Birthday countdown starts tomorrow!

     I'm really looking forward to it. I don't sing a lot any more - the last time in public was just about a year ago, at a friend's shower, and that was just karaoke. I actually got sick of hearing myself at some point in the 1990's and didn't care for what years of training had made my voice sound like. In classical music, volume is really everything - imagine having to be heard over full orchestras - and that orchestra are between you and the audience! It's like shouting to someone on the other side of the arena at a concert. Because of that, smaller voices like mine are taught a multitude of tricks and techniques to give an illusion of volume. It's been long enough now that most of those habits have been lost, so hopefully what's left is something I'll enjoy hearing.

     This countdown is really a gift to myself - the songs I'm singing are some of my favorites and before the inevitable decline I'd like to have a record of my versions of them. Many of them are not really songs I would normally sing, for one reason or another, so I'm being indulgent. Anyone who knows me will not be shocked that the list is heavy on ballads, so don't expect me to start rapping or anything. I am trying to stick to a couple rules:

1. No songs that I have previously sung in public
2. Only one song per artist can make the list - this prevents a tribute to Barbra Streisand. You're welcome!

I'm still woefully unprepared, so any suggestions for songs are welcome. 

Tomorrow we go back to 1971, and my favorite song by a legendary singer-songwriter. It's been covered a million times, so what's one more... 

Any guesses?