Every girl needs a theme song.

Not in the perky “hurrah for me”, pom-pom-shaking, jumping-jacks theme song way, but rather in the toss my hair, stand up straighter, I can handle anything way.

Seriously.

Someone (I don’t know who, so don’t ask) once said something like: “Every man must walk to the beat of his own drum."

Well, every woman should walk to the beat of her own song, which need not have a drum and, truth be told, probably involves some form of electronic keyboard from the ’80s.

Well, most of mine do anyway.

I have several theme songs, gathered from all the crazy situations I have found myself in at one stage of my life or another.

Old Blue Eyes’ My Way never fails to make my shoulders straighten and I Will Survive has pulled me out of the doldrums more than once.

I’ve been Outta Love with Anastacia and the queen of soul has provided me with some R-E-S-P-E-C-T when I was all out.

And I’m not afraid to admit that when the world looks a little scary and the future a little bleak, you’ll probably find me Living on a Prayer sitting at the traffic lights.

But there is one woman I turn to when all else fails.

And her name is Madonna.

When it comes to life’s most pressing questions, I have found that Madonna’s Immaculate Collection usually holds the answers.

Seriously.

Man getting you down? You know what Madge would say. Don’t go for second best, baby, put your love to the test. You know you’ve got to get him to express how he feels and then you’ll know your love is for real.

Life getting you down? Just strike a pose. She knows a place you can get away; it’s called a dance floor and here’s what it’s for. Because, as Madonna would say, beauty is where you find it.

Those gems and more can be found in one little collection Madonna recorded before she found Kabbalah and Guy Ritchie, and began collecting children.

And I know I’m not alone when it comes to theme songs.

There is a reason drunk women will drop everything and join in the stampede to the dance floor when the first strains of It’s Raining Men, Dancing Queen or some other kitsch song we would never admit to loving, comes on.

It’s because they make us happy, strike a cord and for the two minutes or so they fill our consciousness, they give us hope.

They are the musical equivalent to Dirty Dancing, Love Actually and Bridget Jones.

You may not even know you have a theme song, but chances are you need it.

I discovered my need for a theme song back in high school.

My dad is a bit of a perfectionist. Well, maybe that’s not the best word for it, but he had high expectations of his kids and when he felt we weren’t living up to them, he tended to go on about it.

Loudly.

So I developed a skill of outwardly listening to him, while inside I was singing. He felt he got his point across and I got to escape a lecture. So we both won.

My friend Bee is only just discovering her theme song.

She is so much stronger than she thinks and whether she knows it or not, she is one of life’s survivors.

So when I see her, I Will Survive starts playing in my head.

My friend V is so unconsciously beautiful and graceful that when she walks into a room I start to hear KT Tunstall’s Suddenly I See.

And my friend B is such an optimist and never fails to see the bright side to life – so when she walks in DB Boulevard and Another Point of View starts playing.

My girlfriend M always puts me in mind of Dreams by the Cranberries and my girl S, she’s Zebra by JBT.

So go out and find your own and wrap it around you like a security blanket. Let it surround you like your favourite perfume. Take that song and make it as much a part of you as your smile.

And then when you are feeling down, sing it like no one is listening.

Even if it’s just in your head. Or at the traffic lights.

Because as Madge would say, life is a mystery and everyone must stand alone. But I hear my theme song play and it feels like home.