Saturday, June 18, 2016
When the Music Comes Back to Me (Soundtrack of My Life)
How many songs do we hear in our lifetimes? Thousands? Millions? Each of us probably hears at least one new song per day if we are out and about or listening to some kind of media. Often we might not even notice, but the songs are there.
In this post I offer another in my Soundtrack of My Life series. Robin at Your Daily Dose has been doing the Soundtrack of my Life posts on her blog for a while now. I had done a few of my own "life soundtracks" on my Tossing It Out blog as well as the song series (starting at this post) I did for my 2014 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge on Wrote By Rote. Be sure to visit and follow Your Daily Dose for more Life Soundtrack info. If you like you can listen to this version of "Lover, Come Back to Me" while you read the post.
Evocative Music That Haunts Us
Of all the many songs we hear in our lifetime, some we like, some we don't, and some are basically background noise like an unnoticed soundtrack of a film. The music is always there even if only in our heads or some faraway place in memory. Why are humans so drawn to music? Or more specifically, why do certain songs tap into some distant hidden place within us?
Even for those who may claim they don't like music, don't pay attention to it, or willingly resist it--what would the world be like without music. Think, if you will, of a movie without a musical score or television commercials with no trace of music. Okay, some do exist, but not many. Think further of a club or a party with absolutely no music--that might be your preference some times, but most people might find this a bit awkward. Music is a soundtrack to many things. Even armies march to music.
Music can affect us in the moment or take us back into our pasts. Therein lies what is for me a mystery. Why do certain songs affect us deeply? Sometimes the melodies haunt us like ghosts, while sometimes they softly brush past us like a soft kiss of a loved one from another time and place. A sweetness of sound. A stirring that is as vital as the sound of our own breathing and our hearts beating. There are times when a song comes back to me and reminds me of something specific or some vague thing that I can't quite recall.
Recently when I saw the the film Deep in My Heart, I heard a song that I hadn't heard in many years. "Lover, Come Back to Me" is a tune that I've heard since childhood. It's a song that has been recorded by many artists. The melody is the kind that seems melancholy and poignant even though many of the recordings are done in an uptempo jazzy style. Even with that happier sound, this melody makes me reminiscent and perhaps a tad sentimental. To me it's just that kind of a melody. Maybe it is attached to some specific childhood memory or perhaps it merely evokes some undefinable wistfulness that is attached to a time, a place, or even a person. Or maybe it is just one of those kinds of songs that causes a gentle swell of passing emotion. There are songs like that for me.
I wonder if others feel the same way about certain types of melodies. There is probably no universal melody that moves all of us in the same way. Undoubtedly some of the feelings brought about by music are generational, cultural, or based on personal experiences. What works for me might not work for many people or maybe no one else. Still these types of evocative melodies and songs are part of my life soundtrack.
If my life were a movie, I'm sure "Lover, Come Back to Me" could work well in a scene or two. To me it's a beautiful song and I can't explain exactly why.
What songs move you deeply? Do you prefer slow songs or faster songs? Why do you think our memories are stirred by certain songs?
If you haven't voted on my most recent Battle of the Bands post I hope you will by visiting Tossing It Out.
9 comments:
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Arlee Bird
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I find that just a few measures of a song can instantly take me back to a certain moment in a particular place, along with my accompanying feelings at that point. For instance, when Terry Jacks' "Seasons in the Sun" starts to play I am transported immediately to a classroom in Shippensburg Area High School with about 30 seventh graders. It is morning, and I am there as part of my student teacher training. the kids are talking and laughing, since class hasn't yet started and they are
ReplyDeletebeginning to get just a bit unruly. An uneasy, unsure of myself feeling sweeps over me--All of that from just a few notes of music!
Pam, your description of your experience was so vivid that I felt it too. I know exactly what you're saying as there are snippets of songs that can make me feel the same. And sometimes I can't even recall what the entire song was!
DeleteLee
A very pretty, "old movie" melody. Very nice.
ReplyDeleteCW, I've not heard this playing anywhere in recent years (decades?) until I heard it in the film and started researching the song for my BOTB post. It is a great melody that I used to hear so much. They just don't play these old greats like they used to.
DeleteLee
So many songs from the 70s and 80s remind me of very specific events and stuff. A lot of songs move me but if you want to see me instantly break down in a flood of tears, play 'The Way We Were', either version by Barbra or Gladys Knight.
ReplyDeleteJoJo, that can be a moving song indeed.
DeleteLee
Certain songs will do that to me. The song "Drops of Jupiter" usually brings me back to a troubled point in my life (a point whose ultimate ending has me here commenting on your blog), and the song "All Out Of Love" reminds me of my first high school crush. However, the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" always reminds me of my late father, who thoroughly enjoyed the time he spent in West Virginia as a college student.
ReplyDeleteFather Nature's Corner
GB, "Country Roads" touches me as well since both my parents came from WV and went to WVU in Morgantown.
DeleteLee
There are songs that I associate with events in my life -- some happy, some sad -- and when I hear them, I'm transported back as though in a time machine. One of the songs that makes me feel really happy is Doris Day's Que Sera, Sera sung in the 1956 movie, The Man Who Knew Too Much. It was a scary, emotional scene in the movie, but it was a good time in my 14-year-old life, so I guess that's the association I attached to it.
ReplyDelete