I imagine we all have songs that evoke certain memories. Share a few of yours.
For me, the biggie is the Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction. It takes me back to the summer of '65. I was 11 and when I saved enough allowance for admission, I’d go to the local pool for the afternoon. The snackbar area had a jukebox, and it seemed every other song was “♫ I can’t get no satisfaction… ♫” When I hear the opening guitar notes of that song, I’m back at Orchard, jumping off the diving board, with Mick et al. rocking in the background.
There are other songs with other memories, but that is by far the strongest.
Leaving the courthouse after my divorce, Somebody That I Used to Know was playing on the radio and I thought “how appropriate, and incredibly cheesy at the same time”.
My kids and my wife and I all really enjoy They Might Be Giants’ kids albums Here Come the ABCs, Here Come the 123s, and No.
And my kids really like Here Comes Science. But that album came out, and we repeatedly listened to it in the car, during the absolute darkest three or four months in my life, a time when I did not know how I we were going to have any kind of meaningful income, housing, or food source. At that time, I was sure we were going to spend the rest of our lives practically homeless or mooching off of generous-but-resentful family members. All of my dreams for my life and for my family seemed to have come crashing down around me. I had suicidal thoughts.
I cannot listen to these songs as a result. The moment any of them comes on I am taken back to that time, as though my brain has forgotten completely that there is a difference between the past and the present. Literally just thinking about it right now brings up some of the feeling I’m talking about.
My first wife and I chose it as “our song.” When the marriage fell apart, I couldn’t listen to it at all (especially given the lyrics, which talk about a long-term relationship). I would have to leave a store when the song came on.
I’m OK with it now, once I realized the lyrics applied to my second marriage.
There’s so many it’s hard to choose. In elementary school, in the mornings before class began and everyone was on the playground, instead of a bell to signal all the kids to start lining up they would play music over the loud speaker. They changed the song every year, possibly every semester I’m not sure, but the one that stands out the most is *Philadelphea Freedom *by Elton John. The second I hear the opening notes I can feel the excitement of a new day and almost have an urge to go stand in line. Other songs that were played are One Tin Soldier and Don’t Worry Baby. I’ve always thought that was a very cool, progressive idea on the part of the school administrators.
“Boys of Summer” by Don Henley is my high school sweetheart and the one that got away. Almost too painful to listen to these days.
“Lightning Crashes” by Live is the death of my 15 year-old cousin when I was 19.
On a brighter note, “What’s up” by Five Non Blondes is me and my girls cruising around in high school. We’re all still friends and still call ourselves the Five Non-Redheads.
This is terrible - I’m drawing a blank. There’s a song that a long-ago boyfriend said reminded him of me (right about the time we broke up) and when I hear it now, I think about him, but for the life of me, I can’t remember in right now. It came out in the 70s - that should narrow it down, right?
And I’ve got it. I had a feeling it was by the Eagles, and I found it on their song list: Best of My Love. I still haven’t decided if I should be insulted or not. But it was 40 years ago - I’m pretty much over him.
I can’t listen to Sonny and Cher sing “I Got You Babe” without all those 20-year-old-girl-in-love feelings sweeping over me. Good god, that’s nearly 50 years ago!
I was a lifeguard at a local pool the summer after I graduated high school. The club had one tape of music with about 20 songs that they played continuously all day. For some reason, the one that stuck out was “My Cherie Amour” by Stevie Wonder. To this day, whenever I hear that song, it’s hot and sunny, children are splashing happily in the pool, and I’m 16 years old and imagining what my future will be.
The Christmas I was 13, I received two wonderful gifts - the Beatles’ Rubber Soul album and the Tolkien LOTR trilogy books. Over winter break, I listened to that album endlessly as I devoured the books, and to this day, in my mind, the soundtrack of LOTR is Rubber Soul.
Get Together by The Youngbloods - I was a little kid, and I remember just lying on the ground at a public pool in Tennessee, listening to the song play over and over. We were visiting family friends, and their oldest child was babysitting my brother and me. I’m going to guess this was 1969, since that’s when the song became a big hit.
Life’s Been Good by Joe Walsh - When I hear this it takes me back to summer vacations in Maine. Sitting in a boat out on Great Pond (Belgrade Lakes) with my stoner neighbor, Ron, fishing and getting sunburned and talking about the waitresses and cabin girls. Good times!
Keep on Lovin’ You by REO Speedwagon - From my days working Games and Attractions at Great Adventure (Six Flags park in NJ), circa 1981 or 82. This song played over and over and over and over and over again, and I never really understood the lyrics - so that’s a negative association.
Speaking for myself, yes, very much. In fact, all my song associations are either positive or bitter sweet, which is weird because I spent a great deal of my life, including childhood, pretty unhappy. It’s hard for me to explain the feeling I get when I hear a song I associate with a bad experience. On the one hand the bad memory comes to mind, on the other, I tended to listen to / be surrounded by music I like so I still enjoy it, but with a bit of a pang in my heart, if that makes sense.
Year of the Cat. It doesn’t really have any personal meaning to me, but there’s something about hearing it that just puts me right back at age 14, standing outside the lunchroom of my junior high school. It’s so strong I can actually smell what that hallway smelled like, and the sight–just for a few seconds–overwhelms what’s actually in front of me and I’m right there.
Tusk. Again, no personal meaning for me, but the same phenomenon: I’m in my 1970 Chevy Impala, pulling into our backyard parking space. I’m 17, and this song is so unlike anything I’ve ever heard it stuns me.
You Make Me Feel Brand New. Strong personal associations here. When I met my husband, I had just ended an emotionally/psychologically abusive relationship, and for other reasons as well, my self-worth was down the toilet and in the sewer. Somehow he knew that, and he took it on himself to become my biggest fan, showering me with compliments, praise, and adoration. It took several years for me to even believe what he was saying could be right, but in the end I realized I was a worthwhile person with something to offer the world. So every time I hear it I tear up, thinking of how he saved my emotional life and made me see that I was someone.
My Father’s Eyes. My parents divorced when I was twelve, and I blamed it all on my father. For a long time I really thought I hated him. And then I grew up and made a few mistakes of my own, and I realized he was a flawed human being but that he really did love me and that I really did love him. It brought us back together and for the last few years of his life we had a wonderful relationship. So when I hear this song I’m always so thankful I took another look at him, saw him for who he was, and was able to put things right before it was too late.
Nights in White Satin was “our song” when my husband and I were dating, and then married. Now that we aren’t together, when I hear it it makes me a little sad.
It was the summer of 1999. Somewhere around 3 AM. Wednesday or so. I was up late after everyone else had gone to bed, playing Super Nintendo with the volume turned down and classic rock blasting on the radio.
“Won’t Get Fooled Again” came on, and though I’d heard bits of it once or twice before, it was the first time I’d ever listened to it all the way through and paid attention to the lyrics all the way through.
A few months later I got my first job, and the first things I bought with my first paycheck were a portable CD player and a copy of “Who’s Next”.
The Who has been my absolute favorite band of all time ever since.
