Music to Wallow In -- or avoid

If you see this bird.... please let me know. Thanks!

Seriously, I have compiled a list of songs that one should avoid if one's parrot is missing. Here they are, in no particular order...

1. "Crying" by Roy Orbison. I've been doing enough of that without Roy's help. Besides, it's the sort of wailing song that would make Cosmo yell his head off, which makes me miss him that much more.

2. "Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler. 'Nuff said.

3. "Yesterday" by The Beatles. Yesterday, actually, er, Friday, all my troubles seemed *so* far away. Now I need a place to hide away. Oh! I believe... in yesterdaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy... sniffle!!!!

4. "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word" by Elton John. Some people get really mad about not being able to make the bird come back home.

5. "El Paso" by Marty Robbins. OK, I know it seems farfetched, but hey, this song has been making me cry since I was too young to realize that I was crying over it. Right now, the lyrics that stand out are, "Maybe tomorrow a bullet will find me/ Tonight, nothing's worse than this pain in my heart."

6. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/ What a Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. If you had asked me twenty years ago if anyone would ever be able to put a more permanent signature stamp on "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" than Judy Garland ever did, then I would have told you that you were freaking nuts. All right, yes, I would've said it more nicely than that. But still. Better than Judy Garland? It's impossible, right? WRONG. Iz did it with so much soul, so much heartbreak over not being able to follow those bluebirds across the rainbow, that his is now the definitive recording. If happy little [green] birds fly beyond the rainbow........ why, oh!, why *can't* I?

7. "I'll Find A Way" by Rachael Yamagata. I stumbled over this one by mistake. "I'll find a way to see you again"? Absolutely heartbreaking, given my current set of circumstances.

8. "There Goes My Heart," by the Mavericks. 'Nuff said.

9. "Put My Little Shoes Away," by someone. I don't know who. My mother used to sing it, and *her* mother sang it in the Depression. "Soon the baby will be older, and they'll fit his little feet/ Won't he look so handsome, mother -- as he walks along the street?" It has absolutely nothing to do with birds or being left or having some lover break your heart. It's about a child dying of typhoid or polio or goodness only knows what, and telling his mother to give away his toys to his friends, and give his books to the school, but put his little shoes away for the baby to wear later. This one is good for a cry any day of the week, whether or not your bird is missing. Fortunately, it hasn't played on the radio in the last 70-odd years, so I'm immune to it unless I sing it myself. Dang! I just sang it. I hate it when that happens!