Music and Memories: A Saga

I love music. Though I’m fairly certain I’m not the one in this class that shares this sentiment. XD (But let me stop, back up, and give some context to start this off)

When we went over the story from David Sedaris about the skeleton and how objects in the house speak to him, I got to thinking. I personally don’t experience the luxury of inanimate objects speaking to me, and this really made me sad when I realized this in class. But then, I remembered this fun little trick my brain likes to do when it comes to music and memories.

Ever since I was younger, I have had a very special relationship with music. I have always been more musically and visually inclined, so I have this neat ability to associate music to people, places, memories, or things. I’m sure I’m once again not the only one who does this, but the weird thing for me is that I can’t control it. Sometimes if I’m listening to a song and something happens that I don’t want to associate with that song, I’ll think to myself, “Don’t you dare!” And my brain promptly goes, “Alright, bet, make SURE she remembers this moment EVERY time she hears this.”

(To put it bluntly, it gets annoying at times, but for the most part, it’s really nice)

I’m going to list some songs that elicit memories from me, both good and bad:

1.       "Jar of Hearts" by Christina Perri

This song reminds me of one of my many dance recitals from the past. I can’t tell you how old I was, but I was younger than I am now (duh) by at least 10ish years. I was standing in the wings on the left side of the stage if you were looking at the stage. The advanced girls were dancing to the song, and I just remember being so in awe of how they were able to move and dance so flawlessly. I can still vividly see the dancers moving and rolling around on the floor in a complicated collection of dance moves that my younger dance self was very intimidated by.

2.       "I’ll Always Remember You" by Hannah Montana

This song has a sadder memory attached to it. It was about four years ago, and it was the end-of-the-year dance recital for my dance school. It was the last performance of the season, and all of a sudden at the end of the show, the advanced girls started dancing to this song. And then, out of nowhere, my dance teacher of around 5-6 years goes out and starts dancing with them. I remember one of my friends crying and saying to me that this was my dance teacher’s farewell dance. (She was leaving the dance school) She hadn’t told anyone she was going to be doing this farewell dance, and I started sobbing my eyes out realizing she really was leaving. It’s a sad memory, but I now look on it fondly, remembering how much I loved her and that it was the right decision for her at the time.

3.       "Price Tag" by Jessie J

This memory is really funny actually. This song always reminds me of Wii Dance, since every time I would dance to this song on “Just Dance” for Wii, I would get a perfect score. I even tested it one day when my sister said I couldn’t do it blindfolded, in which I responded by staring at her the entire time I did it and still got a perfect score. (I’m honestly still really proud of that moment in my life)

4.       "Born to Win" by Five for Fighting

This one really makes me feel emotional, in a good way. This memory is with me standing in the wings of my dance school’s stage, watching the dance on stage with tears of happiness in my eyes. There was a girl in the dance that I looked at like a little sister, and I was very close to her. It was the first time I was able to see her dance on stage without being busy getting ready for another dance I had to do. She looked so happy and carefree and I was just so proud of her! Every time she came off stage for that whole recital weekend, I would grab her up into a big hug and tell her how proud I was of her. (I’m currently crying while writing this btw XD)

5.       "Amazed" by Lonestar

This one is very nostalgic. I remember being led out onto the dance floor with my then boyfriend, and we slow-danced to this whole song. We were at my high school’s military ball since I was in JROTC, and I serenaded to him the whole time. I hadn’t told him yet that I loved him since we hadn’t been together long, and I hadn’t wanted to scare him off. (Context: I had known him since I was a baby, and he was my best friend) So the song really encapsulated how I was feeling, so I sang the whole song to him while looking into his eyes. It’s a really nice memory, and even though we ended up breaking up since we were better off as friends then romantic partners, it’s still one of my favorite memories for a song to this day.

Well, I think I’ll end the list there since I don’t want to get emotional again XD. Getting back to Sedaris, his ability to relate his life and how he was feeling into an inanimate object was an interesting take on life that I hadn’t thought of before. I know me and my ability to attach memories to song’s isn’t unique, but I feel it relates to Sedaris in that I’m able to listen to a song and hear what I need to hear at that moment in time.

When Sedaris hears the message from his washer and dryer that says, “No more laundromat for you” (154), it’s the same for me when I remember a memory to a certain song. I receive messages from music as opposed to objects, but it stills links in the ability to hear what you need to hear from these objects in life to help you in whatever situation your in. I love this ability I have, and I feel it has helped me so much in life with being able to get through situations and thrive. I hope you all can relate to this somehow and thank you for your time if you managed to get to the end of this. Until next time <3