Living and Feeling Through Melodies
Do you ever hear a song that instantly takes you back to the exact moment or feeling you experienced while hearing it? No matter how long ago it was, the melody has you reliving memories you didn’t even know you had. I’ve realized that this funny way we have of attaching memories to specific songs makes them all the more beautiful.
I made a playlist of songs that instantly bring me back to important times of my life that I will hold onto forever.
Some songs from this playlist hold a much greater place in my heart; let’s start with “Let it Happen” by Tame Impala. No matter where I am, whenever the intro to this song comes on I’m instantly transported back to the time I saw the band at a music festival with my closest friends. We were running toward the stage at that very moment. Running in between crowds and groups of friends who have their very own memories from that night, we got to the stage just in time for the first song as the colorful and hypnotic visuals took shape on screen. Looking back on the memory I feel as if the entire night was like a dream in slow motion. It was one of the best experiences of my life, and I’m grateful that this song can bring back the feelings of star stuck bliss I felt from seeing my favorite band live for the first time.
Another song that has a similar effect on me is “Whatever You Want” by Sports. I started listening to this band during my winter break from college in 2018. This song specifically reminds me of the month of January which felt like a lifetime in the span of a few weeks. For the majority of this month, my best friend and I would drive around our small hometown listening to this song and many others. We would stop at Insomnia Cookie because it was the only place that was open besides the diner where we’d spent almost all of our paychecks over the weekends. This song lets me reflect on this little pocket of time that I wish I could go back to more and more as the years go by. At the time, I didn’t realize that all the free time I once had would soon be occupied by work and grad school so when I hear this song I get to remember the neverending January.
When I want to think about an amazing memory with my friends I play “A Moment Apart” by ODESZA. We all stayed at the shore together during the summer and decided to wake up to watch the sunrise. Those few minutes when the sun hangs below the horizon was our view as we crossed the bridge to the beach with this song blasting through the speakers. With the top-down and our hair blowing in the wind I looked over at my friends and we all had the biggest smiles on our faces. For that brief moment, I actually felt like I was in my own teen coming of age movie.
One more song that takes me back to one of my favorite memories is “Love It If We Made It” by The 1975. I went to a music festival with all of my friends and we were sitting on a little hill towards the back of the main stage where The 1975 was playing. The sun was setting, and I was just looking at all the different crowds of people as this song came through the speakers. This was one of those moments when I was truly happy and to hear this song takes me back to feeling the sun on my skin and laughing with all of my favorite people.
These are only some of the amazing memories I attach to songs that make me understand what it's like to live and feel. Music allows me to remember exactly how I felt during a certain time of my life and it is one of the many reasons why I’m so grateful for it. If you feel the same way that I do about music, be sure to listen to my playlist and make memories of your own with the songs I hang on to so tightly.