I don’t remember when and how I first learned that the Indigo Girls were queer icons, but it was sometime after I first started listening to their music (and before I had more than the slightest hint that I myself might not be straight). They were, first and foremost, the group who performed some of the songs that Older Sister taught me, and whose CDs kept us, Younger Sister, and sometimes our parents company on road trips. At some point, I also started associating their lyrics with some of the stories that I was working on at the time, or that we were working on together (a habit that continued once I entered online fandom and started using lyrics to title my fics). Much later, I also learned that Amy Ray and Emily Saliers were and are involved in activism for a variety of causes, including queer rights. And my family and I were lucky enough to see the group in concert in 2004.

At first, I thought about creating a list of my top five Indigo Girls songs, but I think that would be prohibitively challenging: there are just too many of them! Instead, here are my favorite tracks from their first five albums – the ones that helped to form the soundtrack of my childhood.

1. “Strange Fire” (Strange Fire, 1987)

I first heard this song on the concert album 1200 Curfews. I remember reading somewhere – maybe in the liner notes for that CD, maybe from a fan – that Amy wrote this song about her relationship with the Christian Church, but I don’t think that interpretation is necessary in order to appreciate the powerful lyrics, the melody, or the way that the harmonies build throughout.

2. “Secure Yourself” (Indigo Girls, 1989)

I think that this is one of the songs that I learned from Older Sister before I heard the recorded version. The final line, “Now we all are chosen ones,” resonated deeply with me as a young, socially awkward reader and storyteller who had tired very quickly of Chosen One stories. (“Closer to Fine,” which opens the same album, is probably more well-known, definitely more fun to sing, and I love that one, too. I just don’t love it in the same way.)

3. “Hand Me Downs” (Nomads Indians Saints, 1990)

No question about this one. The urgency and background drumbeat that kicks in on “...and you’ve become the saint somehow” makes me catch my breath every time.

4. “Ghost” (Rites of Passage, 1992)

Or, as my mom calls it almost every time she brings it up, “that one about the Mississippi being mighty.” (“Galileo” and “Love Will “Come To You” are also strong contenders from the same album.)

5. “Dead Man’s Hill” (Swamp Ophelia, 1994)

Swamp Ophelia has such a strong concentration of songs that I absolutely adore, that my choice is almost random, based on what I’ve been listening to the most recently.

If you’re an Indigo Girls fan, what are some of your favorites? Whether you are or not, do you recall any songs that captured your heart or imagination before you knew who originally performed them? What are they?