Well I can think of several different songs for different things in my life, usually revolving around some event.
The first one is
Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above. Being Catholic of course hymns from Mass tend to make impressions on me. In this particular case I really remember this song due to an event of great import from the nearly seven years I lived in the United Kingdom. It was playing at the 9 A.M. Mass on 5 June 2005 and I remember being thankful to God that I had fallen in love with a wonderful woman. When I said that to God in my heart and mind the choir had been singing that song.
Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above (youtube)
The second one is
Where the Truth Lies by the Exchange. Some may recognize it as the theme to the animated series
The Legend of Prince Valiant. The line from the song, "Sometimes I lie awake/I dream of everyone/Who walked the path I take/Who ran beneath the sun" always gets my hair standing on end, and has throughout my life. Every time I hear it there's a certain electric feeling I get that reminds me of previous generations. Since my great great grandfather and his service with the 24th Welsh Regiment against the Zulus a man of my family has served either the British Crown, the nation of Rhodesia (now defunct) or South Africa. I am reminded of the history of honorable military service set by those four generations before me, and throughout my military service this song was a reminder of a source of pride when things got tough.
Where the Truth Lies (youtube):
The third is
Fields of Gold by Sting. In very general terms it outlines my philosophies on romantic love. We aren't perfect beings, God knows I am not but love for another is a wonderful gift from the Almighty. In far more specific terms this song is a defining thing because this was the song me and Evey made up after a rather nasty fight before I left for Afghanistan in 2006. This line in particular is poignant to me: "I never made promises lightly and there have been some that I've broken. But I swear in the days still left we'll walk in fields of gold." I might have bollocksed things up in that fight we had, but I meant it every time I told her I loved her.
Fields of Gold (youtube):
The fourth is
It's a Long Way to Tipperary. It's a old song from 1914, dating to the British Expeditionary Force that fought in the trenches of World War I. My great grandfather perished in the trenches, leaving behind a wife and children, but he volunteered for the frontline to protect his loved ones. That song to me speaks of those at home that I feel my military service keeps safe from harm, my family and friends. It reminds me of hearth and home. I serve not because I hate the enemy to my front, but I love what I have left behind.
It's A Long Way To Tipperary (youtube):
The fifth song is
I am the Bread of Life. It's a hymn I've heard at Mass for many years. It reminds me that God has His plans for us all. We may not understand it at times, and at especially difficult times in my life I recalled hearing it. The first time I was twenty years old, I had failed the selection course for South Africa's Special Forces Brigade having collapsed from exhaustion on an endurance march. I went to Mass to ask God what his plans are and oddly enough I heard this hymn. The second happened on 24 June 2012. Two days earlier I had lost Evey, who I wanted to spend the remaining years of my life with, to Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. I was especially upset and angry and wondered why God took her from me, what possible purpose could that serve and I remembered the choir sang this at that Sunday Mass.
I am the Bread of Life (youtube):
The sixth and final song is
Non Nobis Domine. It is a Latin hymn made famous by Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of William Shakespeare's
Henry V. It's origins are a short hymn of thanksgiving derived from Psalm 113:9. The Latin is as follows: "Non nobis, non nobis Domine. Sed Nomini tuo da gloriam." Literally translated it is, "Not to us, Not to us O Lord but to Thy name give glory." This song came readily to mind for me after a test called The Long Drag where I marched for for 64 kilometers (40 miles) with an over 25 kilogram (55 pound) bergen (backpack) and rifle through the Brecon Beacons of Wales. Bear in mind some things, imagine running the London Marathon after being tested to run fast 10KM and half Marathons for four weeks beforehand. And the fifty five pounds didn't include water and food. I had twenty hours to complete this march and was forbidden to use roads or trails and had to navigate by map and compass. I made time, just barely, with literally a minute to spare. A line from William Shakespeare's
Henry V also came readily to made, "Praised be God and not our strength for it." I don't know where my strength to finish the event came from, where I marshalled it from, but I did it somehow.
Non Nobis Domine (youtube):
