Cliche

When I was little, my family didn't have much money. If I listened to music, it was either on the radio, on MTV and VH1 (you know, when they actually played music), records I borrowed from the library (my family didn't have a cd player for a long time), or someone else's cassette tapes. I loved music and hated that I never really had any tapes or cds to call my own. Perhaps that was a contributing factor to my love of music - I had to work my butt off to get exposure to it.

 I have always been a big soundtrack nerd. In fact, as a child, I probably liked a movie if the soundtrack was good. I never owned any soundtracks, but always wanted one. My favorite soundtrack as a kid was The Lion King, no, not the songs with words, I was drawn to the music in the background. It was probably from that moment that I began really paying attention to soundtracks and picking songs apart and focusing on certain sounds.

 In 1997, when I was 10, my oldest sister got married and we never really saw each other after that. One day she sent me a cassette tape with a letter saying that she saw the movie Titanic and the music was really great. She said that she was sure I would love it. Honestly, I think I was more excited about having my very own cassette tape of something. I popped it in and listened to it over and over and over again. I absolutely LOVED the soundtrack. I hadn't even seen the movie, but decided I loved it based on the music. It wasn't until Titanic was released on VHS before I saw it for the first time and I finally got to see the scenes that went along with the music. In ways I was disappointed because what I pictured in my mind as the scene was so much more beautiful than what the scene really was and in other ways, it fueled the magic that the music created for me.

I know it's really cliche of me to talk about this movie, especially lately when they re-released it for no good reason. I'm not really a fan of the movie, but the soundtrack is good. I hadn't listened to the soundtrack in probably 10 or so years until a few weeks ago. I was amazed at the memories that flooded back when listening to it.

 Here are some of my favorite songs from the album:

Southampton:
It sounds really dorky now, but when I was 10, this song absolutely blew my mind. It reminded me of the original trailer because this song began playing when Rose steps out of the car with her giant hat and lifts her head exposing her face for the first time in the movie. Ever since I saw Sense and Sensibility I absolutely adored Kate Winslet and to me she just looked SO beautiful. To me, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. This song represented the excitement and wonder of the movie itself to me. I would rewind this song over and over again and listen to it. I thought it was magical.
 

Rose:
Oh yes, the stereotypical favorite song of the movie. I thought it was beautiful as a kid. Now, when I listen to it, I laugh. Somewhere in the back of my head I just hear "JACK!"... "ROSE!"... "JACK!"... "ROSE!"... because that's almost all you hear during the entire film.


Ocean of Memories:
Honestly, I don't like the song except for one section of it. I would listen to it over and over again and "dance" to it. I listened to it the other night for the first time in years and I still think it's beautiful, but honestly, that section is the only really good part of the song. The section of the song I'm talking about is: 1:33-2:20 but especially 1:33-1:58. The rest of it, I don't really care for. This is the one song that pissed me off about the part in the movie. I would have thought that my favorite section would have a significant part in the movie and it doesn't, in fact, Im not really sure it's in the movie.


Third Class Party scene:
This song was excluded from the soundtrack, but when I actually saw the movie, I absolutely LOVED the music from this scene. I'm sad that you can't find this song anywhere, except for a version that was released later with soundbites from the movie. The music is just too great. I wish more people had parties like this these days.