6 Songs That Give Me a Burst of Great Memories

Beatles, Bon Jovi, Rush and more!

Editor’s Note: Check out the ongoing discussions about music at GOTD and associate editor Mike Kilgore’s daily music series:

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2. Who Is Generation X's Greatest Black Musician? Here's My Vote

3. Generation X's Greatest Black Musician? Rihanna, In My Humble Opinion.

4. Rihanna is an Xer-Leaning Millennial! Try Again, Mike!

5. I Didn't Do My Due Diligence, or How I Have to Pick a Favorite Black Gen X Musician For Real This Time.

6. Why Rap & Country Are So Challenging and Why I Much Prefer Tupac Shakur to Will Smith

7. Music. The GotD Frontier

8. As a Gen-Xer, the 1980s is My Favorite Musical Decade

9. These 2 Hypnotic Sitar Albums Saved Me Last Night as the PTSD Demons Struck Back

10. The Thousand Year Charm Offensive of Frank Zappa

Check out “Mike’s Music Morning,” born from these debates.

1. The Inaugural "Mike's Music Morning" post

2. How Many Licks Does it Take to Get to the Center of My Music Collection?

3. Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends.

4. What music evokes an emotional response for you? What song really twangs your heartstrangs?

5. What Reminds You of Mardi Gras? For Me, it's Always Music and Food

6. Would you like a little slink with your Wednesday?

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One of the fun aspects of music for me is the memories that often get associated with particular songs. When the song is played, I am often transported back in time by the memory. These are often joyful, pleasant sensations that simply add to my enjoyment of the song.

Here are but a few examples that harken me back to good times:

1. The Beatles – “Magical Mystery Tour”

This song sends me back to the mid-1970s when I was a boy. My brothers and I had just purchased Beatles records from a music store, and one of them was Magical Mystery Tour. The specific memory I have when this song is played is of a wonderful Saturday morning in the spring. I’m back in my home in Silver Spring in my basement where our stereo was set up. I remember the feelings associated with listening for the first time to this great Beatles song and album. The album became an instant favorite for me and has remained so my entire life. I recall going outside after that and playing in our sunny backyard.

2. Bon Jovi – “Wanted Dead or Live”

This song transports me to another spring in the mid-1980s. My friend Joe had just gotten his Pontiac LeMans convertible re-done—it was now a beautiful blue with a new white top. It was a fine warm evening just before twilight, and we were taking it top-down along Wisconsin avenue towards Georgetown for a night on the town. I was slightly “primed” for the evening having had a few beers before we left. And I recall Joe opening up the car’s 4-barrel carbonator in a burst of speed down the road as the Bon Jovi song blared on the stereo.

3. Van Halen – "Why Can't This Be Love"

This song always reminds me of summer-time 1986 and a time we went swimming in the Patuxent River, Rock Gorge Reservoir. On a few occasions we would drive out Route 29 and pull into a suburban neighborhood and park. Often toting a cooler of beer, we would then follow a path in the woods that led to the river. Part of the thrill of going there was that we are not really allowed to be there. We were playing the latest Van Halen song as we drove to the place, and I think of this time every time I hear this song.

4. Midnight Oil – “Blue Sky Mine”

This one sends me back to 1989 on the commute to my first job after attending the University of Maryland. This song came on the radio once while I was driving in the early morning hours on Route 29 to my job as a computer operator. The car I was driving was my brand-new 1989 Chevy Camaro RS, black and complete with a 5.0 V8 and t-tops. Back then (perhaps now too) Route 29 at one point went over a hill and if you looked to your left and then to your right just as you crossed the top of it, you could see horizons on both sides. On this occasion, I saw a huge setting full moon to my left and the rising sun just coming up on my right.

5. Tears for Fears – “Sowing the Seeds of Love”

On my second date with my future wife (MG) in January 1990, we drove to Baltimore to visit the Baltimore Aquarium. I had recently copied my CD of Tears for Fears’ latest album, “Seeds of Love” onto a cassette as my car featured a cassette stereo (not all cars had them back then). I knew that Tears for Fears was one group that my wife and I had in common. We had a great day, and thus, for then on, when I hear “Sowing the Seeds of Love,” a memory is triggered of driving with MG on I-95 to Baltimore.

6. Rush – “Working Man”

I had listened to “Working Man” many times before this particular memorable occasion. But from now on until I die, the song is associated with the birth of my first son in July 1992. The song was a constant earworm during my son’s birth. This was a dizzyingly magical time for my wife and me, and that day we both took off work with the hopes the baby would come. He was two weeks late at that point, so I was just a bit worried that I might be wasting some vacation days. But then MG went into labor, which lasted for 12 hours, and after no progress they had to perform a C-section. All during that time and after, Rush’s “Working Man,” at least the opening riffs, played on in my head constantly. Fortunately for me, it was not an unpleasant earworm.

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These are but a few of the sometimes vivid memories that are stimulated by songs when I hear them. Fortunately for me, most songs associated with a memory are positive memories, but I have a feeling I could list a number that had the opposite effect. I’m not sure I want to go down that road—why focus on the bad times anyway?

 I’d love to hear about your own memories linked with songs.