Music and memory.

United States
March 1, 2008 10:07am CST
They tell me that scent can be a powerful evoker of memory. That a smell, like apple pie, can bring back a flood of memories of grandma's kitchen. That the lingering scent of a loved one on old clothes can make you feel as if that person is still there with you. But, sometimes, I recall oddly experiencing a tie between music and memory. For example, when I hear the music "Thriller" I am taken back to a time at school. The student council had hooked up a TV in the gymnasium to play the very long music video, Thriller. It almost feels as if I'm taken back there. The benches set in concrete. Their glossy seeming varnish, dark black rivets, the grain of the wood. A crowd of kids around the TV watching this musical production. Other times, there will be a song on the radio. I couldn't even tell you what song -- but some song that brings be back to memories of laying in the sun and the community pool. Backing myself dry and warm after swimming for hours. The feel of the hot concrete (I rarely had a towel). The pleasant warmth of basking in the sun. The expectation of jumping back into the pool after I'd been warmed up again. I remember the sound of the water splashing, the thump-thump-thump of someone diving off the high board. I almost smell the chlorine of the pool in the air again. And memories come to me of the dark seeming shower room. Pulling on a metal linked chain to get the water to splash down loudly from a sprinkler above. The echoes of the shower off the walls, loud without any sound dampening because all was bare concrete, with no curtains or carpet to soften the noises. So, my question for all you mylotters would be: "Do you ever feel a certain song strongly evokes memories of a certain experience from your childhood like this?"
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1 response
@ctrymuziklvr (11057)
• United States
1 Mar 08
It's funny you should mention this this morning. My Dad was a big cb'er back in the day and since he's passed away whenever I hear that garbled electrical sounding noise I immediately think of him sitting in front of his CB and it brings back some very nice memories of him. I actually heard it this morning and it was sort of a heart warming feeling.
• United States
1 Mar 08
Now that's a very humanizing story. Thank you for sharing. There's that sort of feeling of slipping back into old memories like a well-worn coat. My dad briefly had a CB or three when I was a kid, but it never actually defined him for me. Just a thing he would stick on the top of the car. I don't think I ever even remember him using it for anything. But there are many dedicated "Base Station" CBers and Ham Radio operators. People sitting in front of a device and .. in a way.. reaching out to the world. I many ways, I suppose exchanging ideas on MyLot is a very similar process. A way of sitting in front of an electronic device and making connections with other people. Yes, I think that story made me smile. Nice, thanks again for sharing.