Vanity Mirror, Flickr Creative Commons

Imagination really is both our greatest blessing and our greatest liability.

In the hands of a child, imagination provides endless entertainment; in the hands of an artist it brings us songs, stories, movies, paintings, etc. Imagination allows us to empathize with each other, envision our futures, and make educated guesses where our keys might be hiding. Without imagination we’d have no science and no religion. We’d get our ice cream at Baskin-Robbins One Flavor.

But there’s a dark side to imagination, as anyone with a jealous partner can attest. Hypochondria is a good example of imagination run amuck, too, as is our tendency to overestimate risks like dying from a terrorist attack or underestimate our chances of benefiting from something like a lottery ticket or the spin of a roulette wheel.

The trick is to channel all of that great imagination you were born with into the “blessing” category and avoid the “liability” column as frequently as possible. Don’t waste your time letting some politician whip your imagination into a terrified frenzy when instead you could be using your superpowers to whip up a poem, a song, or a whip. Hey, I don’t judge.

Anyway, songs about imagination:

“Pure Imagination,” Primus.

“Imagination,” Earth, Wind, and Fire.

“Imagination (Is A Powerful Deceiver),” Elvis Costello.

“Imagine A Man,” The Who.

“Hard To Imagine,” Pearl Jam.

“Imagine,” A Perfect Circle.

“I’ve Got To Use My Imagination,” Gladys Knight & the Pips.

“Just My Imagination,” Rolling Stones.

There you have it: eight songs about that little light bulb in your head. What did I miss? I’m listening.