(my copy has superman flying across the sky, it was taken out of distribution for copyright infringement)

What You Left Behind

They say scent is the sense most closely linked to memory, & I suppose its true. I can still catch a whiff of a gallon of paint that I've used & instantly remembered where & when I used that particular brand of paint. I've got to quit talking about paint. And as much as I hate McDonalds, it's food, & every corner of the earth it inhabits, I can smell the scent (or stench?) of greasy food & coffee & still catch a memory of those special trips to the McDonalds in Flat Rock with the whole family. Other examples include the smell of a school in late summer, early fall, cut grass in early spring & the smell of hot dogs at Tiger Stadium.

The next sense closest to memory, at least for me, is songs. Certain songs bring you back to certain places, sometimes you realize why a song reminds you of certain things, but most of the time it's just coincidence, or God's will, who knows? Maybe it has to do with hearing a new song at the same time of a new event. I don't know. Here's some songs that remind me of certain events:

Lonely Heart-Boyz II Men

There's just something about those cheesy harmonies that brings out the sap in anyone, especially an eighth grader who's just been told he's moving out of the only house he's ever known. These lyrics were so deep, they cut right to the bone.

Girl: Mike,
Mike: Yeah, Baby
Girl: It's Over,
Mike: How can you say that?
Girl: the love is gone
Mike: No, please don't leave me
Girl: Don't feel bad
Mike: how can I not feel bad? I love you.
Girl: But it's better this way.
Mike: No, I don't believe this.
Girl: No, baby.

I'm tearing up now, just thinking about it. The preppy outfits they wore made it that much more believable. I think we have Boyz II Men to blame for the cardigan epidemic of the early '90's, of which I was the biggest victim.

Sweetness Follows-REM, Automatic for the People

Everytime I hear this song, or this album for that matter, I can still see the New York skyline in the dark from a bus. I think I borrowed the cassette from my friend Mike, & I listened to it on a yellow Sony Walkman that belonged to my old man that he never got to use because his children (mostly his son) were bogarting it.

E-Bow the Letter-REM, New Adventures in Hi-Fi

Playing pool at pinball pete's in downtown Ann Arbor the night before I moved away to college.

I'm Beginning to See the Light-the Velvet Underground

We used to play euchre out on the deck in the summers, with the door open letting the stereo blare out, drinking cheap wine & listening to all sorts of wierd music. Good times.

Abide With Me-hymn

This is probably my favorite song, bar none. It was always played at any night service during the warmer months when I was a kid. This song makes me wish that the walk across the parking lot after church would've lasted a little longer.

Box of Rain-the Grateful Dead, American Beauty

I think I put this song on after I got off the phone with my mother when she told me Oma died. I'm not quite sure why. It's a great song, but it has little to do with Oma, or what she meant to me, except maybe this line:

look into any eyes, you find by you, you can see clear through to another day, I know it's been seen before through other eyes on other days while going home...

If We Run-Kevin Davis, Symphony Valley Visitor's Bureau

I listened to this cd the day after Jenni & I broke up while I painted. I had the day off. The Tigers opened the season that day. They won, didn't they?

Miles Davis-Kind of Blue

The perfect album to listen to sitting in the driveway on a summer evening after mowing the lawn, while reading a book, sprinkler running.

Keeping Me Awake-Tarkio, Omnibus

I'm kind of glad that I don't listen to this song too often, it's so great I don't want to wear it out. I was listening to this song alot when I first moved into my current residence, it may have been the first song I listened to after I got the keys & walked in for the first time, although I have a hard time believing it wasn't a Dylan song. I think this album is responsible for the cd player in the bathroom upstairs. As if my showers weren't long enough already.

In other news, I put about ten miles on my Adidas SS2G's over the weekend. Two hikes, two days. Who knows which songs I'll remember from them. More Miles than Money? Five Hearts Breaking? She Belongs to Me? Subterranean Homesick Blues? Muzzle of Bees?

Maybe someday I'll blog about something other than music, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Keeping me Awake-Tarkio, Omnibus

Casimir Pulaski Day-Sufjan Stevens, Come on, Feel the Illinoise!

Two Bass Hit-Miles Davis, Milestones

Sandusky-Uncle Tupelo, March 16-20 1992

City of Gold-the Dixie Hummingbirds, Masked & Anonymous Soundtrack

Happy Monday, friends, I hope your memory is filled with many happy songs!

andrew