Musical Memories

As I drove to work today, a song (I can't actually remember which one) came on the radio, and got me thinking about how many songs remind me of people in my life. Many songs remind me of very specific instances, and some remind me of "periods" in my life as well...but here is a list of songs (in no particular order, and in no way comprehensive; I don't think I could make a comprehensive list if I tried) that remind me of specific people. Enjoy.

Coldplay Fix You reminds me of Chris Nowling; I was living in Miller apts, and Chris made a mix cd (yes that statement makes me feel old) for my roommate Summer that had this song on it. That was the first time I heard it...and I thought it was completely boring. But about a week later I saw the music video and fell in love with the simplicity that Coldplay had captured with this song. This turned out to be one of many times that someone with much better taste in music was so right about a song...and I came around eventually.

Coldplay Yellow reminds me of Matt and Carl Hoiland, and Ryan Whitaker; the second date I ever went on was with Ryan. We went to a basement pizza place in downtown Portland where Of Pawn's Design was playing a gig. They covered this song, and I thought Matt's voice was perfect for it. I'm pretty sure this was the first time I had heard that song...so I confused OPD and Coldplay for a little while after that.

The Who You Better You Bet, and Night Ranger Sister Christian remind me of Cole Perry; the first time I ever drove to Provo from Portland was with Cole in a little honda accord we were delivering to my sister, Freyja. On the way we listened to a lot of music, and I listened to a lot of Cole talking about music...and other things I'm sure. All-in-all it wasn't a bad road trip. It felt cool to be out of the road without any "grown-up's" and to be entrusted with such a responsibility. 

Steve Miller Band The Joker reminds me of Skyler Simnitt; I was called to the Stake Dance committee for all four years of my youth dance era, and I served alongside Skyler during most of this time. We had music meetings every so often at Bro. McGary's house, where we all brought new songs we thought we should have on our dance playlist. Skyler really wanted The Joker to make it on the list, but Bro. Andrew Randall had beef with the line, "I'm a joker, I'm a smoker, I'm a midnight toker", saying it probably wasn't good to include drug references in youth church dance music. Skyler tried his best to persuade Bro. Randall that what the line really said was, "I'm a midnight talker", stating that obviously this young man just liked talking on the telephone late at night. It was a good effort, but Bro. Randall held his ground.

Oasis Wonderwall reminds me of Thorn Simnitt; I think he sang this one time for a school cd or something like that.

Charlie Daniels Band The Devil Came Back to Georgia reminds me of Thorn Simnitt and MJ Wilson; the two of them, plus Skyler and a hot bass guitar player name Jake, all played this one for our high school cd. It was fantastic. I still like it better than the original.

Green Day Basket Case reminds me of Max Sinnitt; Haley told me one time that Max misunderstood the line, "sometimes my mind plays tricks on me," to be, "sometimes my mom plays tricks on me." I still think that concept is hilarious. Mom's can be very sneaky though...

Outkast Roses, and Celine Dion The Power of Love remind me of my Beauty School Friends; Gina, April and Chelsea had even made up a dance with hand motions to Roses. I can still remember exactly how it went 8 years later. The word "sh*t" was motioned by putting your fingers to your lips and just saying "shhhh". Clever, right? And when we would go out on break to get lunch, we'd blare Celine Dion and sing it to the car directly next to us at any stoplight we came to. I wonder what that one motorcyclist thought when a bunch of beauty school babes serenaded him so brazenly?

Iron and Wine The Creek Drank the Cradle album reminds me of Darrin M.; Darrin was the first home teacher I had after I moved out to Utah at age 18. He was very nice, and funny, and cool, and obviously had awesome taste in music and a really cool volvo (or maybe it was a volkswagen). I don't remember what kind it was now, but it was hip, that's for sure. I took a long time to figure out that he was a little friendlier than most home teachers; he remembered when I had days off from school and would bring me burned copies of the latest and greatest music artists he had discovered, and he always came to teach me by himself...I thought it was because his companion was a lame-o, but now I'm starting to wonder if Darrin ever even called him. At any rate, this was another time that it took me a while to appreciate cool music. This album also reminds me of Summer Myers, because her and I stayed up late one night just listening to the whole thing about 1 1/2 years later...and it felt surreal. And I loved it. It is still one of my favorite albums to relax to.

Queen Don't Stop Me Now, Duran Duran Victim of Love, and Madonna Lucky Star remind me of Rachel Barlow Hart; Rachel is someone who I can listen to music with anytime, anywhere. Her musical influences are completely different than mine (her folks are ten years younger than mine and raised her on led zeppelin and the rolling stones; mine raised me on billy joel and...well, really a bunch of very random stuff) so it is fun to share our music with one another. Being her roommate was one of the best times of my life. Musical and otherwise.

Yellowcard Breathing reminds me of Nate Luman; a whole big group of us went to see Yellowcard perform at a tiny little club in Portland when I was a senior in HS. I guess the boys (Carl, Danny, Nate, and Brett) had gone earlier to Borders to meet the group in person, and have a cd signed or something, and Nate mentioned that he could play the violin part on Breathing; he had been practicing like crazy. So at the show, the very last song they played was that one and we all watched in awe as they invited Nate on stage with them and he took that white, electric violin and jammed with Yellowcard. I had never known anyone cooler in that moment. Also, it was my first real concert-in-a-club experience, and I would remark afterward how we all looked as if we'd jumped into a swimming pool with our clothes on. Sweh-tee.

Outkast Hey Ya reminds me of Freyja; this song was constantly on the radio the year I moved to Utah. Freyja was a great older sister during those first couple of years; she'd drive me around to run errands, set me up on numerous blind dates, and take me along to parties and ward socials with her. She mentioned one time when Hey Ya came on the radio in her car that she had finally found a song she could sing her name to. Instead of "Hey ya" she just inserted "Frey-ja". Hahah.

U2 With or Without You reminds me of Dave Westhora; during high school we went to see a battle of the bands somewhere downtown, because our friends in the group Homemade (Dave, Brett and Cameron) were competing. After their initial song "Your Mom is Hot", Dave took the stage solo and sang With or Without You to serenade his girlfriend Jill. He was leaving on his mission soon and we all felt that his song choice was a good one considering the circumstances. His voice was rocking, Jill was swooning (as was every girl in the room), and...the guys were swooning too for that matter. Guy crushes are nothing to be ashamed of. Now that Jill and Dave are happily married with two children, I still think it was that last act of affection before he went away for two years that sealed the deal. Jill found herself a real man. A man so unashamed of his love for her, that had the whole world been watching, he still would have sung.

Eagles Take It Easy reminds me of Brian Barlow; I had heard this song about a billion times in my life before I heard Brian sing it at the Barlow family retreat in Wyoming last July 4th. But it wasn't until he sang the line, "I'm lookin' for a lover who won't blow my cover; she's so hard to find" that I really felt the depth of the lyrics. I love this song now. Brian, you are a true artist. I hope you find her someday.

I have a quite a few more examples, but perhaps I will save them for another post, another time.

Here's to discovering good music and making memories in the process.