song association

if you ever happen to walk into the store and i am melted into a puddle of tears on the floor, you will know it’s because the radio station just played adele’s “someone like you.” man, does that song and her voice ever tug at the heartstrings. honestly! when i hear the familiar melody start up, i am grateful for any distraction – were i to just focus on the words and music, i’d be a mess in a nanosecond. [haha, just linking the song, ^^ there was enough to lump up my throat!]

it’s saturday morning and the last thing i want is for you to have teary droplets freefalling into your coffee or onto your eggs, so let’s turn this vibe around!

*intermission*

listen to this song now!! yes, i know i’ve linked to it before…but it’s still my current favourite and i cannot tire of it!

*intermission over*

music is a subject everyone can relate to – we all have songs which evoke memories immediately upon hearing the opening notes. here are five (in no particular order) that have positive associations for me:

1. “welcome to the jungle” – guns n roses. ok, i lied, this is definitely my #1 pick for song associations that evoke the giggles. gina and i shared an apartment for four months, back when we were in university. we thought it would be super-hilarious to have this song as our message on our answering machine. i remember that it took us about two hours to record a twenty second clip, and we kept bursting out in fits of belly-deep laughter. [eta: i already talked about this association here! oops!]

2. “love and understanding” – cher. in september 2002, we drove out to colorodo and moab, utah. we took three days to get out there – it’s a 34-38 hour drive to get to this area of the u.s. after the three weeks vacation, we decided just to drive straight back, no stopping. i ended up with a night shift drive (although i am not a night owl, i do bizarrely get an energy rush in the middle of night, given the right circumstances). it was 3 a.m., we were speeding making great good time through middle-of-nowhere nebraska, and i had this cher song cranked to the max, and the window open. it was one of those life moments where you just feel F-R-E-E and glad to be alive.

3.”i want you” – savage garden. remember when rosie o’donnell had a morning talk show, back in the ’90’s? i watched her every day when i had the summer off, thanks to teaching. i used to laugh out loud at some of things that she would glom onto. this song was one of those fixations. she used to just repeat the part “chic a cherry cola” over and over. i know this does not sound remotely humourous in my retelling (and you’re sitting there going – hunh??), but rosie’s unscripted enthusiasm has stuck with me all these years.

4. “killing in the name” and “bullet in your head” – rage against the machine. boston marathon. chillin’ in the truck before the start. gettin’ in my zone. headphones on, walkman playing, volume cranked. i’m. gonna. take. down. this. course. watch out.

5. “right now” van halen. the summer before my third year of university, mom & dad, the brother & his gf, me & my bf, all traveled down to marco island, florida, where we stayed in a penthouse condo that my dad was able to rent, thanks to a business contact. the unit had a mondo-huge tv that i think we had on from sun-up to sun-down, as this was a remarkable extravagance to us kids. mtv was not a channel we could get in canada, at the time (and muchmusic was a poor substitute) so we greatly enjoyed watching and listening to the songs and videos whenever we were in the condo. this van halen song became a running joke because every time we walked in the room, it would be playing. we were all big van halen fans so this made our day to hear this song so often. [the memory association got somewhat tainted when vh sold out and the song became part of a crystal clear pepsi commercial].

your turn! share a happy or emotional song + memory – your choice! back in black by ac/dc -> wedding reception dances!

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november thankfulness:

(for friday november 18): yesterday i was thankful for the plethora of warm winter accessories that i have at my disposal. i have at least five toques and seven pairs of mitts of different thicknesses and styles. not everyone is so lucky at this chilly time of year.