# Evocative songs and the feelings they, um, evoke **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2015, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529 "2015-03-20T19:37:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/41 "2015-03-25T10:19:08Z")
2 images for **The Trio** by Ennio Morricone (off The Good, The Bad and The Ugly): the sadness and passion of the music makes me think of some white painted church in SW USA or in Mexico. Outside the priest is pleading with a teenage lad who he’d hoped would follow him into the priesthood. Instead the boy has decided to go off to the city to make his fortune. The camera (mounted on a helicopter) pulls away as we see the priest in tears and on his knees outside the church, as the boy walks away forever, carrying his kitbag. The trumpet by itself (without the rest of the orchestra) makes me think of someone playing it in a sweaty bar near the docks in Marseille. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/42 "2015-03-25T12:07:49Z")
The weird thing about _Year of The Cat_, for me, is that it creates two conflicting mental images - the initial lines about Bogart and Lorre create a _noir_ image, Casablanca. But the description of the woman is technicolour, somehow is completely East Asian - some place like Kashmir or Southeast Asia (Although, nowadays, I immediately picture Raina from _Agents of Shield_). That incongruity has always struck me. The modern-ish track I find most immediately evocative is [Road Tripping](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11GYvfYjyV0) by Red Hot Chili Peppers. It reminds me so much of traveling around our [south coast](https://www.google.com/search?q=garden+route&num=30&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Z6QSVa3NCOuM7AaM84HwCQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1366&bih=563) (which is a lot like Route 1 and Big Sur, I gather) - fog in the early morning, sun blinking off the ocean, surf pounding on the cliffside, little beaches strung out along the rocky coast. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/43 "2015-03-25T13:43:55Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > Do instrumentals count? > > Because I have a very strong and relatively unpleasant reaction to this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ROYu\_ELpxs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ROYu_ELpxs) > > As soon as it starts, I’m a very small kid in a reception hall in the middle of nowhere on some weird-ass day (say, Tuesday). It’s the middle of the afternoon or early in the evening (not dark yet) and I’m feeling kind of lost between all the adults who pay no attention to the few kids that are present. The crowd is not exactly distinguished either, lets say the local equivalent of rednecks. Strong lights, sound of glasses clinking. I’m getting tired, perhaps slightly ill and want to go home but I know that we’re not leaving soon and it’s a long way home (for a kid anyway). This is gorgeous; video of Anton Chigur notwithstanding. I can totally see the picture you (and the song) paint. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/44 "2015-03-25T15:01:24Z")
An oldie: Johnny Mathis’s [Moonlight in Vermont](https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=moonlight+in+vermont&vid=7b9a49a6eeba35cb817c6135b131954a&l=3%3A43&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DVN.608013652740933242%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dm8pxhp83WjE&tit=Johnny+Mathis.+Moonlight+In+Vermont.&c=5&sigr=11btie89s&sigt=1146o15fv&sigi=11r51alsl&back=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fyhs%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dmoonlight%2Bin%2Bvermont%26type%3Dmcy_dnldstr_15_09_sa%26fr%3Dsfp%26param1%3Dyhsbeacon%26param2%3Df%253D1%2526b%253DFirefox%2526cc%253DUS%2526p%253Dmcy%2526cd%253D2XzuyEtN2Y1L1QzuyD0D0Ezz0C0CtD0EtGtC0DzyyDtGyDzyyByCtGzz0E0A0BtG0A0D0CtAtBzz0E0BtA0CyDzztN1Q2Zzu0StCtCyDtCtN1L2XzutBtFtDtFtDtFtCyBtN1L1Czu%2526cr%253D1045357131%2526a%253Dmcy_dnldstr_15_09_sa%26hsimp%3Dyhs-fullyhosted_011%26hspart%3Diry%26ei%3DUTF-8&sigb=1c8ks4pbc&ct=p&age=1333123200&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&hsimp=yhs-fullyhosted_011&hspart=iry&tt=b). Tons of people recorded this song. \*Pennies in a stream, Falling leaves, a sycamore, Moonlight in Vermont. Icy finger waves, Ski trails down a mountainside, Snow light in Vermont . . . \* ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/45 "2015-03-25T16:36:16Z")
If you are looking at an Al Stewart song, then I am surprised folks have missed out ‘On the border’ [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z2L_OyS21lM/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGDsgZChlMA8=&rs=AOn4CLDHBDikesxwcnJ9zOQSTDFGPFEGdA "ON THE BORDER ~ AL STEWART") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2L_OyS21lM) ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/46 "2015-03-25T18:51:54Z")
By the way, both _Under the Milky Way_ and _Somewhere Down The Crazy River_ are truly great songs. I can’t really picture anything more than what’s already in the lyrics (although I’m pretty sure that what they play at Nick’s Café is this [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue\_Train\_%28album%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Train_%28album%29) :)). Anyways I just wanted to thank you for reminding me of them. I don’t listen to them as often as I should. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/47 "2015-03-25T18:57:25Z")
> [@K364](#): > > [Al Stewart - The Year Of The Cat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvBfIdhG974) > > On a morning from a Bogart movie > In a country where they turn back time > You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre > Contemplating a crime That’s a good one. But even more I like his “Time Passages.” Heard that one just the other day, as a matter of fact. _A girl comes towards you_ _You once used to know_ _You reach out your hand_ _But you’re all alone in those…_ ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/48 "2015-03-25T19:01:34Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf. > > A guy driving a convertible or motorcycle on a desert road, hair maybe blowing(if not wearing a helmet), either alone or with a hot woman back/beside him. That is definitely a motor cycle song to me. Evokes a pair on their Harley. “Red Barchetta” by Rush, now that is a car song. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/49 "2015-03-25T19:12:27Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > That is definitely a motor cycle song to me. Evokes a pair on their Harley. > > “Red Barchetta” by Rush, now that is a car song. The lyrics to _Red Barchetta_ are obviously very specific, the music a perfect accompaniment. I often wonder how close the picture in my head is to the one in Messrs Peart, Lifeson and Lee. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/50 "2015-03-25T19:23:02Z")
What a fantastic idea for a thread! I love all the submissions so far - music from your childhood does indeed stay with you. I guess this one is more of a personal memory: Lou Rawls [You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCW1i5HQ0o0) It always gives me a very vivid mental image of sitting in the backseat of my Grandfather’s Chrysler Cordoba. HUGE bench seats. When you’re 8 years old, cars of that size seemed massive! Everything I see is just oozing the 1970’s - his wide lapel suit, my Grandmother’s hair in a blue/gray beehive, the push button AM radio…on our way home from church for Sunday dinner, which was always a roast of some sort. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/51 "2015-03-25T20:12:17Z")
> [@SykoSkotty](#): > > What a fantastic idea for a thread! I love all the submissions so far - music from your childhood does indeed stay with you. > > I guess this one is more of a personal memory: > > Lou Rawls [You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCW1i5HQ0o0) > > It always gives me a very vivid mental image of sitting in the backseat of my Grandfather’s Chrysler Cordoba. HUGE bench seats. When you’re 8 years old, cars of that size seemed massive! Everything I see is just oozing the 1970’s - his wide lapel suit, my Grandmother’s hair in a blue/gray beehive, the push button AM radio…on our way home from church for Sunday dinner, which was always a roast of some sort. Well first off, when my young ears first heard this in 1976, I thought it was Engelbert Humperdinck so I don’t know if that has anything to do with my mental picture. It always brings to my mind sort of a Las Vegas montage. Lots of red velvet and dark wood and and disco balls; a casino or nightclub type of place. I don’t picture Mr. Rawls (or Mr. Humperdinck, for that matter)on a stage or anything, but there’s some vague trace of a man with a vested suit, only his jacket is off and his sleeves are rolled up. It’s very " slick". ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/52 "2015-03-26T04:01:44Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I get two images from it: the first, in his apartment (“let me use your toothbrush, have you got a clean shirt?”) and the second, on the street as she’s walking home, _sans_ underwear, wearing his shirt, hair still a little mussed, with a big ‘just fucked’ grin, giving off the vibe of a great and totally unanticipated night of sex, and not caring who sees it. > A lot of people are rather down on Osborne, but I wonder if they’ve heard this one. _What?!_ What sort of half-witted fools are down on Joan Osborne? I must own three different copies of _Relish_ - I wear them out. “Right Hand Man” is a great song - listening to it, I see the light of early morning in the city, casting unfamiliar shadows, and smell asphalt and diesel fumes. But the song that paints the most vivid picture in my head is “[Crazy Baby](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebu9tkSrJ9g)” - a tightly-drawn portrait of depression and dementia. _Oh, your hands are really shaking something awful As you smoke your twenty-seventh cigarette. How long have you been sitting in the darkness? You forget._ Going back to all the 70’s and earlier songs posted, I don’t think it’s coincidence that these songs came out before MTV and before every new single had an accompanying video. You don’t get to make a movie of the song in your head - some filmmaker has already imposed his or her vision on you. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/53 "2015-03-26T12:50:54Z")
[QUOTE=Slow Moving Vehicle;18238052 Going back to all the 70’s and earlier songs posted, I don’t think it’s coincidence that these songs came out before MTV and before every new single had an accompanying video. You don’t get to make a movie of the song in your head - some filmmaker has already imposed his or her vision on you.[/QUOTE] Well said. As I’ve been thinking about the songs on my list I’ve had to stop and try to remember if I’ve actually seen a video for it or if it is indeed my own original vision. The oldest ones I’m pretty sure not; for the more current ones, I don’t \*think \*I have but I suppose I could have some subconscious memory of it. Also, does anyone else find themselves imagining in video format? As in, the way you picture things has almost come to play out in your head like a movie? I’m sure I have not phrased that coherently but I guess I’m trying to ask if watching music videos has influenced the way your mind’s eye works when you hear music. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/54 "2015-03-26T14:41:52Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > “Red Barchetta” by Rush, now that is a car song. Red Barchetta makes me think of a very recent article: > **[Elon Musk Says Human-Driven Cars Could Become Illegal](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elon-musk-self-driving-cars_n_6891368)** > > Elon Musk Says Human-Driven Cars Could Become Illegal Actually, that article made me think of Red Barchetta. ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/55 "2015-03-28T14:47:16Z")
The opening of Gimme Shelter. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529/56 "2015-03-28T18:21:01Z")
Big Star - [Thirteen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pte3Jg-2Ax4) melancholy and desire. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evocative-songs-and-the-feelings-they-um-evoke/715529.md?page=2)