard time between Child of Mine and Circle Game.
I also like I Hope You Dance.</p>
<p>Some obvious, some not:</p>
<p>Bruce Springsteen – Thunder Road, Promised Land, Rosalita</p>
<p>Kanye West – Celebration, Gone</p>
<p>Old 97’s/Rhett Miller – Friends Forever (specifically about leaving high school), Rollerskate Skinny, Nineteen, Point Shirley, Four-Eyed Girl, Singular Girl</p>
<p>Jill Scott – A Long Walk, Try, Golden, I Keep</p>
<p>Lauryn Hill – Doo Wop Song</p>
<p>Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out Of This Country</p>
<p>Feist – I Feel It All, 1 2 3 4</p>
<p>Bright Eyes – The Road To Joy</p>
<p>Regina Spektor – Integrity</p>
<p>Dizzee Rascal – Dream (built around a children’s choir singing Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Happy Talk”), World Outside</p>
<p>Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band – Auf Wiedersehen Dario (touching, upbeat farewell to a friend in college, worth finding)</p>
<p>Parliament – Starchild (“Swing low, sweet chariot, stop, and let me ride”)</p>
<p>Steve Earle – Someday, Telephone Road, NYC</p>
<p>Bob Dylan – When I Paint My Masterpiece, Like A Rolling Stone, and at least 20 other songs, including The Times They Are A-Changing, Went To See The Gypsy, Tangled Up In Blue . . . </p>
<p>Sugar Ray – Fly</p>
<p>Joni Mitchell – All I Want, California, In France They Kiss On Main Street, Coyote, Amelia, and at least 20 others, too </p>
<p>A zillion people – What A Wonderful World (“Don’t know much about the Middle Ages / Look at the pictures and I turn the pages”)</p>
<hr>
<p>And, in your daughter’s case, definitely some of the following:</p>
<p>Fats Domino (and others) – Walking To New Orleans</p>
<p>ReBirth Brass Band – New Orleans Music, Let Me Do My Thing</p>
<p>Buckwheat Zydeco – Zydeco Boogaloo</p>
<p>The Subdudes – Late At Night, All The Time In The World</p>
<p>Sonny Landreth – Congo Square</p>
<p>. . . . you get the idea</p>
<p>Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten</p>
<p>“Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten”</p>
<p>Not sure if this is the message you want to send, but I love it:</p>
<p>
Whole song at:<a href=“http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/dixie-chicks/the-long-way-around-17149.html[/url]”>http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/dixie-chicks/the-long-way-around-17149.html</a></p>