Have you ever seen a photo that you immediately associated with a song? I associate a lot of different things with music. Personal experiences mostly, but it can be anything. Weather, how I feel when I wake up, how the Jeep sounds when I start it up, the knowledge that the work day is going to be shitty. These things will kick off a song in my head depending on my mood.

I few days ago I was perusing twitter and I saw this photo.



And I immediately, without hesitation, thought of “Don’t Worry Baby” by the Beach Boys. Don’t know why but I enjoyed the hell out of it. Pulled it up on the web and blasted it.

Such a good song. Reminded me of my youth. Maybe that song just reminded me of how much fun I used to have back in HS. Back when we played the Beach Boys and raced cars and drove beat up old trucks off road. And fixed them. The good old days…

In 1987, I had been living in Uruguay for almost 2 years. We had plans to meet some other Americans at a pizza place in Montevideo one day. When we walked in, 'Suburbia' by the Pet Shop Boys was playing really loud, and for some reason, that moment in time was etched into my memory. Whenever I hear that song today, I'm immediately taken back to that moment.

Some songs remind me of things I was doing when I first heard them. Some of the 60’s songs remind me of gigs I played back in the day.

In short, yes, all the time.

Often it's not even a specific song, but a certain genre of music that reminds me of a person or just a time in my life.

80s pop reminds me of high school. I was a metalhead but the pop stuff just reminds me of the people I knew back then. There are many examples of specific songs that remind me of certain ex girlfriends.

Your Love by the Outfield. I just finished my last final exam at Virginia Tech and was heading home for the summer, 1986. This SONG boomed across "Prarie Quad" from somebody's dorm on the way to get my car from the long-term parking lot. I was happy, I liked that song, and to this day, when that songs kicks off I smile and remember that feeling, that day.

Creedence, The Doors=Vietnam for me

Probably the most notable was driving west on I-40 about 25 years ago and went through Winslow, AZ with the radio on when a song came on.
What are the chances of that happening?

Were you "Such a fine sight to see"?

"Reelin' in the Years" and "Stuck in the Middle with You" always reminds me of driving down to the Florida Keys on spring break my senior year in '73.

The Shriners Convention by Ray Steven always reminds me of the last family reunion we went to. It was playing when we arrived at the hotel. I might have been 8….

I'll go a step further and admit that I've intentionally attached soundtracks to various experiences to aid recollection. Greenday's Dookie brings me back to the Louvre the summer after I graduated High School.

"Light my Fire", The Doors, flashbacks to Vietnam.

We lived just over Togwotee Pass from Dubois. I know exactly where the Double Diamond was. Couldn’t visit or go through Dubois without thinking of this song. There was also a Colorado band that I saw frequently in my younger days that did a nice rendition of this song, so it’s tattooed on my heart.

When I hear a song that I enjoy I can almost always tell you where I was the first time I heard it, when and where I bought the album from (if I bought a physical copy) and I have a memory attached.

I have a strong attachment to music.

Pink Floyd, Animals (the whole album).

Bought it two weeks after high school summer vacation started (from junior, to senior) and a few days before breaking out with chickenpox.

Listened to it all summer.

The only one I can think of right now is Welcome to the Danger zone by Kenny Loggins.

I was driving the lead MRAP with a mine-roller doing the whole right-seat left seat thingy with the new team. One of the new team members put it on the internal radio system. It was playing before we got hit.

(State Dept ruled it a motor vehicle accident)

All the time. Doesn't everyone?

Certain songs are associated with books I've read that made a strong impression on me. Happens when the feelings and associations each evoke kind of sync up.

Some exes have associated songs. Most pretty pleasant, one not.

There are time periods and places that have songs that go with them, some a little odd. Like the time I did an interstate move in a really crappy old UHaul with a radio that barely worked, and at 1am I'm on some stretch of road where all I can tune in is this college station that played this one song I'd never heard before but really liked. Now that song and that period (and move) are forever linked.

Even have songs that were incorporated into particularly vivid dreams I've had (sometimes your subconscious *really* wants to tell you something) and now the song and the dream, and its message, are linked.

Simple Minds - Don't You Forget About Me will always remind me of the girl I saw The Breakfast Club with. The 80's were a great time to be a teen.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdqoNKCCt7A

For me it’s the “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. In a prior life I was on a derrick barge in the North Sea when we broke a tow line during a storm. We were in a trough and I could see the underside of the tug on the wave crest above us. I get shivers whenever I hear that song.