Friday Follies - Musical Memories

While conducting my housekeeping duties last weekend (yes, I lead an extremely glamorous life and I am very sure that you are all jealous.  Is this the stuff we dreamed about when we were teenagers, wishing with all of our might that we were adults?), I endeavoured to make the chores less painful by listening to music. 


Oh, those were the days.





As I was cleaning out the toilets (I told you - it's pretty exciting!), an old 80's favourite on my playlist pounded into my ears through the headphones - Thunderstruck by AC/DC.  The familiar beat and anthem almost stopped me in my tracks as the memories flooded into my head of my nightclub days.  Barry T's, Glory Days, Goose Loonies, the Purple Onion (although to call that place a nightclub is a bit of a stretch - Loonie Hour was the attraction there - cheap booze and lots of it!), and the Thunderdome, which always played the thumping course of Thunderstruck at least twice during the night.  And then, without warning, my eyes welled up with tears as I was overwhelmed by the happy memories of going to these places with my best friend.  Man, we had some fun.  And no, none of those stories will be shared, and quite frankly, I am grateful every minute of every day that social media did not exist then.  We dodged the proverbial bullet there.

Anyway, that moment got me thinking about the power of music and how it can take you back to a particular moment in your life, or a particular feeling.  It's powerful stuff.
I'd say that probably one of the earliest musical memories that I have is the Tony Orlando and Dawn song, 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon'.  Not that you ever hear it any more, but it brings back memories of my very, very early life, and Mum singing it in our basement suite in Skunk Hollow, Edmonton.  See Mum, your singing is memorable!

ABBA was big during the years in the mid-70's when we lived in Australia, and an ABBA song will evoke memories of our life in Wollongong - beaches and picnics and warm days playing outside.  Fleetwood Mac makes me think of Australia at that time too because the Rumours album was huge, and I can remember that record always being on when Mum and Dad had friends around.

Ew, those tight white pants.....

As my ever-suffering husband is very aware, Christmas music has a very powerful hold over me.  It doesn't matter what I'm doing, how stressed I am or how crazy my life is, a few bars of a Christmas song automatically calms me.  I can actually feel my breathing and heart rate slow as a smile comes to my face.  I love Christmas music.

Ahhh, heaven.

Then there was the 80's.  So many songs remind me of the 80's and my time in junior and senior high school.  38 Special singing 'Caught Up in You', The Cars, Billy Idol (of course...no soundtrack of my life is complete without Billy), ELO....there are too, too many to mention, and if I start thinking about it, the list would be huge.  The soundtracks to movies like Footloose, the Lost Boys and Fame are forever etched into my brain.  

Any excuse for a Billy picture.

Country music - I know, I know, it's very polarising - you either love it or hate it.  Calgary Stampede has a lot to answer for, and there were a lot of good times spent at Stampede, all wrapped up in country music.  Stampede is another time that I am very thankful that there was no social media - but they will definitely be good stories for the old folks home!

No Instagram please!

All of these songs take you back to a time and place, you it can also make you remember what you were doing, the smell, the taste and the feelings.  It's pretty amazing really.  Sometimes you'll hear a song or a piece of music that you had completely forgotten about, and it evokes memories you never knew existed.  If you look at the role that music and song has played in every culture, you realise that it must be an innate part of being human.  If you want to know more about how songs and memory are linked, this is an interesting article.  I wonder if other animals that utilise song, such as birds and whales, must use it in the same way.

I think cats would sing songs about themselves.

Despite the power of music and song, Purrkins has still not learned that my singing to him is special. He has been known to put his paw on my mouth when I sing - more than once - and the look he gives me usually says it all.  I must get more tolerant pets.