What song is associated to a specific memory you have?

It’s weird, but whenever I hear ‘Dancing Days’ by Led Zepelin I always think about working on stuff with my Dad in his shop.

Hard Days Night was “my” song when I was three. I’d play it on our juke box at our family bar while I’d help my mom clean ash trays at 3am.

It is neat how the brain takes not only music, but other forms of sense stimulation to file along with the event in our memory.

Yes, like smells. There are certain smells that trigger memories from my childhood that I can’t fully explain.

There is this one song by Garbage – It Only Happens When It Rains that brings me back to when a bad storm came through my town and knocked down a lot of trees and telephone lines. So, the next day I was in the back seat of my mom’s car and as I was watching all the damage go by, that song was playing.

Ponytail Parade by Emery, I can remember the exact moment when I first heard it. I was with my ex and we were driving back to my place to hang out, and he sang it. And now whenever I hear it I want to cry.

@erichw1504 I just posted a similar question about smells; I don’t know if I will be edited for that or no. Just wanted to be specific.

I have a whole bunch of songs that remind me of various times in my life: songs I heard when I was growing up (70s era) and remind me of my family’s house and things I did and didn’t like then, songs of the 80’s remind me of my teen years. The flooding of memories they bring back is incredible.

Here’s one: Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin. They always played that at school dances over and over again when I was growing up. Also, a friend in the 7th grade once told me her brother who ran away used to love that song, and it made her cry every time she heard it. Very sad to remember that. So, it’s not the happiest moments which come to mind for me (repetition leads to irritation).

@sarahboreal Whenever I hear “Brown eyed Girl” by Van Morrison, I think of my high school girlfriend. I am happily married, but when I hear the song I am defenseless against the emotions it evokes.

The remake of ‘Dancing in the moonlight’ by a dutch band named Toploader.
It reminds me of my graduation party, one of the last days of pure happiness.

“Tiny Dancer” will always make me think of a good friend I had from high school, and “Boats and Birds” by Greggory and the Hawk will always remind me of a past love…

“Shadows Of the Night” Pat Benatar and “Ain’t Even Done with the Night” John Mellencamp reminds me of sitting on my mother’s bed and listening to records with her late at night as a child.

Also “Far Away” Candlebox and “Name” Goo Goo Dolls reminds me of my High School boyfriend

Watermark by Enya sends me back to lazy afternoons when I was very little, just after my Mum had cleaned the house. Everything smelled so fresh and clean, windows open letting the summer breeze in, bright and sunny outside.. laying on the living room floor watching the Elephant Show… My childhood was freakin great! <3

“Peaches” by Presidents of the USA reminds me of being driven around by my father when I was young. Makes me smile from ear to ear.

It is neat how the brain takes not only music, but other forms of sense stimulation to file along with the event in our memory

Yep, this is rather cool, but what I find cooler is that the olfactory senses are able to ‘leap frog’ certain neural pathways that the other senses must go through when recalling a memory.

Smells might not bring back so many memories for me, but I could spend days talking about the music that brings back memories. I’ll just highlight a few strong ones:

The song “I’m Like a Laywer…” by Fall Out Boy reminds me of hanging around Portola Valley with my boyfriend this September and it has now become “our song” that makes us think of each other.

The song “Birthday Sex (Uptempo Mix)” by Jeremih was something I heard 10+ times on the radio while in San Diego, so it really makes me think of San Diego and when I first “met” my boyfriend.

The 1959 choral piece “Gloria” by Francis Poulenc transports me directly back to my grandmother’s house in Las Vegas. It does the same for my brother.

“Rockstar” by Prima J makes me think of the Senior Fashion Show in October 2008, which was one of the greatest moments of my life.

In general, my mix CDs make me think of different time periods of my life, depending on when they were made. Mix 9 was made Jan-Feb 2008 and thus makes me think of all the things I did then: going ice skating with my friends (“Love Like This”), seeing “Juno” (“All I Want is You”), etc. It works for all of the CDs, really. Not every song has a specific memory, but a lot of them do. My 13th one, for example, is the “Canada CD” because I got many of the songs while vacationing in Canada.

It’s great to have music bring back memories; it’s almost like a photo for me. It’ll ensure these good memories are never forgotten.

When I hear the song Ruby Tuesday by the Rolling Stones, it reminds me of a specific high school dance.

It was a computer match dance. My first match was a guy who had been in a committed relationship for three years with the same girl (who was wrapped around him). My second match, much to my horror and his, was the number one follower of my nemesis who had tortured me my whole junior year. (We both made horrified eye contact for one second, and then literally ran to opposite corners of the gym).

Just as I was about to give up the whole evening as a dead loss, I was asked to dance by a senior that I had had a crush on. The song was Ruby Tuesday. We danced the rest of the evening. Then he drove me home. I was in heaven. So much for computer matching . . .

Dirty Laundry by Don Henley reminds me of riding in my dad’s VW Bug while traveling to my grandmother’s house.

The cover for Boys of Summer by the Ataris reminds me of the homecoming dance that I met my girlfriend. Anytime I hear it it reminds me of standing next to her awkwardly trying to sing along.

@sarahboreal High five! I remember the first time I ever heard Under Serious Attack. My friend had burned me a CD telling me that I would really like it (he told me nothing about what was on it) I popped it into my car CD player with my girlfriend in the passenger seat. The moment it came on I was in love with Emery.

I used to drive to school really early (i think it being early had something to do with it being imprinted on my mind- see below). Anyway, this one winter, I just exclusively listened to OK Computer over and over again. It got to a point where listening to it really took me back to those cold mornings sitting in my car before class. The music just seemed to fit with the scene of a big (mostly empty) parking lot on cold winter morning. Good times.

Anecdote II: I used to have a CD alarm clock before I realized they were the devil. I was really excited about the idea of getting my crappy buzzer alarm out of my life forever (I hate mornings and I definitely hate buzzers in the morning). Turns out though, playing your favorite tunes to wake you up, creates a conditioned response that ruins that music for you. The first moments of getting up are usually the worst part of my day and associating it with my favorite music definitely ruined certain albums for me.

Almost any christmas song sends me back to Christmas as a kid. Those were the most carefree and magical years of my life.

When I hear Achilles Last Stand by Led Zeppelin, I am reminded of the time that my body was melting into the bed I was laying on, right before I left Earth.

Bloody Barry White…has a lot to answer for…bad relationship

@NaturalMineralWater – Agreed! Any Christmas songs does that for me as well, but sadly the Beach Boys Christmas album has the most holiday memories for me…and I didn’t even grow up in Cali

Gosh, so many… lots about old flames.

Barbara Streisand’s rendition of “Memory” reminds me of being in the car with my mom while she took pictures of people’s houses. She was paid to, actually. She would paint miniatures of rich peoples estates as gifts.

“Tequila Sunrise” by the Eagles takes me back to all the camping trips we took with my dad.

“Tom’s Diner” and “She’s Got Skillz” reminds me of the day I realized my best friend and I had grown apart. I know that sounds weird.

‘Bowlin’ Green’ takes me to a lawnchair in my mom’s backyard- mmm, suntanning before it was yet another killer.

Mr. Brightside reminds me of a breakup… I was very much in love and very broken up about it. It was amicable but still hurt like hell… that song was on the radio all day every day it seemed like. The image that most comes to my head is of driving in the rain that very night and listening to that song and acting out the song with her in my head… It was a bad night for me.

So many, so many. The Joni Mitchell album Blue brings me back to the year I spent in university in England; every song on that hit home, particularly “Wish I Had a River I Could Skate Away On.” I hear that song and I’m back in Exeter.

Bruce Springsteen…The River
The Tindersticks…more bad relationships

and Happy times…. Spiralling…Keane

Forever Young by Rod Stewart reminds me of living in Michigan with my dad as a little kid. We’d gone to McDonald’s, eaten it in his giant Ford pickup (that had so many junkyard panels it was brown, blue, and white), and we were driving through some back-ass road in some great Michigan forest to go pick out a Christmas tree. The happy meal toy I had in my hands was one of the better series McDonald’s ever had… it was a fairly large (for a happy meal toy) stuffed Kermit, and he was wearing a santa hat, a vest, and a plaid scarf. I remember his mouth was open and that it wasn’t soft, it was hard.. like the mouth had cardboard inside. This song was on the radio, and my dad was singing, like he always did.

specific enough?

@poofandmook you should so write!! I’d buy it tomorrow

edit: and that’a only 12 minutes away here!

Sunny by Bobby Hebb- My grandpa used to like to sing that to me in his car

Blink 182 – Adams song

Triggered my 9 year old memory when my dad overheard the lyrics and took away the cd, then explained what suicide was and why the lord want’s us alive.

This memory comes up because I know am 15, I listen to what I want now because I understand right from wrong, and because I am sort of a rebel and I’d rather not talk to my dad, no specific reason I just don’t like talking to alot of people I’m often quiet.Back on topic This song again brings up the memory because even though I often ignore my Dad, I remember he cared enough to tell me not to commit something so ungrateful.

@Resistka That whole cd reminds me of my preteen years. I completely wore that cd out and have it on my iTunes in case I need to get brought back to those painfully awkward years. Ah good times :)

Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (the whole CD) reminds me of my AP Physics class trip to Busch Gardens. I brought, three CD’s with me for the 4 hour trip, I ended up listening to Blink182 nearly the whole time.

Also, I just remembered: Drown by Three Days Grace reminds me of a sunrise I saw over the ocean on a plane trip. It was pretty powerful imagery that really went along with the song. I remember the song starting to play and the plane slightly rolling. It was very early in the morning and the sun was just starting to come up over the slightly curved horizon. Although it was completely dark on the ground under us I could see the bright reflection of the sun on the Atlantic. We were flying in nearly perfect skies with only a few sparse feathery clouds below us.

Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd reminds me of my mom when she was suffering from cancer. She would take all kinds of pain meds and then she would just stare off and I remember hearing this song and wondering is this how she feels, what she thinks?!