Newcastle Photographer and Content Creator, Mandy Charlton, Always on a quest for adventure, often seen on buses, trains and planes. On a quest to be happier and healthier. Lives in Newcastle with her 3 cats, Iris, Maggie and Arthur. Loves good vibes, musicals and cakes. Full time professional wedding photographer in the north east of england alongside content creator on Tiktok, Instagram and Facebook

Friday, October 21, 2016

10 songs I'm listening to right now!




I touched on this when I wrote about when the possible is impossible the other day, about how music is so very important to me, it's presence is ubiquitous in my life from the moment I wake up in the morning, until the moment I switch off the noise to sleep at night.

I guess because I spend long periods of time on my own having music is like having a good friend keeping me company and though I essentially have enough music in my iTunes to last for at least a decade there are probably 25 tracks I listen to constantly.

I love piano based music so Ben Folds and Regina Spektor feature heavily alongside many musicals, a lot of Take That and a whole heap of music no one would probably admit to owning, hell I might be too embarrassed to admit to some of it!

So here without further ado are 10 tracks I adore and listen to almost every day. They're in no particular order as like my children I love them all equally!

1.  I Can Do Better Than That - Anna Kendrick, from The Last 5 Years, so this is a movie and musical about a 5 year relationship starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, she tells the story in reverse order whilst he tells the story in the right order, they crossover in 1 song, "The Next 10 Minutes'.  I love this musical so much and this is probably my favourite song, if you want to know why you'll just have to go listen to it!

2. Rock City - Jeremy Jordan, ok so this is an extra track on an album of an off broadway musical called "See Rock City, and other destinations" this is an acapella version and I just love it, so much so that my children now also know it really well and we all have been known to sing along, it's just a happy, happy song and I love listening to as I walk to work in Jesmond Dene etc.

3. Broadway, Here I come - Jeremy Jordan, I loved Smash and was one of the few that was pretty gutted when it ended, it did introduce me to Jeremy Jordan though and I just love his voice and this song, well it describes jumping off a building as an allegory for making it onto Broadway, it was the headline song for Hitlist, one of the musicals within the musical tv show Smash!

4.  Come What May, Ewan Mcgregor and Nicole Kidman I fell in love with Ewan Mcgregor the first time I heard him sing in Moulin Rouge, I think a lot of ladies did, he does have the most amazing voice and Come What May, well it's the only original song in Moulin Rouge and it was originally written for Romeo and Juliet but never used, I didn't listen to this song for a long time after Paul left and sometimes it still catches me unawares and I have a tear or two but there's something special about music which is so emotive it can make you feel so completely overwhelmed.

5.  Zac and Sara - Ben Folds, this was one of the very first tracks I ever heard by Ben Folds and I was lucky to see him perform live a couple of years ago, the man is a genius, the voice, his piano skills, it's some kind of crazy magic when you can create music like him.

6. Us - Regina Spektor, I wasn't sure if I was going to include this because when Paul and I renewed our vows for our 10th wedding anniversary this was one of the songs but I loved this the first time I ever heard it at the start of 500 Days of Summer and I've managed to make it one of my songs rather than an "our song" and that's what you have to do, if a song reminds you of someone you have to be able to redefine it for yourself so that you can continue to listen to it without causing yourself undue pain.

7.  Defying Gravity - Idina Menzel, many years ago, I think it was around 2004 I first heard this song on Elaine Paige on Radio 2 and the moment I heard it I knew I was going to turn my life around, I was just starting to recover from postnatal depression and finally on a mission to sort my life out and this song lead me to where I am today, there's so much passion when Elphaba (and I, I sing this out loud a lot) sings "I'm through accepting limits, cause someone says they're so, some things I cannot change but till I try I'll never know..."  This song still has so much importance in my life, I'd hate to think how many times I've listened to it in the last 10 years.

8.  A Thousand Years, Christina Perri - I have heard this song at tons of weddings and it continues to get me in my heart every single time, I'm the biggest most hopeless romantic, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I guess on my face too, I'm not ashamed to admit that whilst I believe that love is a truly painful state it's also the most ecstasy you will ever feel, I'm going to have that again one day!

9.  Shut Up And Dance - Walk The Moon, I love this song for no other reason than it makes me dance along the street, it's the happiest, bounciest song and it always puts me in the best mood, we should all have songs in our music collection like this!

10. Happy Now - Take That, I had to include something by Take That and although this might not be the most obvious choice, I love the chorus, it's a bit a weird old song but that happy bouncy chorus in the middle always helps me achieve a smiley happy state and that's what life is about, don't you think?

So there you go, 10 tracks of my years, tracks I listen to every day and hopefully there's something in there that you've not heard of that I've helped you discover, something that might make you feel happy or whimsical or determined, I'd love to hear your suggestions for other songs I might add to my list of happy music.


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