Somebody did a song not too long ago. I think it was Kenny Chesney with "I Go Back" or whatever it's called. I should find a link for y'all, but it's not really so much the point as an illustration to what I'm saying in this entry. And if I sent y'all there, you wouldn't keep reading now, would you? You'd go there instead. So.
There are certain songs that will always, always remind you, and in this case, ME, of times and places in the past. We all have them, I'm sure. And even the "bad" ones are still good in some ways: they remind you of that moment and that place in time. And given enough time? Even those are positive. But I'm not meaning to wax poetic here; I'm just fixin' to give you my list.
1.) "It's All Coming Back to Me (K) Now" - Celine Dion. Oh, hells yes, haters: I have the Celine on my iPod. But for a reason.
Back in late fall of 1996, my dad, who was very sick, took a turn for the worse. As his sister was a retired nurse, she knew someone who could get him a quick in at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. I took a leave of absence from work and my sister did from school (my brothers not able to at that time) and we drove with Momma from Milwaukee up to Godforsaken Minnesota in a cold November as, really, "one last hope" that someone could do something for him. If it wasn't there, it wouldn't be anywhere.
Well, it turned out it wouldn't be anywhere. But for the trip up, I made a CD of music to play and this song was on it. Out of all the other crap I had (mostly Grateful Dead, Floyd or 80s hair bands) at the time, this was one my baby sister - four years younger than I - also knew. So we sang it in the backseat together when Momma took her turn driving and Dad was sleeping restfully in the driver's passenger side. I think it was a hit at the time. So, yeah, not necessarily a good song or a good memory if you consider the situation. But, in a way, it still was. It was three to four minutes of us forgetting why we were on the road and where we were going and just singing to a terribly girl-y silly song for a brief moment of time and laughing about it. I'll always remember it for that.
I did the (K) now in the header because when I finally downloaded it for my iPod, it was actually labeled that way. And sister Lori was even the one who pointed it out to me, I think: she and I both have English degrees and cringed at the mistake. But it still adds to the whole experience now. Especially because half of y'all reading don't even know what I'm talking about in this last paragraph. ;-)
Onward!
2.) "Cecilia" - Simon and Garfunkel The setting: Freshman and Sophomore years, Smith Hall dorm at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. At my campus, if you lived away from home, it was mandatory to stay in the dorms for the first two years of your college life. I stayed in Smith Hall (chosen blindly for the fact that when I was in high school I had a crush on a guy with the last name "Smith." Yup. That's how I roll.). When I went off to University, I ended up choosing one that only one other person from my high school went (and she left to pursue a higher calling after one semester). So I knew almost literally *no one.* And I was SO fine with that. I knew none of my dorm "wing mates" until I lived there; not even my roommate. In a 10x6 little room, that's a lot of trust, is it not?
Well, in the dorms - if you remember - there was always the "quiet time." It typically was weeknights about 10pm. At that time, you had to close your doors, turn down your music, make sure you were courteous of others. You certainly weren't on lock-down (it wasn't prison, for pete's sake!), but it was the wind-down time out of respect. No more running willy-nilly, screaming in the halls.
I don't know how it happened or when it started, but as this song mentioned ("Cecilia," if you've already forgotten) is just five seconds short of three minutes long, it stared being played at 9:56 *every weeknight.* Even folks who were already behind closed dorm doors studying would take it as a sign to open their doors. And *everyone* on the wing would get up, get out into the hallway, and DANCE! We twirled, we sang and we laughed and sang at the top of our lungs as our RA stood at the end of the hall, blasting this song from her boom box for us (it was 1989 afterall). And, then, as quickly as it started, it ended. We all smiled, hugged each other, said "good nights" and returned to our own rooms, shutting our doors and leaving a quiet common hall behind.
It was, in a word: magical. :-) And I will never ever hear this song without getting a big grin and wanting to dance. And I usually do.
3.) "December 1963 (Oh What a Night)" - The Four Seasons. Fast forward a couple of years. I'm still in college, but now I'm crazy in crush with a guy who is in my sorority's brother fraternity (got that?). And, for once, looking back? I don't remember an ounce of drama. He was just about the easiest man I ever fell in love with. I don't remember a back-and-forth or a "does he like me or does he not, can you check for me please?"or playing games type thing. It just suddenly was *there.* And it worked. We dated seriously my final two years of college and even lived together after we both graduated. But this song will always remind me of how we first got together.
I had my sorority sisters; he had his fraternity brothers. It was like one big family, as any of you who are brothers or sisters know. And at our college, we all always hung (hanged? *grin*) out together - be it at a house party or at the local bar (Buffy's) that one or two or six of us always worked at so the rest of us could always get in, even if under-age. (My first fake ID had me blonde, blue-eyed and from Florida, for pete's sake!) I actually don't even remember when Andy and I first met or first started talking. But I do remember that there was a bar right across the street from said Buffy's that was about 8x smaller and dirtier but had the best jukebox in the world. They also let all of us sisters dance on up on top of it to our favorite song -- and years before that movie Coyote Ugly movie came out, thankyouverymuch. And, on said juke? Was this song. "December 1963 (Oh What a Night)."
Once, early on in this whole love affair, a handful of us took a side trip to said bar before heading to Buffy's and someone dropped a dime in the jukebox ala Joan Jett and THIS song came on. Andy and I both lit up at the time (I think it was because of nickel taps and pickled eggs by the dozen, but still) and then danced like two idiot drunk white kids for the first time (meaning: badly. but we didn't care. We were in love!). And as we were getting to know each other, any time we were with our fellow fraternity brothers and sorority sisters in crowded Buffy's, we'd pretend that we "just wanted to hear that song on the jukebox! Should we go across the street just for a minute to play it?" Oh yes. Good excuse. Let's go.
*grin*
And, of course we did. It was our shy little excuse to "get away" in order to be together alone for a minute without actually having to come out and say it. And then we'd sit for hours talking and laughing instead of ever going back to the other bar. Inevitably, our other cast and crew of characters would wander over too to drink cheap beer and dance on the bar and we liked it. We'd typically get the normal 20-year-olds' type teasing ("ha! you two are over here again?") that we knew meant they were happy for us as opposed to really razzing. And, then, the whole family was there again. :-)
Andy and I didn't ultimately work out, but we parted with nothing but affection and good wishes for each other. So this song will forever bring a smile to my face and remind me of my first real deep true love whenever I randomly come across it when scanning through the radio stations in my car.
4.) "Animal" - Def Leppard. This goes way back to high school. I went to Catholic school up until 8th grade, then transferred to our local public school: Muskego High. In that we didn't get Confirmed until our Junior year, we had to take Catholic Confirmation classes outside of school since there were no religion courses during our daily schooling anymore.
This song reminds me of a time our Junior year when we went on our Confirmation retreat. I remember walking along the big white boulders on Lake Michigan's shoreline and someone playing this song. I also distinctly remember my friend Kelly singing it along with me as we were walking; someone must have had a radio playing it at the time. (Aside: I'd be really interested to know, if she reads this, if she remembers this too!) The memory is not as clear as the past few I described, but it is still vivid enough somehow that whenever I hear this song, I think of that day, down at the Lake, not but 16 years old. And I still smile every time.
And that brings us to #5. But I can't post a fifth, because if y'all know me as much as you're starting to, you know why I have to end at four and definitely not five (though I could have gone to six). :-) Of course, there are other songs. You have more than four as well, I bet. There are those that got you through heartbreak and those that helped you rise above that same thing. There are those that remind you of good times, of random memories, of things you may want to forget but, ultimately, may be a good thing you don't. I still remember my 8th grade class's theme song ("We Are the World") as well as my sister's ("Forever Young"), and they each make me think of that. These all make me smile and laugh and cry and even sometimes scream. But these four I just shared? Helped define important times in my life. So I will always, always love them.
And I know y'all have them too. The songs that make you, to quote Kenny from the very beginning, "..Go Back." I love that music does that. And I can't help but wonder if any of the people in my stories above might have some of the same memories as I.
1.) "It's All Coming Back to Me (K) Now" - Celine Dion. Oh, hells yes, haters: I have the Celine on my iPod. But for a reason.
Back in late fall of 1996, my dad, who was very sick, took a turn for the worse. As his sister was a retired nurse, she knew someone who could get him a quick in at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. I took a leave of absence from work and my sister did from school (my brothers not able to at that time) and we drove with Momma from Milwaukee up to Godforsaken Minnesota in a cold November as, really, "one last hope" that someone could do something for him. If it wasn't there, it wouldn't be anywhere.
Well, it turned out it wouldn't be anywhere. But for the trip up, I made a CD of music to play and this song was on it. Out of all the other crap I had (mostly Grateful Dead, Floyd or 80s hair bands) at the time, this was one my baby sister - four years younger than I - also knew. So we sang it in the backseat together when Momma took her turn driving and Dad was sleeping restfully in the driver's passenger side. I think it was a hit at the time. So, yeah, not necessarily a good song or a good memory if you consider the situation. But, in a way, it still was. It was three to four minutes of us forgetting why we were on the road and where we were going and just singing to a terribly girl-y silly song for a brief moment of time and laughing about it. I'll always remember it for that.
I did the (K) now in the header because when I finally downloaded it for my iPod, it was actually labeled that way. And sister Lori was even the one who pointed it out to me, I think: she and I both have English degrees and cringed at the mistake. But it still adds to the whole experience now. Especially because half of y'all reading don't even know what I'm talking about in this last paragraph. ;-)
Onward!
2.) "Cecilia" - Simon and Garfunkel The setting: Freshman and Sophomore years, Smith Hall dorm at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. At my campus, if you lived away from home, it was mandatory to stay in the dorms for the first two years of your college life. I stayed in Smith Hall (chosen blindly for the fact that when I was in high school I had a crush on a guy with the last name "Smith." Yup. That's how I roll.). When I went off to University, I ended up choosing one that only one other person from my high school went (and she left to pursue a higher calling after one semester). So I knew almost literally *no one.* And I was SO fine with that. I knew none of my dorm "wing mates" until I lived there; not even my roommate. In a 10x6 little room, that's a lot of trust, is it not?
Well, in the dorms - if you remember - there was always the "quiet time." It typically was weeknights about 10pm. At that time, you had to close your doors, turn down your music, make sure you were courteous of others. You certainly weren't on lock-down (it wasn't prison, for pete's sake!), but it was the wind-down time out of respect. No more running willy-nilly, screaming in the halls.
I don't know how it happened or when it started, but as this song mentioned ("Cecilia," if you've already forgotten) is just five seconds short of three minutes long, it stared being played at 9:56 *every weeknight.* Even folks who were already behind closed dorm doors studying would take it as a sign to open their doors. And *everyone* on the wing would get up, get out into the hallway, and DANCE! We twirled, we sang and we laughed and sang at the top of our lungs as our RA stood at the end of the hall, blasting this song from her boom box for us (it was 1989 afterall). And, then, as quickly as it started, it ended. We all smiled, hugged each other, said "good nights" and returned to our own rooms, shutting our doors and leaving a quiet common hall behind.
It was, in a word: magical. :-) And I will never ever hear this song without getting a big grin and wanting to dance. And I usually do.
3.) "December 1963 (Oh What a Night)" - The Four Seasons. Fast forward a couple of years. I'm still in college, but now I'm crazy in crush with a guy who is in my sorority's brother fraternity (got that?). And, for once, looking back? I don't remember an ounce of drama. He was just about the easiest man I ever fell in love with. I don't remember a back-and-forth or a "does he like me or does he not, can you check for me please?"or playing games type thing. It just suddenly was *there.* And it worked. We dated seriously my final two years of college and even lived together after we both graduated. But this song will always remind me of how we first got together.
I had my sorority sisters; he had his fraternity brothers. It was like one big family, as any of you who are brothers or sisters know. And at our college, we all always hung (hanged? *grin*) out together - be it at a house party or at the local bar (Buffy's) that one or two or six of us always worked at so the rest of us could always get in, even if under-age. (My first fake ID had me blonde, blue-eyed and from Florida, for pete's sake!) I actually don't even remember when Andy and I first met or first started talking. But I do remember that there was a bar right across the street from said Buffy's that was about 8x smaller and dirtier but had the best jukebox in the world. They also let all of us sisters dance on up on top of it to our favorite song -- and years before that movie Coyote Ugly movie came out, thankyouverymuch. And, on said juke? Was this song. "December 1963 (Oh What a Night)."
Once, early on in this whole love affair, a handful of us took a side trip to said bar before heading to Buffy's and someone dropped a dime in the jukebox ala Joan Jett and THIS song came on. Andy and I both lit up at the time (I think it was because of nickel taps and pickled eggs by the dozen, but still) and then danced like two idiot drunk white kids for the first time (meaning: badly. but we didn't care. We were in love!). And as we were getting to know each other, any time we were with our fellow fraternity brothers and sorority sisters in crowded Buffy's, we'd pretend that we "just wanted to hear that song on the jukebox! Should we go across the street just for a minute to play it?" Oh yes. Good excuse. Let's go.
*grin*
And, of course we did. It was our shy little excuse to "get away" in order to be together alone for a minute without actually having to come out and say it. And then we'd sit for hours talking and laughing instead of ever going back to the other bar. Inevitably, our other cast and crew of characters would wander over too to drink cheap beer and dance on the bar and we liked it. We'd typically get the normal 20-year-olds' type teasing ("ha! you two are over here again?") that we knew meant they were happy for us as opposed to really razzing. And, then, the whole family was there again. :-)
Andy and I didn't ultimately work out, but we parted with nothing but affection and good wishes for each other. So this song will forever bring a smile to my face and remind me of my first real deep true love whenever I randomly come across it when scanning through the radio stations in my car.
4.) "Animal" - Def Leppard. This goes way back to high school. I went to Catholic school up until 8th grade, then transferred to our local public school: Muskego High. In that we didn't get Confirmed until our Junior year, we had to take Catholic Confirmation classes outside of school since there were no religion courses during our daily schooling anymore.
This song reminds me of a time our Junior year when we went on our Confirmation retreat. I remember walking along the big white boulders on Lake Michigan's shoreline and someone playing this song. I also distinctly remember my friend Kelly singing it along with me as we were walking; someone must have had a radio playing it at the time. (Aside: I'd be really interested to know, if she reads this, if she remembers this too!) The memory is not as clear as the past few I described, but it is still vivid enough somehow that whenever I hear this song, I think of that day, down at the Lake, not but 16 years old. And I still smile every time.
And that brings us to #5. But I can't post a fifth, because if y'all know me as much as you're starting to, you know why I have to end at four and definitely not five (though I could have gone to six). :-) Of course, there are other songs. You have more than four as well, I bet. There are those that got you through heartbreak and those that helped you rise above that same thing. There are those that remind you of good times, of random memories, of things you may want to forget but, ultimately, may be a good thing you don't. I still remember my 8th grade class's theme song ("We Are the World") as well as my sister's ("Forever Young"), and they each make me think of that. These all make me smile and laugh and cry and even sometimes scream. But these four I just shared? Helped define important times in my life. So I will always, always love them.
And I know y'all have them too. The songs that make you, to quote Kenny from the very beginning, "..Go Back." I love that music does that. And I can't help but wonder if any of the people in my stories above might have some of the same memories as I.
