Memories associated with songs.

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tmac396
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Memories associated with songs.

Post by tmac396 »

Does anyone here have any special memories associated with certain songs? You know...you hear a song and you're instantly transported in time to a certain moment? It doesn't even have to be a spectacular moment for this to happen. Here's one of mine:

Whenever I hear "For My Lady" by the Moody Blues It's the fall of 1975 again. It's a crisp cool Friday afternoon during my senior year and I'm out of school for the day and have the day off from my grocery store job. I'm laying in the trunk of my '67 GTO and I'm installing new speakers in the rear deck. I've got the "Seventh Sojourn" eight track plugged in and playing so I'll know when the speaker connections are good. It's a beautiful fall day and I'm laying there looking up at the blue sky and thinking about my date that night with my girl (who is now my wife) and thinking that life just didn't get any better than that! Nothing extra special about that day...but that song, and actually the whole album, brings it all rushing back to me. I guess it's a longing for the carefree times in my life.

Anybody else?
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fiona
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I have many of those songs Ted

Post by fiona »

One that always comes back to me is "Surrender" by Swing Out Sister. My old boss and I, she was only about 4 years older than me I guess, went out for lunch and this was playing on the car radio. She loved this group and so did I and we sang along with it and had a really good time. Sadly, she became ill with breast cancer and died just a few years later. She was such a good person and I still think about her and that day every time I hear the song.

Thanks for posting this thread tmac.:7207:
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jodlyn
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Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf...

Post by jodlyn »

My grandmother didn't think rock music was good to listen to, but I really liked it. So whenever he could, my very first boyfriend would whisk me off to the levees. We would spend the whole afternoon laying on the banks of the Mississippi river and watching the clouds while listening to music. He'd always play Magic Carpet Ride as the first song!

Good memories..thanks for prompting them! :1013:
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tmac396
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You're welcome, guys.

Post by tmac396 »

Music is so personal for me that many songs just bring back a flood of memories. Heres another of mine.

In high school and college I had a really good buddy named Houston. He had a wonderfully wicked '69 Chevy Nova and we cruised endlessly in it. Well, Houston LOVED "Radar Love" by Golden Earring and played the eight-track constantly while we rode around. He moved away after college but we stayed in touch. Well, he died at the age of 33 from a heart attack. Every time I hear "Radar Love" I'm back in that Nova laughing and having a great time with him. "Well it's half past four and I'm shifting gears!" Yep!
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jodlyn
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Re: You're so right...

Post by jodlyn »

Music can bring back so many memories. I love "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan. It was my sister's favorite song from her favorite singer. I'd never heard the song before until my sister told me about how it was a little known song on McLachlan's album "Surfacing!" released in 1997.

My sister died that year and whenever I hear this song, I think of her. While many feel the lyrics are so sad, they're not to me. They are about loss, but they're also about comfort and good memories. My sister was put up for adoption in the 40's, and I never knew her until she tracked our family down in 1990. It was so wonderful to meet her and to know I had an older sister. We had 7 great years together before she passed away, and whenever I hear this song, I know she's waiting for me! :5086:

This is such a good thread, Tmac. :)
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PapaMouse
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So many songs remind me of old girlfriends...

Post by PapaMouse »

I met Elizabeth at a weekend for National Merit Scholarship Finalists at UNC. Even though we weren't "officially dating" then, we went to the concert they had at what was then called Blue Heaven (now the Dean Smith Center). And one of the many songs that Sergio Mendes and Brazil 66 played was "The Look of Love". It became Our Song, and still reminds me of my first girlfriend.

I'm not even sure why, but CSN's "Lady of the Island" always makes me think of Linda.

Of course, many many songs make me think of MamaMouse. Two that were Our Songs were John Denver's "My Sweet Lady" (which is why I sometimes refer to MamaMouse that way), and the Peter Paul & Mary version of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". That second one is one we heard a friend of hers sing at a coffee house during our first year together, before we were even engaged. She sang it more like PP&M than the later version by Roberta Flack.
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Oddly enough, whenever I hear "The Coventry Carol"

Post by PapaMouse »

...I think of my senior year in high school. Before the Christmas concert, 4 of us brass players sat in the hallway outside the auditorium, playing brass-quartet versions of several Christmas songs. I've always liked "The Coventry Carol", especially when played by a brass quartet. But I don't think we played that one then. Maybe we should have.
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tmac396
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Christmas music!

Post by tmac396 »

I can relate to Christmas marching band music. My wife and I started dating on our town's Christmas band festival day. It's still a special day for us and to this day whenever I hear a marching band playing Christmas music I'm 18 again and transported back to that day.
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jodlyn
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Re: What a sweet story!

Post by jodlyn »

tmac396 wrote:I can relate to Christmas marching band music. My wife and I started dating on our town's Christmas band festival day. It's still a special day for us and to this day whenever I hear a marching band playing Christmas music I'm 18 again and transported back to that day.
Thanks for sharing it. :1013:

You beat me to it on the Christmas music though. Christmas music always has such warm memories for me. Even when I was going through hurt growing up, my grandmother always tried to make Christmas special. At midnight Christmas Eve, we'd go to church and she would sing like an angel and would hug me while we stood there. Whenever I hear the old Christmas hymns and carols, it transports me back to when I was holding her hand and singing with her. Wonderful memories!
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PapaMouse
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When my family moved to North Carolina in 1960, I joined...

Post by PapaMouse »

...the children's choir at the church. The first song I remember learning was "I Sing a Song of the Saints of God". Mr Mooney was so patient with children, and managed to get the best possible sound out of us. Such wonderful memories of my early years of making music!

MamaMouse always loved that song. So we decided to use it at her funeral. I was fine singing it, until halfway through the first verse, with the line "...and one was a doctor..." Image It can still bring a tear to my eyes.
Lord, you have filled my cup so full,
How can I fear tomorrow?
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PapaMouse
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I heard a song on the radio last night that reminded me...

Post by PapaMouse »

...of an unexpected reaction to it in 2005.

My elder daughter (PinkSpiderMouse on IMDb; Feathers on MySpace) and I were having dinner at a restaurant that features live music on certain evenings. This particular evening, which was some time in October of '05, there was a woman who sang and accompanied herself on the guitar. I forget her name, but she was pretty good.

We had finished our dinner, and were just sitting there enjoying the music. The young lady began singing "Dust In the Wind". I think I was even softly humming the harmony. I didn't realize that I had stopped swaying to the music, until Feathers gave me a look that said "Are you OK?" Fighting the tears that I had only then noticed, I got up and put a couple of dollars in the lady's tip jar, and we left.

When the song came on the radio last night, I thought about that evening. As there were no customers in the store, and I had nothing that had to be done right away, I purposely sat there and listened to the song, just to see if I could. Thinking of my loss (when it got to the line "Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky") and how MamaMouse loved that song, I still managed not to cry. I even managed to smile.

Perhaps the pieces of my broken heart are finding their way back together.
Lord, you have filled my cup so full,
How can I fear tomorrow?
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PapaMouse
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Cliff Nobles and Co.

Post by PapaMouse »

... had a hit in '69 with "The Horse". It was supposed to be the B-side of their first single ("Love Is All Right"), and was in fact just the instrumentals behind Mr Nobles' singing. But DeeJays seemed to like that side better, and it became the hit. Ironically, Mr Nobles doesn't actually appear in the one hit that bears his name.

Well anywhy, the band at my high school (like so many other high school bands that year) would play it at football games. The trumpet section would do a little dance (a very simple dance) while playing: step to the right, feet together, step to the left, feet together. Lean right while stepping right, lean left while stepping left.

I don't hear the song much any more, but when I do hear it, I'm between Tommy and John, trumpets blasting, staying in step,... Good times!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McFSX8LkOqU
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PapaMouse
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Not a specific event or anything...

Post by PapaMouse »

The video for Rod Stewart's "Forever Young" shows a young boy (I think I once heard that it was Mr Stewart's son.) My son was about the same age as the boy in the video. So that song always makes me think of my own Kiddo. Especially on a day like today. (It's his birthday. He's 40.)
Lord, you have filled my cup so full,
How can I fear tomorrow?
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