What is Your Theme Song?

Do you have a theme song (or two or three or more) that helps you to focus, build or maintain confidence, deal with confrontation, celebrate, or inspire you? During the past several weeks, I have asked many people this question and I’ve received a lot of interesting responses. Everything from children’s songs to Led Zeppelin to Bach and Mozart to Céline Dion to Bob Dylan to Dolly Parton and everything in between and around. Thanks to everyone who responded honestly to my question.

In the last month or so before my job search successfully concluded last week, my focus was renewed by repeated listening to Adele’s Hold On , where the lyric, “You are still strong” features. At the same time, I worked hard to build and maintain my confidence with multiple hearings of Adele’s One and Only , which has this lyric, “I promise I’m worthy.” By changing the intention of the lyrics to focus on myself and my hoped-for success, I felt supported and encouraged.

A friend recently told me of an untimely verbal blast from a colleague during a meeting that caused her to silently run through two stanzas of Gordon Lightfoot’s If You Could Read My Mind before she responded in any other way. In some ways, this is similar to counting to ten before responding, giving my friend control of the situation. Can you hear it?

Today, I encountered what I consider to be a new theme song in my collection, this one by Oscar Peterson, the great Canadian jazz pianist and composer. Hymn to Freedom is such a wonderful expression of celebration and joy. Watch those fingers go!

For inspiration, I often turn to Nimrod Variation from Elgar’s Enigma Variations. The quiet strength and reassurance of this variation gets into my bones and stops me in my tracks. I simply have to listen. This performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra is one of the best out there.

To me, there is nothing finer than discovering music that can be relied on to give a boost whenever we need it each and every day in our lives, and in each and every situation in which we find ourselves.

What are your theme songs? What music do you go to focus, build or maintain confidence, deal with confrontation, celebrate, or be inspired? I’d love to know.