The Power of a Song

The Power of a Song

'When the lights go down, in the city, and the sun shines on the bay..."  I hear this song on the radio and it makes me sing along!  There are many songs which bring me back to specific memories.  I find it fascinating the way a piece of music burrows in one's brain and carries with it feelings, locations, scents, a time frame and so much more. 

What song, for instance, has the power to reduce you to tears just by the virtue of coming on the radio?  Mysterious in a way.  I wonder if the artists who put music out in the world have  any concept of the impact they can have?  While I appreciate a great singer and songwriter, it isn't all about them and their talent is it?  Sometimes it's just the song that was on the radio when something memorable happened. 

Picture this, an artist makes an album of dance music.  I hear a song while specific circumstances surround me and that song is forever associated with the experience.  The song may have relevant words, or may not.  The artist/songwriter can reasonably predict that a love song will end up as a wedding song for many people, but could not possibly know other ways the song impacts people.  (The song that played while we broke up with a boyfriend, the song that the choir sang at graduation, the 80's song that cracks up my child, the song that makes you want to dance.)

I'll give an example.  When I hear the song "Funky Town" I am always brought back to my junior high school days when I was keeping score for the high school softball team.  My teacher was the softball coach and he asked for a volunteer to come to games and keep score.  I thought it would be fun, plus there would be days I got out of school early to travel with the team to away games.  (Bonus!)  Bus rides were such fun, despite the fact I was a few years younger than the team.  They always blasted music on someone's boom box and most notable was "Funky Town".  I can still picture Rosie singing and dancing to this song as the team bonded and prepared for a game.

I know I am not unique in having emotional attachments to songs.  I once asked friends about songs that meant a lot to them and the answers varied from special wedding songs, to memories of parents' favorite songs.  The power of music! 

I have known for a long time that music can put me into a funk or lift my spirits immediately, but I didn't realize the depth of connection that my father had to certain songs until my husband and I married.  I hadn't told my father the songs we would play during the ceremony because he's not religious and I thought the songs wouldn't matter to him.  Afterward he told me that when the singer began "Ave Maria" he didn't think he could hold it together.  I was so surprised he even knew the song!  (I was young and stupid then.)  I should have known that songs like "Ave Maria" and "How Great Thou Art" and "On Eagles' Wings" carry varied and very deep attachments for many people.

"Well the South side of Chicago, is the baddest part of town..."  This is a perfect example of a song/album that Jim Croce put out into the world and created many memories.  My cousin Mary and I would listen to Jim Croce and "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" over and over during our weeklong sleepovers.  I don't know why we liked it so much...but it doesn't really matter.  The song is imbedded in my brain and will forever remind me of hilarious times spent with my cousin.  Suddenly I'm right there in Dallastown, PA, laughing till I can't breathe, playing jacks, swimming, eating cereal for a bedtime snack, riding bikes and just being a kid.

Do you have songs that remind you of your father, brother, cousin, first boyfriend, a hurtful situation, a lovely time, your teenage years, your best friends' wedding, college parties, a long lost friend, your children?  I would love to hear about those songs and the special memories associated with them.