Not long ago, I formed a list of songs that were dear to me. The list had long been there in my mind: songs that had - somewhere between the music, the lyrics, and the mood they invoked - inspired me. Some were irrevocably tied to memories. Some had evoked images, or even characters for stories. All of them had a certain underlying drama that gave them life.

I carefully arranged the songs into a CD. It's something of a soundtrack for myself.

1) The Refreshments - Mekong
2) Seven Mary Three - Cumbersome
3) Bush - Machinehead
4) Queensrÿche - Another Rainy Night Without You
5) Stavesacre - Rivers Underneath
6) Stabbing Westward - What Do I Have to Do?
7) Evanescence - Bring Me to Life
8) Skillet - The Thirst is Taking Over
9) Loreena McKennitt - Dante's Prayer
10) System of a Down - Aerials
11) P.O.D. - Satellite
12) Five Iron Frenzy - Every New Day
13) The O.C. Supertones - So Great a Salvation
14) Jennifer Knapp - Faithful to Me (Reprise)
15) [11.11 second silence]
16) Joe Satriani - Mind Storm
17) Bad Religion - Sorrow
18) Five Iron Frenzy - Farsighted