Instant Memory Songs

[mr_j]

Everybody has 'em. What's that one song in your memory that, upon the instant you hear the first chord, in your mind, you're automatically transported to a memory?

For me...it's "Interstate Love Song" and driving through D/FW on I-20 on a hot Monday morning in August 1994, moving from home to Lubbock, Texas, blasting over the airwaves on a then-cool KDGE. I heard that song about four times on that trip, and even though I've never owned a single STP record, that song has stayed with me ever since.

what's yours?

[Doomius]

Mine has to be "By Starlight" by the Smashing Pumpkins

Reminds me of driving up to Cedar Hill very late at night on a cool summer evening in '96 to see this girl I was very much into at the time. We would just hang out in front of her house and watch the stars in the sky.

(pretty sappy huh?)

[Irock]

Toooo Maaaany.
ELO reminds me of childhood roadtrips, all four of us jammed into the cab of a truck.
Jezebel by 10,000 Maniacs always reminds me of a breakup.
The End of the World as We Know It by REM Reminds me of my friend Sara and I driving around in HS with the volume up and the windows down.

[mere1975]

I have dozens!

"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" reminds me of riding in the back-back of my mom's station wagon.

"Honesty" by Billy Joel - the day the tire park burned down, in 1980?

"No Myth" by Michael Penn reminds me of my best friend Lisa in high school. We'd listen to my "March" tape (and "Sgt. Pepper's..." and Jellyfish's "Bellybutton") and share the headphones.

"These Are Days" by 10,000 Maniacs is also an instant memory song from high school with The Three Amys.

"Love Will Come To You" by the Indigo Girls reminds me of singing in the car with Liz & Marya.

"Car" by Built to Spill reminds me of Jordan/Mike/JT and the early Spork forum.

- Mere "I have songs that remind me of all the guy relationships/break-ups, too -- except Sam and I don't really have A Song, do we?" 1975

[mr_j]

"love will turn you around" -- listening to KWKH AM 1130 in the summer, when i was in elementary school; this song was popular. if there was static, that meant a thunderstorm was coming!

"do y'know what i mean" oasis/"dream"-forest for the trees: the death of princess di, sunday morning, 1997. i woke up at about 7:30, went down to the lounge of the dorm i was living, turned on the big-screen TV in the dark and empty lounge, and MTV was on. the end of the the oasis song "all my people right here right now..." had some kind of scrolling bar going across the bottom, which i didn't see. it was saying something about a car accident. so i decided to wait and see what it said, and it came on when "dream" came on.

"Karma Police" -- midnight, the sunday before Y2k, listening to OK Computer for the first time in the back of a truck in the middle of the woods in East Texas, sitting in a field, with fog rolling in and a clear, starlit night with the woman i was in love with, just...bonding. it was really great. then shit went crazy a week and a half later. but that moment was totally, utterly perfect.

[Tracy]

I know I have lots but I won't remember them until I hear them again...

one that I do remember is Soft Cell's Tainted Love. I first heard it on my trip to NYC for St. Patrick's Day in 1981 (on the first Sony Walkman I'd ever seen).

[Doomius]

Another instant memory song is "A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran, reminds me of being 6 and playing in the front yard of the house I use to live in Arizona, while that song was playing through the stereo inside.

[Sybil]

The Beatles "She's Leaving Home" always brings to mind the summer I was 13 years old and I spent almost every day at my friend Carol's house listening to Sgt. Pepper. Actually, that whole album is kind of a memory provoker for me, but that song more so than the others. My friend Carol was a little bit wild, and we were among the very few kids in the neighborhood whose mothers worked outside the home so we were on our own all day every day. That girl did get me into some trouble - ah, good times.

Sybil

[sam]

"Father to a Sister of a Thought" by Pavement takes me directly to this one guy's truck driving back and forth from a house we were working on when I was in school. It also reminds me of the Master Cylinder I would get on the evening leg of that trip.

[eebs]

slow life by super furry animals, takes me on a trip to salisbury via london, manchester, dallas, houston and austin

[Rishikesh]

The Engine Driver - The Decemberists will always remind me of the worst night/morning of my life.
If You C Jordan - Something Corporate/Blood Red Summer - Coheed and Cambria will always remind me of my friend Siobhan.
Blind - Talking Heads will always remind me of my brother pantomiming along to David Byrne.
True Colors - Cyndi Lauper is the soundtrack to the second worst event in my life.
I Thought You Were My Boyfriend – Magnetic Fields reminds me of helping my father create a play list for his church. I think I managed to get half of it to be somewhat indie. Score one for this guy.
Come Undone – Duran Duran will always remind me of the time my father took us kids to a water park while we were on vacation about ten years ago. It started raining shortly after we got there. This song was playing while we were waiting out the lightning under the one covered area in the entire park.
Leaves Do Fall/Bluebird – The Rosebuds reminds me of a three-month stretch of feeling numb. It also reminds me of the interior of my car, for whatever reason.
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - Arcade Fire always makes me think of 'Vums.


Fuck. I just looked at it and realized that this is the short list.

[Steveums]

The Engine Driver - The Decemberists will always remind me of the worst night/morning of my life.

Gutted. I love that song, and I'd hate for it to remind me of something bad.

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - Arcade Fire always makes me think of 'Vums.

Awwwh