The summer of '71, I was 10 years old. My sister and I were spending a few weeks with our maternal grandparents. Granddaddy was a lot of fun, but Grandmother just wanted obedience and quiet. I found my Granddad’s transistor radio, and an earpiece for one ear. I discovered R&B.
The following is a partial list of the jewels I unearthed that summer:
Al Green, Tired Of Being Alone
Undisputed Truth, Smiling Faces Sometimes
Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On
Bill Withers, Ain’t No Sunshine
Dramatics, What You See Is What You Get
I had loved The Beatles since I was 6 years old, but this music was something else. I knew my Grandmother would completely disapprove, and maybe that made it more attractive. At any rate, I still love this music. What a grand time to be alive!
The most intense romance of my life took place in the summer of 1975; I was 20, she was 16. Almost any song that was popular around then evokes strong, painful memories. In particular: “When Will I See You Again,” “Wildfire,” “Dance with Me,” “Annie’s Song,” “Back Home Again,” “Only Yesterday,” “Top of the World,” “Oh, Babe, What Would You Say,” and “I’m Sorry.” I listen to those late at night, and it’s as though I can feel Gina sitting beside me on the couch again.
“Sunday, Bloody Sunday” by U2. A friend attempted suicide (unsuccessful, he’s much better now 30 years later) in a house we shared. This was on Saturday, and on Sunday we spent the morning cleaning up the blood which was everywhere, from the kitchen to the stairs to the bathrooms to his upstairs bedroom, especially his mattress which was soaking. Can’t listen to that song without memories of that day flooding back.
For me, it is without doubt the Gerry Rafferty song Baker Street.
It was the first song to come on the radio the morning after my first sexual experience. I can close my eyes and listen to the song ( as I am now, having pulled up the YouTube link for this post ) and visualize the entire room. Her room in her parents’ country home. Dormer windows. Bed with ridiculously adorable very girly pink ruffled bedspread. And her of course.
I’ve no clue what I had for lunch last Tuesday but in the intervening 37 years nothing has dropped away from those memories. Or so I wish to believe…
The other intensely strong association is a live version of the Yes song Heart of The Sunrise. When I was doing a lot of location work as a Steadicam Operator, I would throw up the back door of the Nissan Quest, crank up the 1978 In The Round recording I had of this song and start building my gear. By the time the song ended I was built. The song cleared my head, lifted my heart, got me cranking, made ( makes ) me happy and completely set a good mood for the day. It was especially useful on those stupid early call times when I would be standing on some random street listening to Heart of The Sunrise- while it literally was the heart of the sunrise that day.
Then there’s Deacon Blues by Steely Dan. I kinda lived on campus at Sarah Lawrence College for a year and a half while attending another college entirely. ( That sounds insane, right? It was so simple back then… )A dear friend I met at the start of that period was a huge Steely Dan fan and for me, their classic work is deeply evocative of hanging out in Slonim House having the kind of very intense conversations one gets to have in Frehsman year, having left the home of the parents.
ETA: Oh shit. I’m the only one linking to song performances. Copyright?? I’ll try to break these links before I run out of the Edit window…
Ghostbusters - Ray Parker, Jr Got the soundtrack on cassette for Christmas in '84 and played it a lot. For me it’s hot days during school holidays, sitting out on our veranda building plastic model planes and model rockets that I would walk down to the local playing field and launch.
This Is The Time - Billy Joel On a youth-group camp in central New South Wales, a group of about 15 of us drove then walked into a small gorge that contained a cave with aboriginal paintings on the walls. We were sitting scattered around the edge of the gorge enjoying the quiet and nature sounds when one of the girls started singing the chorus from This is the Time. She had a beautiful voice and it still gives me goosebumps remembering it.
This is the time to remember
Cause it will not last forever…
Run to Paradise - The Choirboys A summer day a few months after finishing high-school I was driving over to a girls place and this came on the radio.
One perfect moment of warm weather, music and the freedom that comes from driving your first car with the window down, singing along to a great song, no responsibilities and only good things to look forward to for the rest of the break before going to university.
But now, I suppose, it’s all just “Once Upon A Time” (performed by Frank Sinatra; Tony Bennett; et al.) Once upon a time the world was sweeter than we knew
Everything was ours, how happy we were then
But somehow once upon a time, never comes again.
As I was working in the yard this morning, I remembered another one - The Joker by the Steve Miller Band. It was getting a lot of airplay in late '73 when I was in my initial electronics training in the Navy. One of the guys in my class LOVED that song, so when I hear it, I’m back in Millington in the electronics lab and I can see that guy. Don’t recall his name, but I still see him…
My emotional connections to songs are rarely tied to specific life events, but more to overall experiences or attitudes.
Some examples: Whateverby Godsmack. While the song is clearly written about a girlfriend, it would take only a few tiny tweaks to make a perfect summary of my relationship with my father. I cut off ties with him just about a year before the song came out, so the timing works well too.
Aenima by Tool. I’m from central California, and this song says everything about LA that I have always wanted to say. Actually, I don’t hate LA quite that much, but if the song minced words, it wouldn’t be nearly as good.
Top by Live. My father was into the pop psychology and my grandparents were into the New Age woo. It says pretty much everything that needs to be said about all that crap.
Anytime I hear Dream Theater’s Images and Words album (or songs from it) I remember the night I was up at 3 am studying, when the local radio station would pick a random album and play it from start to finish. I won’t say it completely changed my musical tastes… it’s more like I had finally discovered the music I had been searching for my whole life.
And lastly, a kind of silly one. I was looping the soundtrack to Crimson Tide over and over again while playing Heroes of Might and Magic III. They are now inextricably linked.
One night in Bangkok. Anytime I hear it, I have the same reaction I had when I was 13: “There is actually a rap song about chess championships in Bangkok, and I am actually listening to it.”
We had an orientation for incoming freshmen at our high school. Part of it consisted of a multi-projector slideshow and soundtrack which was run by the “theatre nerds,” of which I was one. The slideshow was really pretty great - it documented the history of the school, with period songs and narration. When the era progressed to the 70’s, Layla was one of the songs on the soundtrack.
Hearing it even now brings back great memories of working with some of the smartest, funniest, and most talented guys I’ve ever met.
Billy Joel’s Only the Good Die Young. It came out the summer I graduated high school. I had just gotten my first horse and had good friends. We spent every weekend trail riding. I had a transistor radio I would take along, hanging on the saddle horn by the wrist strap. For some reason, everytime I hear that song, I am taken back to that, the best time of my life, so vividly I can smell the pine trees and feel the sun on my shoulders.
Four years later, I was forced to sell that horse and my life was never the same. At that time, a song by the Oak Ridge Boys came out, called It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometime. If you google the lyrics, it put perfectly into words how I felt, selling my beloved horse. I still to this day cannot listen to that song without crying, and it’s been 33 years…
In the early 70s, I was living in a house with a bunch of people. One evening I heard this amazing piano music coming from downstairs. I thought it was a record playing but it turned out to be Mr. Ko, who I didn’t know, playing the piano.
) and visualize the entire room. Her room in her parents’ country home. Dormer windows. Bed with ridiculously adorable very girly pink ruffled bedspread. And her of course.
Got the soundtrack on cassette for Christmas in '84 and played it a lot. For me it’s hot days during school holidays, sitting out on our veranda building plastic model planes and model rockets that I would walk down to the local playing field and launch.