What songs do you associate with members of your family? Your spouse’s favorite love song? A tune that makes you remember dear old mom? Or one that makes you think of your daughter who has moved far away?

When I hear Frank Sinatra crooning I think of my dad, who was a fan of “Ole Blue Eyes,” maybe because they shared the same eye color. I can’t say which of Sinatra’s tunes was Dad’s favorite, though I think the choice would be between “I’ve Got the World on a String” and “Come Fly With Me.” Two upbeat songs–a good way to remember Dad.

My mother never seemed to care much about popular music. But there is one German song I can remember her singing. “Muss I denn” dates back to 1827 and must have been a song of Mom’s childhood in Vienna. She sang the first verse frequently, so it’s no surprise that I still remember the lyrics.

Most of my friends were introduced to rock’n’roll by older brothers and sisters. That didn’t happen to me. My sister Linda, five years my senior, was not a music connoisseur. She didn’t live with a transistor radio by her ear or spend her money at the local record shop. The only 45 I can remember her buying was “Venus in Blue Jeans” by Jimmy Clanton, the”swamp pop R&B teenage idol” who long ago disappeared into the swamp of time.

Rather than “Venus”, the song that makes me think of Linda is one by a more well-known band, a group from Liverpool England called The Beatles. I am pretty sure “Here, There, and Everywhere” was the first song she and her new husband Alan danced to at their wedding, and it is the one that reminds me how much I wish Linda was here.

As for Barb, all of you who know her, either in real life or through my blog, would expect me to pick a Neil Diamond song–perhaps “Brooklyn Roads” or “Holly Holy.” But actually, I am torn between two non-Neil songs. I could choose “Lady in Red,” as sung to Barb every night by our waiter on the first cruise we ever took. But instead, I think I will opt for “Bring Him Home,” Jean Valjean’s amazing prayer from “Les Misérables.” It brings chills to each of us whenever we hear it.

My song for our son Michael is — a TV commercial! The theme for his Bar Mitzvah was “Be Like Mike,” the Gatorade commercial featuring Michael Jordan and a bouncy melody. I never drink Gatorade, but when I see a bottle at one of the grandkid’s baseball games, I remember those fine times when young Mike was 13.

My Laury song is easy. She was a newborn in 1986 and I remember sitting with her in my arms, early in the morning half-asleep, watching MTV and feeding her the first bottle of the day. The video for Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” was on non-stop, heavy rotation. It melded into my mind, and these days I can’t hear the song, or see an image of the striking models the video featured, without remembering the feeling of Laury in my arms, contentedly enjoying that bottle.

I don’t have songs yet for the grandkids, but I am sure someday I will!

So that’s it for my family. What song would you pick for yours?

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