Top Graduation Songs for 2010

Choices for the top graduation songs for this year could range from an old traditional one written 300 years ago or a rock favorite heard for the first time just a year or so ago. It often depends on the favorites of those young graduates who are about to embark on the challenges of life. Some choices could include:

1. Auld Lang Syne: This traditional farewell song came from an old Scottish melody with words provided by 18th Century poet Bobby Burns. The title and lyrics lament the separation of old friends ... should auld acquaintence be forgot ... and the hope they'll remember all the love, loyalty and the great times they had together. It's fitting for any high school or college graduation celebration, even when sung with the old Scottish pronunciation of the lyrics.

2. Land of Hope and Glory chorus from Pomp and Circumstance: This has been adopted by many as the British national anthem. It was written in 1902 by Edward Elgar during the reign of Queen Victoria, and the stirring chorus has been sung and played by bands at commencements ever since. It often serves as the music to accompany the processional and recessional during high school and college graduation ceremonies.

3. I Did It My Way by Frank Sinatra, Jay-Z or Elvis Presley: This bittersweet musical statement of independence and defiance may not be everyone's choice for a graduation ceremony. However, a phrase in the song could sum up the sense of personal accomplishment many graduates are feeling on that important day:
I planned each charted course,
Each careful step along the byway.
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

4. Graduation Day: There are two vastly different songs with that title. In the more innocent 1950s, the Beach Boys crooned in traditional harmony the sentimental lyrics:
When the ivy walks
Are far behind,
No matter where our paths may wind,
We'll remember always,
Graduation Day

Then, in 2007, Kanye West barked out a song with the same title, but with fiercely ungrammatical and angry lyrics. He wanted to emphasize an inner-city teen's feelings about school and his hopeless future. Some of the less profane lyrics include:
Got something better than school, but don't tell anybody.
My momma would kill me, but don't anybody.
She wants me to get a good (deleted) job just like everybody.
She ain't walked in my shoes; I'm just not everybody.

Choice of the top graduation songs for this year can range from sentimental old Scottish brogues to the angry words of today's social outsider. What they have in common is that those who will be singing the songs all face the same challenge of succeeding in the world beyond the classroom.