THE FIVE SONGS: THE SIXTH INSTANCE. This time around I'm choosing five songs that remind me one way or another of my grandmother who turned 90 years old in January. And I thought I'd start off a little silly. . .

1. SHORT PEOPLE by RANDY NEWMAN. Yep. She's short. Really short. And back in the 70's (and ever since) we've played this song for her to make sure she doesn't forget it!

2. CHOCOLATE by THE CHENILLE SISTERS. Yep. She's a chocoholic. MAJOR chocoholic. Anything with chocolate on it is living on borrowed time when my grandmother's around. And you know what? She's already made it to 90 so that shows you how much the doctors know.

3. SEND HER MY LOVE by JOURNEY. Yep. My grandmother was an MTV junkie back in the day when MTV first came on the air. You know, back in the early 80's when MTV played music videos. And she loooooooooves Journey! There was no one song she liked better than another so I just picked one we both like. She still calls Steve Perry her boyfriend.

4. THERE! I'VE SAID IT AGAIN by BOBBY VINTON. This one happens to be her favourite song. At least that's what she's said in recent years. When I was a kid, I remember her saying it was DEEP PURPLE but whatever. And yes, the only reason I own this song is because it's my grandmother's favourite. You got a problem with that?!?!

5. 75 SEPTEMBERS by CHERYL WHEELER. This one is actually solely my choice since I'm pretty sure she's never even heard it. It's basically a love letter to Cheryl Wheeler's father who was born in 1915. The song came out on her DRIVING HOME album at about the time my grandmother was 75 (give or take -- she was 3 years shy) and I always associated the lyrics very much with her since they apply rather nicely: "In the year of the yellow cab/shadow of the great world war/the third kid grandma had/came into this world/on a rolling farm in Maryland/when Wilson was the president/as summer blew her goodbye through the trees/a child of changing times/growing up between the wars..." Basically the song is about the vast changes experienced through a long life time. "Now the fields are all four lanes/and the moon's not just a name/are you more amazed at how things change or how they stay the same/and do you sit here on this porch and wonder/how the time flies by/or does it seem to barely creep along/with 75 Septembers come and gone." If you don't already own ALL of Cheryl Wheeler's cds, you need to seriously rectify that situation. Go ahead. I'll wait. At least until the next five songs.