Project 3: The Soundtrack of My Life

Tim McGraw, “My Little Girl”: The line in this song, “You’ve had me wrapped around your finger since the day you were born”, is a reflection of the way my dad feels toward me. I have always been his little girl, being the youngest and the only daughter in my family. With my dad I could get away with anything and he spoiled me any chance he got. Once when I was younger, we were at the store and it was just my dad and I. Well I wanted a new Barbie doll and all I had to do was bat my “baby blues” as he called my eyes and I got my way. When we got home and my mom saw the doll, she asked where that came from and I said, “Daddy bought it for me.” She would just roll her eyes at my dad and laugh. Still to this day, I usually can talk my dad into “spoiling” me. I could also get out of trouble with him more easily than my mom, like how the song says, “When you were in trouble that crooked little smile could melt my heart of stone.” I know he’s finally realizing that I’m growing up, like in the song it says, “Now look at you, I’ve turned around and you’ve almost grown.” I know I’m his baby girl, but even though it’s hard for him to do he encourages me, like in the song to, “chase your dreams but always know the road that’ll lead you home again.” And sometime on late nights when my mom and I have an ice cream craving, I can still talk him into going to get us ice cream from TCBY.



Keith Urban, “Tonight I Wanna Cry”: Between the scenes of the singer playing the piano, this video cuts to shots of artwork on the walls with snow falling down around. When I was about six years old, my parents bought me a grand piano and I started lessons right away. Its mahogany colored wood with its ornate Victorian-style carvings on the legs and front graced our front living room. I practiced all the time. Even in the mornings before I left for school I would sit down on the wooden bench with its burgundy seat cushion and play a little tune. Slowly I got better and better. When I wasn’t playing I loved listening to my mom and grandma play on the piano and I loved the way you could hear their fingernails could be heard clicking the notes as they played. I would always sit next to them with my feet dangling off the bench and listen to the beautiful noised emerging from the piano. I couldn’t wait till I could play like that. After taking enough lessons to get into the advanced level book, I finally quit taking lessons. Now that I am older, my fingers glide up and down the black and ivory keys with ease. Now when I play, my fingernails make that same clicking sound that I used to hear when my mom and grandma played. Sitting in front of the keys and the music with my back to everything else in the world, I feel at peace and relaxed. Even now, when I’m stressed, mad, or sad all I have to do is play the piano and I feel relieved with all my worries escaping through my fingers into the music.



Dierks Bentley, “What Was I Thinkin’”: The action scenes from this video of the car chase and the fight scene in the bar make it very exciting; however, the scene from when he takes the girl back home and her daddy is waiting on the front porch with a shot gun in hand is one that I can relate to. First of all, my dad is a police officer, and is very protective of me, his only daughter. On one of my first dates, the guy, who was from a small town close to McCook, came to the door to pick me up. Thinking there could be no harm in this and that my dad wouldn’t dare embarrass me, he wanted to meet the guy. While not resorting to the open threat of violence through a gun, he did, to my shock, verbally threaten him with, “Now you two have fun…” and staring right at the guy he said, “but not too much, or I’ll have to kill ya.” My mother and I had a look of complete horror on our faces as we realized what he had just said. We were so embarrassed. Of course, we knew he was just kidding, but my date didn’t. I was surprised that he ever took me out again, but apparently I must have made a fairly good impression on him, despite my dad’s over-protective nature. From that point on, I gained the reputation of being the cop’s daughter in the towns surrounding McCook. While I didn’t thoroughly enjoy this title, my dad sure did, thinking it was more intimidating for guys; however, to his dismay it didn’t scare them off, but I'm sure he still has a gun hidden just in case he needs to really scare any off.



Jason Aldean, “Hicktown”: Between the shots of the pick-ups going mudding and doing other “hickish” things, this video cuts to scenes of teenagers dancing and the band playing the music for the song. These moments of going mudding and the lyrics’ mention of girls getting rowdy tonight down at the football game are events that kids growing up in a small town undoubtedly are familiar with. Throughout high school during the fall season, all my Friday nights were spent at Weiland Field, the football stadium in McCook, for home games. My friends and I would get all glitzed up to cheer at the game or sometimes we decorated t-shirts with paint and glitter to cheer on our boys. Each year every class would come up with a unique design to embellish t-shirts. For my senior year, our red and black tie-dyed shirts read, “Senior Chicks” on the front with our last name and 007 on the back. Being the procrastinators that we were, we were up late the night before the Homecoming game decorating our shirts in one of my friend’s garage. While I had my shirt all sprawled out in front of me, paint in hand, a huge bug started crawling toward me. I jumped up and grabbed the blow drier that we were using to dry the paint and tried to roast the bug. Tripping over the cord, trying to chase the bug all my friends got a kick out of my girly actions and clumsiness. These nights of making shirts added to my high school experience and memories with my friends.



Kenny Chesney, “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy”: Starting off with a John Deere tractor chugging through the fields, this video cuts to shots of the singer in the barn surrounded by hay bales. These scenes are shots that anyone from a small, rural town could recognize. My senior year of high school, I was all dressed up in my glamorous, long, flowing black dress and glitzy rhinestone earrings for my final prom. My hair was all done up with big spiral curls framing my face. I felt like a princess. After dinner, my date drove to a parking lot where I was ecstatic to find our chariot to prom, a brand new shiny John Deere tractor. With the tractor towering above us, my date helped pull me up the three far spread out stairs into the cab as I struggled to hold the handle with one hand and the end of my dress with the other so as not to get it snagged. A little pillow cushion awaited me right next to the driver’s seat. We got the engine going and we were off. Traveling at a mighty five miles per hour, we finally made it the four blocks to Promenade where we made our grand entrance in the mighty green and yellow beast. The next day we were the talk of the town, as we had made front-page news in our local newspaper, the McCook Daily Gazette. It just goes to show how even the small things that happen in a small town are deemed important.



Taylor Swift, “Tim McGraw”: Between the scenes of the singer lying on the dirt and grass strewn shore next to the pond and the couple sitting in the bed of the pickup gazing at the stars and dancing underneath the night sky are memories that most couples from small towns are familiar with. Especially considering that there isn’t much else to do for dates. Gazing at stars is definitely one of my favorite things to do, whether it be on a date, out in the country, or just on the bench on my front porch at home. One night during the summer, a friend and I decided to drive out to Red Willow Lake and go stargazing. Finally reaching the lake after a fifteen-minute drive, we trudged our way through the sand so we got close to the water line. My cute heels continuously sinking further and further in, making it ever so difficult to walk, resulting in their removal. The lyrics, "The moon like a spotlight on the lake" reminds me of the way the moonlight and starlight reflected brightly off the surface of the calm water. Being the geniuses that we were, we decided to start a fire. After walking through the sand in my bare feet and collecting numerous small and large sticks to get the fire going, thanks to my friend’s expertise, we succeeded. With the little campfire blazing and the stars glowing magnificently overhead, it was a perfectly calming night. We spotted many constellations and named some stars of our own. Now at college, living in Lincoln, the stars aren’t as brilliant to gaze upon and sometimes are totally impossible to see, which is one of the things I miss about my small town.



Carrie Underwood, “Don’t Forget to Remember Me”: The scenes in this video of the singer driving off to start her life on her own is an event that everyone has to go through and that college students can definitely relate to. The line, “We were loading up that Chevy both trying not to cry, Momma kept on talking putting off good-bye,” reminds me off packing my stuff up to go to college. The whole summer my parents were dreading the day. It finally came and we loaded my white Chrysler Sebring to the max with totes of clothes, bedding, school supplies, and various other necessities. Not only was my car full, but my dad’s jeep was packed with the multitude of items that I would need to survive in my college dorm. My mom and I drove the three and a half hours in my car to Lincoln, while my dad followed behind us. I’m sure the whole trip my mom was trying to forget the fact that she was riding with me to take me to college. She was just pretending like it was just another one of our many shopping excursions. Finally when we got to Nebraska Wesleyan University’s campus, the totes and other things that were neatly packed in the car were unloaded and lugged up three flights of stairs through Johnson Hall to my new room. That trip was a difficult one for my parents and I alike, but as the song says, “I still feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be.”



Rascal Flatts, “Stand”: In this video, it shows a wide variety of people who seem like they’re at their very last straw, hanging on to their will by only a short thread. The lines “Alone and helpless like you’ve lost you’re fight, but you’ll be alright” remind me of the times of life that are really hard but somehow you still make it through. My strong Christian faith has given me the courage to get through any challenge. Whether it be finals week or a family/friend problem, I am confident that I can handle anything thrown at me. Trying to make it through the first college final’s week of my life, I have to remind myself that I can make it through and get everything accomplished even if I feel like there is just way to much to do in so little time. “When push comes to shove, you taste what you’re made of,” is another line that reminds me that I need to keep pushing myself. It all comes back to my faith in the Lord. I know that He can pull me through anything, just as he has done the past eighteen years of my life. As I sit her typing this, I read the verse Deuteronomy 31:6, which is on a plaque that my Grandma mailed me, “For the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” Being able to read this verse everyday reminds me that I’m not alone and that I can get through anything that I set my mind to. This plaque with its picture of a snow covered path with trees surrounding it and a little brook running along side it, with the verse written below, brings me peace and comfort on my stressful days, just by looking at it. It reminds me of home and of my faith.