“Last Christmas” by Wham.

(There are covers out there. Jimmy Eat World does one, stupid Ashley Tisdale does one, but they’re inferior.)

This song saved my life.

I had gone snowboarding for the first time in December 2001. My friend Alison and I went up to Stevens Pass, had a perfect day, I didn’t get my ass kicked too badly. Then a snowstorm moved in just as we were leaving. The roads were a mess, and I naively wasn’t prepared for that. People were sliding everywhere—I had no chains for my Nissan Altima, no four-wheel drive, all we had was a shitty tape deck and a mix tape of Christmas songs a friend made me a couple years prior. I hadn’t driven in snow much, I was pretty sure I was going to kill us both.

Then “Last Christmas” came on. We reluctantly sang it together, scared for our lives, and for four-and-a-half minutes it kept me calm enough not to panic and slide the car over a cliff. Then we rewound it and sang it again—over and over—until we finally made it down the mountain.

A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man undercover but you tore me apart
Oooh Oooh
Now I’ve found a real love you’ll never fool me again

Wham’s the only reason I’m alive today.