Songs that bring up memories

[Sammy P.]

Are there any songs that bring up memories for you? I have several, but I'll post a couple.

1.) Cumbersome-Seven Mary Three. This song conjures up memories of the night before the Blizzard of '96. I was seven years old and living with my mother on Nantucket. My mom had had various boyfriends after divorcing my father. On this night, January 6th, 1996 we were driving out to this particular boyfriends' sister's house for dinner. We were listening to Pixy 103 (WPXC 102.9 for the radio nerds) on the way home. The jock who was on the air during the 10 PM shift was going nuts over the fact that a heavy snow warning was issued for the Cape and Islands. Lost in the shuffle was this song. He had said it was the newest song from 7M3 and that a lot of people requested it. The next day was the beginning of the Blizzard.

2.) If You Could Only See- Tonic. In August, 1997 my mother got remarried to an absolute asshat. I'm not going to go into details about the crap he's done. This song will always remind me of that time period. It was a year after my mom and I moved to St. Louis. The night before they got married, we had a really bad severe weather outbreak that began a little after 3 AM. I turned on my radio low enough so I could hear it and this song played.

[Chula Vista]

Most albums from the 1970-1975 time period immediately bring me back to listening to them when they first came out, what was going on in school, hanging out with friends, parties, etc.

[Chiomara]

Oh dear. Too many. It's always unfortunate when you can't listen to certain songs again because of exes who ruined it or whatever.

Tim Buckley's Song to the Siren (but also This Mortal Coil's version) reminds me of an incredibly stressful time period (thanks to my family) during my junior year in high school. I was sick all the time and I would play this over and over. It's still my favorite song of all time. It holds a magical quality for me, because I began listening to it around the time I got really into reading old esoteric texts as a way to pass the time.

Lots of She Wants Revenge, Interpol and Depeche Mode songs (Black Celebration, In Your Room, Rush, Question of Lust) remind me of various drunken odysseys from my early 20s. And anything by Sonic Youth, especially Wish Fulfillment reminds me of a much older man (he was great but I moved away) I briefly dated who would let me pick out music while he cooked amazing meals.

Anything by Metric (The Police & the Private and Sick Muse especially) reminds me of my now-estranged lifelong best friend. We would always listen to it in the car at night while we drove aimlessly around the city and discussed all manner of odd things. It was a very peaceful and surreal time period which I took for granted.

The Scientists' "Be My Baby" (a surprisingly good Ronettes cover) - A long-distance boyfriend sent it to me, which I played on repeat during the 48+ hour greyhound bus ride to Los Angeles. I can't listen to it anymore because it ended badly.
Un Nombre de Mujer by Los Zafiros reminds me of him and that whole ordeal, too.

Pretty much anything by Nina Simone (Lilac Wine, Blackbird, Little Girl Blue) and Irma Thomas (Breakaway, Cry On) bring up painful memories of a rather bad year in a Louisiana hellhole with an alcoholic ex boyfriend.

Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" - A long long time ago, I had a close friend who was bipolar. (Bipolar I w/ psychosis, the whole nine yards) Any time he'd stop taking his medication, he'd immediately become manic, and he would play certain songs incessantly, claiming that they were written about him. I haven't heard from him in nearly a decade and have started worrying that he's dead (many in his family have died due to mental illness) .. The song has been following me everywhere lately so I've been thinking about him often.
..and The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel reminds me of his father. (who died shortly after my last visit 9 years ago) It was his favorite song, and once we played it for him in the dark to help him fall asleep after he had a bad panic attack.

[GD]

Originally Posted by A_Almgren

I like those songs that you've pick

incoming spam in ~11 posts

[Mr. Charlie]

I suppose those from albums my parents repeatedly played when I was a kid. Jackson Browne's The Pretender, Van Morrison's Moondance, Dire Straits' Making Movies, Tom Petty's Damn the Torpedoes, and many more.

[Inna Selez]

My best summer was spent with my ex on Mallorca. I was happy these days.

[Ilistentoeverything]

There are actually songs that give me nostalgia, even though I recently heard them for the first time.
Just to make it a little different, I'll add a couple of those.

The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
This song was released in 1996, but I only first heard it last year (2016). Even though I only heard it about 6 months, It brings back a lot of memories of when I lived in California, in the 90's and early 2000's.



Alvvays - Party Police
This song apparently came out in 2014, and also brings back memories of when I lived in California, but this time, of the days I was kid. Those days where I had no real worries. The music itself is was brings me back, not the lyrics.

[miguelgarmer]

This song is all about nostalgia.
It’s about that romance you had as a teenager that got left behind, and now that you’re an adult, you’re wondering if you actually miss the #relationship or just being a young and naïve teenager.
I think we’ve all had those moments, so if you’ve ever felt like that, you’ll definitely relate to this song!

[DwnWthVwls]

Originally Posted by Sammy P.

2.) If You Could Only See- Tonic.

That's a hard one to listen to for me. Nostalgia can be a real bitch sometimes.