Claire Bear (oops make that Dr. Claire Bear) tagged me with a meme (which longtime readers know is usually a sure prelude to much violence, ranting and whining on my part), BUT… I’ll give her a pass her since it’s a musical meme, which is right down my alley and just the thing needed to calm the savage beast.

The meme calls for taking 19 of your most favorite songs, burning them on 5 CDs to share with 5 other people(?!?!), then posting the playlist on your blog.

Uh, I think I’ll just mention my Top 19 and y’all can take it from there.

The first 10-15 songs were pretty easy to fill, mainly songs I first heard during my high school years that would profoundly shape my musical tastes over the years. I’ve always been a romantic at heart, so it made sense that I’d be drawn to music that expressed the highs and lows of my sometimes turbulent emotions.

The last 4 took some thought, since I was still over by about 5 songs and had to knock a few off the list. Some of the casualties were songs by the Platters, Gloria Estefan and Fleetwood Mac.

After even more consideration, I finally managed to winnow it down to 19 songs, so here they are, The Habitation of Justice’s Top 19 Songs of All Time Playlist, in alphabetical order:

• All Out of Love - Air Supply
• Best of Times - Styx
• Broken Wings - Mister Mister
• Desperado - Eagles
• Every Breath you Take - The Police
• Everything I Do (I do it for you) - Bryan Adams
• Faithfully - Peter Cetera
• Free Fallin’ - Tom Petty
• Glory of Love - Peter Cetera
• I Still haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - U2
• I Wish It Would Rain Down - Phil Collins
• King of Pain - The Police
• Mandolin Rain - Bruce Hornsby and the Range
• Open Arms - Journey
• True Colors - Cyndi Lauper
• When A Man Loves A Woman - Percy Sledge
• When You Love A Woman - Journey
• Worthless Evening - Don Henley
• You’re The Inspiration - Chicago

Update: HOLY COW I can’t believe I accidentally cut out REO Speedwagon’s “I Can’t Fight This Feeling” AHHHHHH, that easily would have made my top 5 list too! OK, scratch off ummm…. Percy Sledge for REO and that should do it for my Top 19.