Music and Memory

Music and Memory

I have said this before and I will say it again: music has been one of the most important things in my life. As I was thinking of songs that invoke some sort of memory however I honestly had a hard time coming up with anything. Music is just such a constant in my daily life that by now in my 21 years of living I have probably listened to at least a million hours worth of music. That being said, as I started to really think about different songs I started to realize that there are just so many songs that have many different meanings to me. So, I decided that I would pull out the music that has particularly strong memories with it. Funnily enough, each of the songs all make me think of a specific family member.

I think I am going to start us off strong by talking about the song "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" by the Beastie Boys. I have many fond memories of this song as well as other music from the Beastie Boys. This was a song that my dad (pictured on the left) introduced me to when I was probably around 12-13 years old. I remember that we were sitting on the couch and we were as a family just sitting there and watching tv and talking. Then we somehow got on the subject of the Bestie Boys and I sat there and told my dad, "Who are the Bestie Boys?" He proceeded to sit there and look at me like I had grown two heads and pull up the music video on his phone and show it to me. As we were sitting there listening to it I remember my dad singing along to the song, quite terribly might I add, and sort of head banging to the song. I thought my dad was weird at the time but as we started to listen to it more and more and he started to reference it more and more I started to really like it and now I can't hear the song without thinking about my dad.

Another quick thing about my dad. I am very much my fathers daughter in a lot of ways. I really love hanging out with my dad even though we can get on each other's nerves sometimes. I heavily associate music with my dad because he would always have one of the stations on the radio on in the mornings when he would drop me off at daycare. As I got older my music taste obviously started to change and I am one of those people who listen to music in phases. Well I started to listen to a lot more country music and unfortunately my mom is someone who absolutely hates "new country" as she likes to call it. So, whenever I was with my dad we would turn on a country music station and sing along to it in the car. It kind of felt like a secret that me and my dad shared and I will forever hold "new country" music dear to my heart.

I think I have said enough about my dad for now so I am going to move on to my mom (pictured on the right)! Me and my mom don't always see eye to eye on a lot of things but that doesn't mean that I love her any less. There was a time back when I was an early high schooler that I ended up having to attend many funerals for my mothers side of the family in relatively short times in between each of them. At that time we started to hang out a little bit more and we started listening to songs that were a little bit sadder. Eventually after her dads funeral we got on the subject of songs that she would want played at her funeral. At the time I was young and I really hated my mom for saying something like "when I die I want you to play this at my funeral." But that doesn't mean that I didn't pay attention when she pointed those things out. One of the songs that really stuck with me and makes me think back to those sad times is the song "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole. I will now bless you with this beautiful rendition of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". 😊

And last but certainly not least is my little sister (pictured with me on the left). I am older than her by four and a half years making me the older sister. You can imagine the amount of fights and trouble that we got into because of each other, not one of my prouder moments 🤦‍♀️. Even though we didn't get along as we got older we started to be a little nicer to each other, key word a little. Because we were always fighting we never really just sat down and talked about our interests but I remember distinctly there was one day that we weren't at each other's throats or picking on each other and we started talking about music. At that time I was listening to more alternative and rock and I just so happened to walk past my sister's door and she was playing "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister on her tv. I stuck my head into her room and told her that I didn't think that she listened to that kind of music. We then got into a long winded conversation about why she liked this song and we sort of bonded over it. It made me feel like I had just that much more of a connection with my sister so anytime I hear this song I immediately think of her!

BONUS!!!

I know that we didn't need to include a bonus in our blog this time around but when I stumbled upon this while surfing the YouTube it really brought me back. And just what could have "brought me back" you might ask. I am talking about none other than the opening theme song of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. I know it sounds a little childish but this show was one of the staple shows during my childhood. I remember that I would come home from school and do any homework that I needed to do then I would turn the tv on and I would start watching My Little Pony. Funny enough this was actually my sisters and I's show that we loved to watch together. Usually we would fight over who got to watch the tv in the afternoons but somehow or another we were able to settle on this show and the fighting stopped, or at least until My Little Pony was done airing for the day. Needless to say anytime that I hear this song or any of the other songs that are used in My Little Pony I immediately think back to the weekdays back when I was in late elementary school and even into my early middle school years when me and my sister used to sit on the couch and watch this until it was about time for dinner.

Thank you so much for reading all the way through my blog! I know that I can get a little long winded in my writing so thanks for holding out until the end!