Why do certain songs trigger specific memories for us?

[Ivan Seeking]

I have been listening to a bunch of oldies lately [drove to California this week] and was amused at what comes to mind with each song.

It is official: I will never again hear anything by Three Dog Night without thinking of Astronuc.

Heart of Gold = 45s, I guess because I wore out my copy. Who here doesn't know what a 45 is?

The Beat Goes On = snow skiing, which is how Sonny died. Who here doesn't know who Sonny was?

Garden Party = the Beatles and a walrus, which Yoko brought. It also makes me think of the beach I would frequent because his [Rick Nelson] brother David owned property overlooking the area.

Space Oddity = the weird guy up the street who was first to get the record

... It seems that each and every song that I listened to [that I knew] had a specific memory associated with it. And there were some really odd ones where the connection was anything but obvious.

 

[Evo]

There must be some music gene I am missing. When I hear an old song I think "I remember that", but there is never any association with a place or person or event. Nothing. I almost envy people that, like you, can link it to some other memory.

I think it has to do with how I memorize things. T_E was saying most people have associative memory, which is why they can improve their memory by doing bizarre, complex associations to things they need to remember. My memory doesn't work that way. All memories tend to be isolated snapshots, film clips, or sound bytes that I can just randomly "pull" out when needed.

It does leave me with a rather unemotional, bland, computer like memory.

 

[turbo]

There must be some music gene I am missing. When I hear an old song I think "I remember that", but there is never any association with a place or person or event. Nothing. I almost envy people that, like you, can link it to some other memory.

I think it has to do with how I memorize things. T_E was saying most people have associative memory, which is why they can improve their memory by doing bizarre, complex associations to things they need to remember. My memory doesn't work that way. All memories tend to be isolated snapshots, film clips, or sound bytes that I can just randomly "pull" out when needed.

It does leave me with a rather unemotional, bland, computer like memory.

This is sad. Can you not listen to "Itchykoo Park" or "MacArthur Park" without connecting to the intentions of the authors? NOTE: These are just two flip off the top-of-the-top-off-my-head '60's goofy pop references. I could give you a million more with time. In fact, if you professed to be emotionally unmoved by Hendrix's "Axis Bold as Love" or Buffalo Springfield's "For What it's Worth", I would have to question whether you can achieve any level of emotional cognizance with music. I cannot imagine living, working, studying, etc, without music in the background. HS and college classes were a pain in part because they were delivered in a musical desert.

 

[Astronuc]

The local NPR station had a poll last Friday regarding songs one would be embarassed if friends or associates were to hear them sing. It also ended up being a list of some of the worst (goofy) pop songs ever produced - and McArthur Park was on the list. I'll try not to associate turbo with MP.

I have a lot of good associations with people or events and the music that was playing at the time. And like turbo mentioned, the music helped get me through some rough or tedious times.

It is official: I will never again hear anything by Three Dog Night without thinking of Astronuc.

It's nice to know I've had a positive influence in someone's life.

My favorite Three Dog Night song is Liar. I don't really care so much for theme of the lyrics, but the electric organ and guitar are great. Too bad it only lasts 3 min, 4 sec. And I should call one's attention to the fact that Hoyt Axton wrote the lyrics to "Joy to the World", which was sung by TDN, as Integral correctly reminded to me concerning my signature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoyt_Axton

There must be some music gene I am missing.

It may have been the high fever one had as a child. Fevers, inflammation and concusive injury can cause damage to neurons or certain regions of the brain, which affect the ability of the brain to establish certain neural patterns or associations. Of course, one's brain could just develop that way.

 

[turbo]

I just heard "Rikki don't lose that number" and immediately flashed back to the first time I heard it on the radio, riding in my buddy's old Nova convertible. We were crossing the Penobscot River on the bridge from Brewer to Bangor. The DJ didn't bother giving the name of the band, so I had to listen to a load of top-40 crap on the radio until I heard it again and noted the name so I could look for the album.

Hearing "Time of the Season" by the Zombies makes me think of when I heard it for the second time. I was in the car with my father, headed into Skowhegan and the DJ said that the first person to show up at the studio and ID the band would get a 45 of the song. I persuaded my father to pull over on Water Street so I could run up to the studio and snagged the 45. It was a distinctive sound, and the name "Zombies" stuck the first time I heard the song. Another thing in my favor was that the studio was upstairs in a non-descript brick building downtown. I had been there to be interviewed on air some weeks before, but I'll bet that most of the resident kids in that town had no idea where the studio was.

There's a ton more, including associations between songs and particular people. Often when I grab my guitar and play a song, I flash back to some venue and picture the person who requested it, or someone who came up to me later and said how much they enjoyed the song.

 

[turbo]

The local NPR station had a poll last Friday regarding songs one would be embarassed if friends or associates were to hear them sing. It also ended up being a list of some of the worst (goofy) pop songs ever produced - and McArthur Park was on the list. I'll try not to associate turbo with MP.

Thank you! That was a goofy song and I only mentioned it because it was so annoying to hear everybody try to cover it. It was bad enough when Richard Harris performed it initially (his rendition of Dimming of the Day is stunning, by the way) but when Leonard Nimoy sang it, pop music had plunged to new lows.

 

[FredGarvin]

Why would someone leave the cake out in the rain?

 

[Astronuc]

Thank you! That was a goofy song and I only mentioned it because it was so annoying to hear everybody try to cover it. It was bad enough when Richard Harris performed it initially (his rendition of Dimming of the Day is stunning, by the way) but when Leonard Nimoy sang it, pop music had plunged to new lows.

I think that was a low point for Harris. He must have been drunk out of his gourd to record that song.

"Rikki don't lose that number"

I strongly dislike that song. I really don't care much for Steely Dan anyway.

Why would someone leave the cake out in the rain?

Stupid lyrics. Why would anyone record such a song? And how much did they have to pay radio stations to play that song?

"MacArthur Park" is one of those records that one needn't enjoy, or even like, for it to make one miss the popular culture of the late '60s. At no other point in history could an independently produced single, recorded by an actor mostly known for talking his way ( Rex Harrison-style) through the score of Camelot, reach the number two spot on the American charts and become a worldwide phenomenon.

from AllMusic.com

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Why would someone leave the cake out in the rain?

Why would anyone leave their face in a jar by the door? That has to hurt!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Yeah, one the all-time cheesiest songs that I still like is Beach Baby. I can't help but think of the thousands[?] of hours spent at the beach watching girls in bikinis [not to mention surfing]. Those were very good days.

 

[Moonbear]

There must be some music gene I am missing. When I hear an old song I think "I remember that", but there is never any association with a place or person or event. Nothing. I almost envy people that, like you, can link it to some other memory.

I don't think I have your extreme form of this (maybe I'm heterozygous for that trait ), but for most songs, yeah, I don't have any associations like that, but never considered it something I should worry about missing. Only a few songs have any effect on reminding me of things if they were consciously associated with an event that had a deep emotional impact. But, even then, it's pretty rare. When I hear some couple talking about "their song" because it was the one playing on the radio when they had their first kiss, or something like that, I just sit there thinking, "You actually noticed what was on the radio when you had your first kiss?"

 

[turbo]

One of the cheesy ones that I still like is "Tonight She Comes" by the Cars. I really hate their synth sound and programmed drums, but Elliott Easton's guitar lead on that song is incredible - his best ever! That song never even made it onto an album until their "Best of" compilation was released.

 

[turbo]

Whenever I hear "I've Got Your Love" by Boz Skaggs, I always think of a friend of mine. She wanted to marry her live-in boyfriend and start a family, but he had been through a really messy divorce a few years before and was really gun-shy. She and I worked together for a few years and I used to bring in CDs and she really liked that CD and that song. Eventually, he popped the question, and when she organized her wedding, that was the first song played at the reception, and she and her new husband danced to it.

I was lost
I was drifting
That I won't deny
Till you gave your heart to me
Said let's give love a try
I've got your love love love
Here to hold me
Against the tide
Against the tide

You know a man sworn to nothing
Can make you want to cry
I came to my senses
Baby dry your eyes
I've got your love love love
That's more than anything
Any old anything
Mmmmm

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000000WDG/?tag=pfamazon01-20

That song also features the richest, sweetest guitar lead on the whole album.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

"You actually noticed what was on the radio when you had your first kiss?"

Tsu notices that the ceiling needs painting when we...

oh...never mind.

 

[light_bulb]

the beatles - maxwells silver hammer

LOL!

 

[FredGarvin]

Tsu notices that the ceiling needs painting when we...

Beige...I think we'll paint the ceiling beige...

 

[Moonbear]

Tsu notices that the ceiling needs painting when we...

oh...never mind.

Perhaps you need a mural up there if she's noticing the paint. Or else, tell her to just roll over.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Perhaps you need a mural up there if she's noticing the paint. Or else, tell her to just roll over.

I'm not touching that one!

 

[Evo]

In fact, if you professed to be emotionally unmoved by Hendrix's "Axis Bold as Love" or Buffalo Springfield's "For What it's Worth", I would have to question whether you can achieve any level of emotional cognizance with music.

I listen to and enjoy music, I just don't connect anything external to it.

I cannot imagine living, working, studying, etc, without music in the background. HS and college classes were a pain in part because they were delivered in a musical desert.

Ack, I can't imagine doing anything that requires concentration with any kind of background noise. It competes with all the voices in my head.

Ivan, turn off the lights.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

As a young man, I met a Greek woman in Israel. We did not speak each other's native language and only spoke a little Hebrew. We took a walk at night and were stopped by a couple of police on patrol. They asked what we were doing and she spoke to them in French, something like "Nous en fait une promenade." I never heard such a mundane activity described in such a striking way. I am reminded of this event anytime I hear the song "Nights in White Satin." because I first met her at a party where I also first heard this song.

 

[turbo]

I listen to and enjoy music, I just don't connect anything external to it.

I guess we're wired very differently. Maybe it's because I have played instruments since I was a kid, and learned songs off the radio, off records, etc. I can't seem to avoid making connections to songs. When I hear a song that I like, I often remember where I heard it first and who was there, if anybody.

Though guitar is my main instrument now, over the years I played trumpet, French horn, baritone, keyboard, flute, harmonica, and drums and learned to improvise with all of them. Except for trumpet and baritone, I never learned to sight-read, just "hear" the music in my head and play it. This came in handy during the years when I was running a weekly open-mike jam for rock and blues, because when new musicians stopped in, they often wanted to perform stuff I'd never played before.

Ack, I can't imagine doing anything that requires concentration with any kind of background noise. It competes with all the voices in my head.

I work best when I have some music in the background, though if I have to concentrate on something, the music must be familiar, and not something that will distract me as I try to follow lyrics, arrangement, etc. That's about the only way music will distract me. I have a 400-CD carousel, and it's running in "shuffle" mode all day from when I first get up in the morning. When the mason was here modifying the chimney for a larger stove thimble, he asked if that was a long reel-to-reel mix tape playing, and when I showed him the carousel, he said "If I had one of those, I'd never want to leave the house." It seems we had similar tastes in music and saw a lot of the same groups in the '60s and early '70s.

 

[Evo]

I happen to be very musical. I write songs, can read music, taught myself to play piano by ear, have perfect pitch, sang in the a capella choir for years.

When I listen to music, I *LISTEN* to the music, I cannot have music as a background noise. It's all or none.

My memory is very different from normal people, I found that out many years ago.

Edit: Now I wonder how many people are going to think I hear voices in my head. I'M KIDDING.

Edit 2:The new person next to me has brought in a radio and they have it tuned to some rap crap station where all I hear is this constant mind numbing banging sound and the voices in my head (if I had voices in my head, that is) are telling me to take their radio and smash it into tiny bits. AAARRGGHHH Perhaps some tragic accident will befall their radio tonight after they leave, like some water might accidently be poured into it. Accidently, of course.

 

[Moonbear]

Edit 2:The new person next to me has brought in a radio and they have it tuned to some rap crap station where all I hear is this constant mind numbing banging sound and the voices in my head (if I had voices in my head, that is) are telling me to take their radio and smash it into tiny bits. AAARRGGHHH Perhaps some tragic accident will befall their radio tonight after they leave, like some water might accidently be poured into it. Accidently, of course.

I don't think anyone would convict you if you did it. How about just suggesting they get earphones? The thing with music in the background for me is that it has to be music I want to listen to, not what someone else wants to listen to. It helps drown out the rest of the noise from other people around me (music is way less of a distraction than a soft conversation across the room, or someone's pencil scratching on paper, or them clicking their pen, or clacking of the keyboard while someone is typing). If someone is talking near me, I just can't tune that out unless they are completely drowned out in a much louder din that keeps me from recognizing anything.

 

[turbo]

Edit 2:The new person next to me has brought in a radio and they have it tuned to some rap crap station where all I hear is this constant mind numbing banging sound and the voices in my head (if I had voices in my head, that is) are telling me to take their radio and smash it into tiny bits. AAARRGGHHH Perhaps some tragic accident will befall their radio tonight after they leave, like some water might accidently be poured into it. Accidently, of course.

You could tune it to a station that you like, set the volume at a comfortable level and "accidentally" epoxy the knobs.

 

[Evo]

I'm surrounded by four people all playing 4 different stations, and they're all trying to drown each other out and I'm caught in the middle and I have very sensitive hearing.

Ok, tomorrow I'm bringing in Barney the Purple dinosaur cd's.

 

[Evo]

You could tune it to a station that you like, set the volume at a comfortable level and "accidentally" epoxy the knobs.

Oooooh, what a wonderful idea, better than the purple dinosaur.

 

[Astronuc]

Or accidently wire the ground wire to a hot wire, which some boozer did to some drills my buds and I were using back in the days when I was working iron.

120 V and about 1A while working on an aluminum ladder while being drenched in sweat is no fun, especially when one is 20+ feet in the air.

 

[Astronuc]

You could tune it to a station that you like, set the volume at a comfortable level and "accidentally" epoxy the knobs.

cyanoacrylate works faster and you only need a drop.

 

[Evo]

Or accidently wire the ground wire to a hot wire, which some boozer did to some drills my buds and I were using back in the days when I was working iron.

120 V and about 1A while working on an aluminum ladder while being drenched in sweat is no fun, especially when one is 20+ feet in the air.

People are crazy.

 

[Moonbear]

I'm surrounded by four people all playing 4 different stations, and they're all trying to drown each other out and I'm caught in the middle and I have very sensitive hearing.

That's why workplaces usually end up prohibiting people from playing music at work. If you don't have your own office with a door, you shouldn't be playing music unless everyone can agree on the same thing.

Ok, tomorrow I'm bringing in Barney the Purple dinosaur cd's.

NO! Don't do it!

Crazy glue sounds much better. Good suggestion Astronuc.

People are crazy.

Hmm...though, not sure if the Crazy glue works to stick crazy people somewhere out of your way.

 

[turbo]

Bring in "it's a small world" and set the CD player on "repeat". An hour or so of that should have your rap lover sobbing and begging to compromise on the music situation.