I was just asked: “what songs inspire me?”

As a musician and music lover, I get super stressed when I have to answer these types of questions. So many songs inspire.Doesn’t any music that is great inspire?

My recent song, The Music, is about just this…My best friend, my savior, in a big house all alone/The record, the CD, and the Radio/I want my MTV to show me possibility/cuz when I’m in that company/I know I will be okay…

Some songs aren’t necessarily inspiring in the uplifting sense of the word (the idea behind the question posed to me) but as a songwriter,  I might hear a song that is so awesome, I am inspired in the  “I wish I wrote that” kind of way.  Someone Like You by Adele (and Dan Wilson) is one of late.  Tom Waits’ Take It With Me, Madonna’s Rain (also co-written by the great Shep Pettibone), Massive Attack’s Teardrop.

As for more inspirational / uplifting songs in the more obvious sense, the list that came to mind:  Change is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke), Express Yourself (Madonna), Times They are a Changing (Bob Dylan but also a great Nina Simone version), Where the Streets Have No Name (U2), Over The Rainbow (various but of course Judy Garland), Redemption Song (Bob Marley and Stevie Wonder version too!), My Hero (Foo Fighters), Feel What You Want (Kristine W), Free Your Mind (En Vogue), Beautiful (Christina Aguilera and Linda Perry), By Your Side (Sade), Everything is Everything (Lauryn Hill), Fly (Nicki Minaj with Rihanna), Baba O’Reilly (The Who), Think (Aretha Franklin), Where is the Love? (Black Eyed Peas with Justin Timberlake), Temptation (New Order), Empire State of Mind (Jay-Z, Alicia Keys), Today (Smashing Pumpkins), More Than A Woman (Aaliyah), Silent Night (Mahalia Jackson), Man in the Mirror (Michael Jackson).

What’s on your list?